Online relationships – the missing link

Last week my printer ceased printing. No amount of kicking and swearing could make it budge. With no warning, it just stopped - and with an issue of Market Leader requiring proof reading I became hysterical. Apart from running out of stamps and stationery, the curse of the home office worker is that there is no tech department to whistle up. So I phoned the HP customer service number which was answered in India and was instantly switched to their outsourced tech services also in India. iYogi they called themselves. A girl said it was probably a software problem. I gave her permission to connect remotely and a pretty face appeared on the screen, that’s me she said. I instantly felt she would fix my printer and indeed she did. My mouse flew around the screen and, voila, it sprang to life.  

Reading Melanie Howard's Trendwatch column I realised she was talking about what I'd just experienced. Of course it isn’t totally new. Tech companies have been working on interactive online relationships for some years. But the point Melanie makes is that all companies must now develop different forms of online interaction that go well beyond the merely technical connection and add an emotional dimension as well. As more and more purchases - and especially services - are made online, some kind of personal emotional connection makes a much more satisfying experience. And although it doesn't substitute for the warm handshake, friendly ’have a nice day’ flesh and blood interaction, it is certainly an improvement over the cold and faux sincere on-screen hellos and goodbyes. He or she may not be able to see me - thank goodness - but just seeing them does help.

Also in this issue is an edited version of Paul Kemp-Robertson’s excellent presentation at the Marketing Society Annual Conference in November. Amongst the many examples of how companies are using technology to provide better and more consumer-centric services is a description of a Turkish Bank, which acts as a virtual financial manager - online. Given that UK banks can barely provide a decent service offline, I have severe doubts as to just how successful an online service would be.  

But this leads to an interesting observation. Many of his examples - all of which are cutting edge - came from developing countries: Egypt, Mexico, and Turkey. The significance of this is that developing countries don’t have legacy systems that inhibit change. The problem with non-tech western companies is that they have developed gradually and organically with great stability. This makes it very difficult to inject  radical new ideas necessary to transform existing ways of doing things. Developing countries have a clean slate and a ready supply of technically trained people.

I have yet to see the new movie ‘Her’, in which the hero falls in love with his computer. But in satire there are always truths.

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