INTERFACE ADVANTAGE
Your monthly window into the front office revolution!
Monday, December 20, 2004
In this edition: Why Companies Must Improve Their Service Interfaces with Customers - JEFFREY RAYPORT WELCOMES YOU TO THE “INTERFACE ADVANTAGE” NEWSLETTER
- Making Service Changes Up Front, The Optimize Interview with Jeffrey Rayport
- CEOs Tap Customer Strategy As Leading Innovation, Inside 1to1
- Putting Customers First, Fast Company
- You're Hired, The Economist
- Your Train Will Be Late, She Says Cheerily, The New York Times
- IBM Builds High-Tech Grocery Cart, CRM Buyer
JEFFREY RAYPORT WELCOMES YOU TO THE “INTERFACE ADVANTAGE” NEWSLETTER
Welcome to the first edition of Interface Advantage! Now more than ever, business success is predicated on how well firms manage their interactions and relationships with customers and markets. In our view, with technology playing an ever-increasing role in customer interaction and relationship management, a new frontier of competitive advantage is emerging. Competitive advantage will derive from managing a complex system of "interfaces" or touch points composed of people, machines, and combinations of people and machines -- truly an "interface advantage." And leading companies, especially in service-intensive industries, will compete by operating interfaces as "interface systems" to court prospects and interact with customers. Our Interface Advantage newsletter will provide a monthly look at the ways in which the strategic goals of firms meet (and sometimes miss) the needs of customers at the new frontier of competitive advantage: the service interface. Our editors survey the expected - and sometimes unexpected - sources to provide you with a digest of what's of interest in the front office revolution unfolding in business today. Scan, read, ponder, and enjoy.
MAKING SERVICE CHANGES UP FRONT
The Optimize Interview with Jeffrey Rayport, November 2004
In an interview with Optimize magazine, Marketspace founder and chairman Jeffrey Rayport outlines the ongoing revolution in front office automation that will totally change the way companies deliver services, with positive benefits for corporations to offer better performance at lower cost. Talking about the upcoming book he co-authored with Marketspace co-founder Bernie Jaworski, Best Face Forward: Why Companies Must Improve Their Service Interfaces with Customers, Rayport argues that as many products and services lose the ability to sustain their differentiation in the marketplace, nearly every business will find itself forced to focus on how and how well it touches customers in order to achieve competitive advantage. - Read the whole story…
CEOS TAP CUSTOMER STRATEGY AS LEADING INNOVATION
Inside 1to1, November 29, 2004
At the Fortune Innovation Forum on Nov. 18, top brass at leading businesses were probed about innovation. And while they represented different industries with unique challenges, all of them turned to customer strategy initiatives as innovations that are producing the most impact. The common theme: innovation is about looking at customers the way your competitors don't. "We had to find a new way to compete," said Gary Loveman, president and CEO of casino company Harrah's, which has been at the forefront of customer strategy for years. - Read the whole story…
PUTTING CUSTOMERS FIRST
Fast Company, October 2004
You'd think more companies would have gotten it by now. Unfortunately, organizations that put customers at the center of what they do are rare -- so rare that we're celebrating them. Meet the best customer-focused outfits, and learn from them. - Read the whole story...
YOU'RE HIRED
The Economist, September 16, 2004
Meet your airline's latest employee: you. You may not have noticed, but you are also now working for your phone company and your bank. Why? Because of the growth of the self-service economy, in which companies are offloading work on to their own customers. It is, you could say, the ultimate in outsourcing. Self-service can have benefits both for companies and customers alike. It is already changing business practices in many industries, and seems likely to become even more widespread in future. - Read the whole story… (requires subscription)
YOUR TRAIN WILL BE LATE, SHE SAYS CHEERLY
The New York Times, November 24, 2004
Amid long lines and frayed nerves typical during the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend, roughly 600,000 rail travelers nationwide will squeeze on and off trains, with one-third passing through Pennsylvania Station. Through it all Julie will remain unshakably courteous and tirelessly chipper. Julie is the computerized" voice of Amtrak" who helps callers navigate the railroad's electronic answering system. But Julie is more than just an automated ticket agent. She offers a sympathetic ear and reassuring guidance. - Read the whole story… (requires subscription)
IBM BUILDS HIGH-TECH GROCERY CART
CRM Buyer, November 16, 2004
The Stop & Shop Shopping Buddy, as the IBM/Cuesol Cart Companion is called, aims to support efficient supply chain and inventory management while providing personalized attention and convenience that no other technology has delivered. The cart is even capable of wirelessly placing deli orders to be picked up en route to the checkout line. - Read the whole story...
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