Research from Dartmouth College Computer Science regarding users and security:
In real world domains, from healthcare to power to finance, we deploy computer systems intended to streamline and improve the activities of human agents in the corresponding non-cyber worlds. However, talking to actual users (instead of just computer security experts) reveals endemic circumvention of the computer-embedded rules. Good-intentioned users, trying to get their jobs done, systematically work around security and other controls embedded in their IT systems.
Source: Mismorphism: a Semiotic Model of Computer Security Circumvention by Sean W. Smith, Ross Koppel, Jim Blythe, Vijay Kothari
If you’re going to rebuild a company’s customer service reputation and customer experience, good foundations to start building on include transparency, accountability and brutal, yet humbling honesty. Kudos to the Comcast team for starting down this path.
We’re holding ourselves accountable and we are working hard to make real improvements across the board. While it will take us some time, we can and will do better than this.
Source: A Public Apology to Conal O’Rourke.
I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
Leo Widrich, from Buffer, on Bad Customer Service Support
While at a conference recently, a vendor was using a Twitter activated vending machine from Innovative Vending Solutions.
Each Twitter-activated vending machine incorporates a touch-screen interface to display the instructions to the consumer. The consumer is prompted to “tweet” a specific #hashtag to a dedicated @handle from their mobile device. Once the consumer tweets the @ and #, a product is immediately dispensed from the machine. Apparently, the machine utilizes a unique hashtag that is specific to the machine, so you have to be standing directly in front of the machine in order to utilize this functionality.