| Automation for the service-based business may seem | | | | dramatically. These problems were learned |
| contrary to the mission of your company, to directly | | | | unfortunately from looking at customer feedback. |
| and humanly serve the needs of your client in a way | | | | These systems were downright painful to use in real |
| that significantly impacts his or her life. | | | | life and so a lot of these systems had to be scraped. |
| When we consider automation for our small business, | | | | That was because when I first started working |
| what we don't want to do is alienate our customers. | | | | automation projects, the focus was always on |
| We are probably all too painfully familiar with the | | | | increasing productivity and reducing expense. As time |
| automated response answering systems that either | | | | progress, corporate gains were many but customer |
| prohibited you from talking to a live person, or by the | | | | satisfaction still did not increase at the levels that were |
| time you reached a a live person, you had punched so | | | | required. For some reason with all these productivity |
| many keys that you just gave up. Since I helped | | | | gains, customers still seem unsatisfied. |
| designed some of these system flows in my life as a | | | | Now in this day and age, and for your small business |
| business systems analyst, I can still see the flow charts | | | | environment, the use of automation must take into |
| on the wall that save a lot of time and energy. | | | | account broader solutions such as increasing quality |
| However part of the solution contain an inherent | | | | and allowing for customer preferences. For the solo |
| problem, because sometimes people were pushed so | | | | entrepreneur and small business owner, the flexibility of |
| far into the key press flow that they could not find | | | | the customer must become the focus of your efforts. |
| what they were looking for, or worse, if they hit the | | | | So if you want more time for those projects in your |
| wrong key, they had to start over again. Gone were | | | | business that truly rely on your gifts and talents, and |
| the days when simply pressing "0" to get an operator | | | | that you also love doing? Then automation must |
| worked. So while it looked good and it appeared that | | | | become a key part of your business. In this day and |
| the corporation saved money and reduced headcount, | | | | age automation is easier than ever, and more |
| service quality and customer satisfaction dropped | | | | important than you might think. |