Thursday, July 28, 2011

Customer Service: Two Tales

A company’s relationship with its customers has a range of realities in actual practice, dependent on which company or industry we’re talking about. But being on the receiving end brings its meaning to the fore.
            When your scheduled flight from point A to point B is delayed, and delayed again so that your actual arrival is hours past the promised time and your luggage is lost in the ether, that airline’s attitude toward its customers quickly becomes critically important to your mental health and well-being, to say nothing of your personal plans.
            Ditto the computer software marketer that chooses to cease upgrading a favorite application you’ve been using and become dependent on after years.
            In fact, these two examples are real. First, United Airlines. Yes, I admit that on this particular occasion, my flights from San Diego to Houston and Houston to Boston this week were on time. The on-board service was adequate. This, I’m sorry to say, was the exception. And not just with United but with the other legacy airlines with which I’ve done business: Delta, American, and US Airways.
            I bring this up because United is in the throes of combining operations with its newly acquired Continental Airlines. Though my flights this week were on Continental aircraft, staffed by Continental crews, everything else about the experience was United. We were reminded of that repeatedly.
            What got my attention was the short on-board TV welcome by United’s CEO, Jeffery A. Smisek. The prime purpose of the welcome, it soon became apparent, was to apprise us of the progress the company is making in merging the two formerly independent airlines.
            And what was the first thing Smisek mentioned? They are making progress repainting their planes. Huh? Will new paint jobs improve on-time performance? He didn’t say anything about merging their two distinctly different cultures, nor anything about improved customer service resulting from combined operations.
            Furthermore, the cocktail napkins that accompanied the beverage service said the following: “Planes change. Values don't. Your priorities will always be ours.” Really? Is United telling us that their values parallel our priorities? Like on-time flights and no lost luggage? I doubt it.
            Sorry for the cynicism but I’ve seen this movie before, especially in the airline industry. Can anyone tell me with a straight face that the Delta-Northwest merger has improved service to the cities those two formerly independent carriers serve? Same question for US Airways and America West.
            Let’s be honest: the primary, perhaps sole purpose of airline mergers is to realize the cost savings that combined operations will yield. It most assuredly is not because the execs sat down and said, “Let’s merge so that we can improve service to our customers.” If that is, in fact, among their priorities, then it’s at the bottom of a very long list.
            Here’s a different case in point: different industry, different type of product, different type of customers. Intuit is a software company, most famous for its Quicken brand of personal and business financial software.
            I have been using Quicken on my Macintosh computers for at least 15 years – perhaps longer. The software has helped me manage my finances quite well, for which I am grateful. But apparently, I will no longer be able to use Quicken.
            I’m not entirely sure why, because I am not a software expert. But with the introduction of Mac OS X 10.7 (a.k.a. Lion), Quicken will no longer work on Macintosh. I started digging into this because I am reluctant to give up this helpful software, and learned that Intuit has not updated Quicken in more than five years and, further, has no intention to update it so that it will operate on Lion.
            An exchange of fruitless emails ensued with their tech support people. Sifting through their extended namby-pamby answers, I gleaned that they really don’t care about Macintosh customers anymore. They suggested that I load Windows on my Mac so that I can continue to use Quicken. Of course, that answer fails to acknowledge that to do so, I would have to acquire Windows and a Windows-compatible version of Quicken. Aside from the added cost, I don’t want the tech hassle.
            So Intuit has lost me (and no doubt countless other Mac users) as a customer.
            I find it hard to believe that Intuit is walking away from Mac users, a target audience that happens to be the fastest growing among all computer users. That’s their choice. My choice is to seek an alternative to Quicken and cease doing business with Intuit.
            What’s the lesson here? It’s not difficult to find the flip side of good customer service and the long-term value and good will it brings to the company willing to commit to it. Why am I exclusively a Macintosh user for 20-plus years? Why do I pay such close attention whenever Apple introduces a new product?
            Apple’s customer service is second to none. They will not let you go until they are confident that they have solved your problem. Apple offers a myriad of ways to access customer service: over the phone, on-line discussions and FAQs, and their famous Apple Genius Bar where you can get face-to-face help on virtually any problem.
            (Not coincidentally, Apple is thriving. Check their revenues, profits and stock price for proof.)
            Compare that experience to the frustration felt standing at the end of a snaking line at the airport customer service counter after your United (or Delta, or US Airways, or American) flight was canceled.

