Business Has Changed:
The New Face Of Business In The Digital World
Ink2Quill Opinions
www.ink2quill.com

It’s no surprise that the way we do business is still changing fast. The digital markets for all things sold, traded or given show results on the spot with galactic sized menus choices. Selections for anything has ballooned to the point of making a choice is nearly impossible. That is to say, we will gravitate toward goods and services that are the most advertised and from the largest companies even though we know that those companies harvest our information and do whatever they like with it. Think of the wise words that ‘bigger isn’t always better’, especially if you’re a mouse or an ant.

I’m talking more specifically about the disappearance of brick and mortar stores coupled with, or you can say in sync with, the disappearance of good customer service. Yes. The customer service we know and count on is more and more going the way of the dinosaur. Whether it’s at an appliance store, places to eat or markets online. As a matter of fact the digital markets are the worst culprits of bad or none existent customer service. But we all know that. And I don’t just mean the DMV either.

The days of waiting in long lines at the DMV only to end up with someone who clearly doesn’t care and would rather be someplace else have been made worse by ambiguous webpages that lead to nowhere and questions that aren’t answered by any of their AIs. The AI aren’t to blame here the apathetic people designing the system are. Why? Because the AI do what they are supposed to do and the people running the system pass the AI off as a cheaper and faster workforce to the tax payers. Besides, who can you complain to and actually get results? There are no solutions possible when people don’t care. But, I’m rambling on.

Just to belabor the downsides of the digital markets a little more, how many times have you gone to webpages, businesses and gotten the run around? You get a list of ten FAQ but your problem does not apply to their FAQ. It will not get solved. The webpage has no contact number so you’re stuck. This happens particularly often when you want to end a subscription. Signing up for a service and getting a subscription is easy. It’ click, click, click. But trying to end that subscription can turn into a real safari in the frustrating jungle of an unwilling business. This frustration has to be one of the most, if not the most, frustrating thing about the digital world. This way that companies can become impregnable fortresses when you want to ask questions that are uncomfortable for them is soooo wrong. This is the disappearance of customer service people. It’s not good either.

Let me reiterate that this development is not the fault of AI. It’s not a failure of AI either. It’s the fault of the people that tell us that AI is a better, faster and more knowledgeable worker. It just isn’t at this stage. And if these businesses and government offices had reachable phone numbers we could tell them this.

I am by no means a luddite. I embrace the new technologies that come around and I use them. The problem here is that many new technologies are being misused and falsely advertised as something that they are not. Some of the new technologies have false claims on them saying that they can accomplish things that they are not designed to do. Most AIs on company websites are very limited in what they can do – and that’s fine. But, when you call a company phone number and get a recorded voice that sends you back to the AI on the company website, I’m sorry but we need to include a responsible person in that infinite loop. The loss of brick and mortar businesses takes the person out of the shopping experience and taking the person out of the shopping experience destroys customer service, like a chain reaction or an avalanche.

So, are why going to deliver a death blow to real customer service? We need to bring people back to those jobs they are better at, like customer service. The markets of today need them. They are the quiet market force being turned invisible and discarded.

Think about it.

John Ink2Quill

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