The man in the machine
Published: 22 Jun 2000 16:35 BST
We can't repeal the seeming law of nature that systems will find a way to fail, but we can and should be candid with ourselves and our managers about the need for backup facilities and fail-safe designs.
Travel is one of the activities that's most dramatically aided by e-infrastructure when things are working as they should. Electronic tickets for airline flights, an electric sign with your name and the number of your parking space at the rental-car pickup point, public phones with modem jacks for dime-free checking of 800-dialup e-mail, the ease of using credit cards for everything from meals to airport parking. One gets spoiled, especially compared to the bad old days of needing to carry too much cash and plan things too far in advance.
But like someone who used to be in good shape, but hasn't worked out in a while, a traveller can feel unreasonably burdened by what used to be routine chores when an e-system suddenly isn't there. I arrived late Monday night this week at the Hertz pickup lot at San Jose airport, serenely sure that I could point at the name of my hotel on a touch-screen display and get printed driving directions -- only to find that those information terminals were shut off and turned to face the wall, with nothing resembling an explanation (let alone an apology from the management).
I had to phone the hotel for directions that turned out to be blessedly simple, and it's not as if that isn't a normal travel task -- but it seemed like an imposition compared to what I'd been taught to expect.
Shock No. 2
Just before I sat down to write this column, I called to confirm other travel arrangements for electronically ticketed flights, only to be told that several of my bookings had been canceled -- a rude shock, since my account had been billed and I had received a mailed confirmation that the tickets were issued.
I was assured that the credit to my account would appear on my next statement. But I didn't want the credit, I wanted to travel, and it took almost an hour to get things back to where I thought they already were. The process made me think of a movie director's vision of a mad scientist's lab, with United's electronic systems throwing off showers of sparks when I asked them to carry a load.
The common, positive aspect of both of these situations was a human voice on the phone, backed by knowledge and a positive attitude toward fixing my problem. In both cases, I was calling close to midnight. In both cases, I found 24-hour readiness to correct the situation, not just a tape-recorded office-hours announcement or an offer to take a message and have someone call me back.
I haven't yet had occasion to use a retail Web site or other e-commerce facility that incorporates interactive voice response into Web-browser access, but experiences like the ones described here make me think that this should be part of almost any Web-presence strategy. The difference between the annoyance and fatigue that I'm feeling right now, and the fury and desperation that I could be feeling instead, is the difference that's made by a competent and helpful person who can listen, offer options and take needed action on the spot.
When you sell your management on the idea of an e-presence, it's easy to focus on cost reduction and the promise of handling more customers with fewer staff. Go easy on that promise. In the long run, staff reductions will be a transient thing.
When everyone is using this technology, we'll find that customer expectations have risen as quickly as service deliverability has improved. Think of e-systems as a pathway to better service, not lower cost. Plan from the beginning for fallback paths that can always connect your customers to your people.
When you get to a system's breaking point, what do you want to find? To have your say online click on the TalkBack button and go to the ZDNet forums.
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