The Computer Won't Let Me Do That

The next time a customer service rep says, "The computer won't let me do that" or "The system tells me what to do," remember this:

Behind every such phrase is a set of processes designed, or at least endorsed, not by computers but by human beings somewhere in the corporate hierarchy. The system may tell the reps what to do, but someone told the system what to do.

So poorly conceived technologies take decisions away from employees, disempowering them and turning them into script readers. Any chance of a dialogue vanishes. The real decision-makers — the people who designed or endorsed the system — are hidden away in the corporate labyrinth, invisible to both the customer and the agent and accountable to no one, invisible to both the customer and the agent.