London 2012 Olympics: Smart phone strategy needed to secure memorable Games

What will everyone be saying about London and how the city coped with hosting the Olympic Games when it comes to 2013 or 2023?

Will it be that the city, a global financial centre, didn't miss a beat? That the Olympics saved the British economy? Tourists flocked to London? The transport system heaved but coped?

While transport and security are the two big unknowns, the Mayor of London Boris Johnson last week noted what he thought was a real reputational risk to the city – communications. He highlighted his concerns about the increasing reliance on smart phone technology and the challenges the city faces in keeping up with that demand as well as the exponential pressures hosting the Olympic Games will put on the communications systems.

His nightmare could be the world thinking: "London Olympics was a communications disaster."

Johnson is right, because the main commentators and journalists who arrive in London from afar rely on that technology and if it doesn't work adequately the whole world will know.

The London organisers haven't helped matters by charging each journalist £150 for computer access at the Olympic venues. So the first story written about London will be how WiFi and computer access is expensive. That fact, coupled with the constant phone drop outs in the middle of the city, even now, ahead of the Games, give potential for widespread negativity.

But as historians well know, the further in the past an event is, the larger the discrepancies of the facts are. In the past eight months at various breakfasts and conferences there has been a revision of history of previous Olympics and the reputational risks they encountered. The Sydney 2000 Olympics boosted the city’s tourism or caused dramatic falls in tourist numbers, depending on the speakers point of view. Atlanta was, according to various politicians and experts, a complete disaster because of the traffic congestion. And Beijing, despite its spectacular opening ceremony, couldn't attract crowds to the competition.

That all of these statements are incorrect matters for naught. As London will experience, it is the perception rather than the reality that is important.

Sydney did suffer a small drop in tourism numbers the following year because of the 9/11 terror attacks. Atlanta's traffic was not a problem, it was the hub and spoke system of transporting athletes that caused issues, and the city's reputation collapsed because of poor technology, a failure to control street vendors and the pipe bombing. As for Beijing, tickets were officially sold out – just as they are for London – but some events had a poor turnout of Communist Party officials from distant regions, who had been given corporate tickets, while government security fears restricted access to some open events like the road race.

All of this means, of course, that London officials need to make sure their communications system is robust enough to deal with the spike during the Olympics. Johnson is talking positively, saying he is confident all well be well. He knows, at the very least, to make it appear as if London is coping.