Monday, July 4, 2011

Chromebook at 38,000 feet

New and emerging technology has always fascinated me, whether its “newness” is only because I hadn’t discovered it yet for myself, or when it is, in fact, new. So I jumped at the chance when offered the opportunity to use a Google Chromebook for free, complete with free on-board WiFi, on my Virgin America six-hour flight from Boston to San Francisco today.
Google and Virgin partnered for this experiment, from July 1 through the end of September, to give passengers on a first-come, first-served basis the chance to use this new tool on selected Virgin America routes (between San Francisco and Boston, and Chicago’s O’Hare and Dallas-Ft. Worth). Google is also extending the offer to guests at New York’s Ace Hotel.
You check out the computer at your departure lounge with a credit card and driver’s license, and return it at your arrival airport. There’s no charge -- unless you forget and walk away with the thing. Then, you’ve bought it.
In that both companies are fearless adventurers in the world of innovation and marketing, the match is perfect. My guess is that the Google folks approached Virgin America with the idea. No doubt it took a New York minute for Virgin to agree.
(I just can’t imagine in a million years any of the legacy airlines -- American, Delta, United, et al. -- going for this idea without undertaking a multi-month cost/benefit analysis, after which the novelty of the Chromebook would be gone and the genius of the marketing opportunity lost.)
As a non-technoid, let me try to explain the system as it was ably explained to me by the rep from MKTG Marketing at Logan Airport this morning. 
The Chromebook is the latest product of Google’s tsunami of innovation and creativity. Two companies, Acer and Samsung built these micro-laptops for Google. There are two Samsung versions: 3G for $499, and WiFi for $429.
In this experiment, we were loaned the Samsung WiFi model, which weighs 3.26 pounds, offers a 12.1-inch display and 8.5 hours of continuous usage power. It looks and feels a lot like the MacBook Air, though mine is black with a white top. (It also comes in all-white.)
The control keys are positioned slightly differently than my Apple keyboards and took a little getting used to. Otherwise, it’s a fine little machine.
The genius of the Chromebook is to serve as a “dumb” conduit for access to the Internet and, especially, the “cloud.” It has nominal on-board memory, only enough to run it. But that’s okay because you don’t need it. All the necessary applications are in the cloud. And when you create documents, as I am doing prior to pasting this into my blog, you go to Google’s home page and use their Documents software, which resides in the cloud. The saved document stays there too, accessible through your Gmail account.
So you log onto the Internet, once the plane reaches 10,000 feet, and you’re on your way, accessing web sites as you would on your own computer. 
The value of Google-Virgin promotion is that it provides an extended hands-on experience with Google’s version of cloud computing within the confines and comfort of Virgin’s cabin. For people like me, anchored to our computers’ hard drives and backup systems, it's a novel experience. 
Meanwhile, you’re also getting comfortable with a small computing platform that lacks a real hard drive -- flash memory only, with one USB port. It’s a smart promotional win for both companies.
Cloud computing, for those of us new to the concept, is where computing technology is going, envisioned long ago by Danny Hillis, MIT scientist and founder of Thinking Machines Corp. Google isn’t alone there. Amazon, too, is a major player, but so are newer companies like Box.net, a remarkable, fast-growing Silicon Valley start-up founded six years ago on the idea that people should be able to access and share their content anywhere.
It boggles the mind to think of the possibilities, of the collaboration and work that is getting done in the cloud now that previously was either impossible, or only through the use of email attachments and lengthy phone calls. Now, we have Skype and tools like the Chromebook and Box.net. Amazing to think of how far we’ve come in such a short time.
No matter where we are in the world, we can collaborate with colleagues on time-sensitive documents. Through either Google’s Gmail service or Box.net, we can allow specific individuals password-protected access to our sensitive documents. We can use any computer to access those files from anywhere we are at the moment. 
So when I get to SFO at the end of this flight and the MKTG rep greets me, he/she will undoubtedly ask what I thought. All I need to do is give him/her the link to this blog, posted somewhere 37,925 feet over Lake Michigan. 
Thanks for the loan, Google. Nice idea.