May 2023 by Frank Barone
Their robot called my home.Humans are inherently social creatures who get emotional value from seeing and interacting with one another. Yet when I call this company, I'm forsed at times to interact with a computer.Research shows that taking away the opportunity for this kind of connection can undermine service performance. Service can be emotional,technology cannot.We should always prefer having people help solve our connection problems.Less work for employees often means more work for customers. Stop forcing people to learn how to interact with your computer trash!There are many opportunities to create technologies that support employees’ efforts to create value for customer service. Robots can't do this.Technology should help craft an environment that enables employees to excel comfortably, without stress or angst, while not hindering the interaction as robots do.Corperations should engage customers in ways that won’t make humans cringe or feel obligated to respond to robots imatating humans.Robot phone machines are likely to make the service feel unnatural, less human.When people feel anxious, it’s human nature to turn to others for help. They shouldn't be forced to converse with or interact with a robot.This type of behavior is quite common. Yet many companies in high-anxiety settings – like financial services and healthcare – are funneling nervous customers to self-service technologies (“SSTs”) – kiosks, websites, and smartphone apps – isolating them at the precise moment when they’re most keen for connection. It is clear that these technologies are less expensive to offer than human support. But what’s less clear is the toll these self-service interactions may take on customers.It is exacerbating customer anxiety and doing long-term damage to service relationships. PLEASE STOP USING SUCH UNGODLY DEVICES TO INTERACT WITH PEOPLE.
