On October 12th, it became official that Delta would attempt to improve customer service by programing their app to check in customers 24 hours before their flight. One drawback to this is that it will be difficult for customers to verify that they don’t have restricted items with them. As our technology becomes more advanced, doesn’t it feel like customer/employee interaction has decreased? In my honest opinion, great customer service is when people interact with other people, not computers interacting with people. I worked front desk at a gym this summer, and I must say, my customer service and social skills have improved drastically since last year. Interacting with other people on a daily basis and helping them get answers is much better customer service than that provided by any computer or automated machine. Delta is also trying to implement free messaging into the application. While services such as automated check in may quicken the experience, there’s no better customer service than that provided by humans.
Link to article: http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/12/technology/delta-app-check-in/index.html
Link to Picture: https://www.google.com/search?q=delta+app&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjb-MPAye7WAhWB7yYKHS4mB7kQ_AUICygC&biw=1279&bih=619&dpr=2#imgrc=I_cJdvBuSdOSPM:
Delta was very smart to try to improve customer service by programing their app to check in customers 24 hours before their flight. From personal experience I can say that Delta has poor customer service. Often, no one answers the phone or attendants are not helpful and are rude. My family tries to avoid flying with Delta because of bad experiences and being so dissatisfied. Even though it is important to have real interactions to achieve customer service, this app would make lives much easier. We all know how much everyone hates airport lines. These lines are long and take forever. They are also very stressful when you are travelling with your family of 4 people or even more. Our society does rely a lot on technology and many people are afraid of humans becoming too lazy with the increasing technology. However, this is an aspect of technology that could be necessary to make the airport an easier and more free flowing process. I don’t think this concept could ever negatively affect society, if anything it would create more ease during these stressful processes.
This post caught my attention because I have also noticed how airports are quick to implement new technology to improve customer service. In addition to more intricate security systems, one of the first innovations I noticed was a virtual assistant holograph-like woman welcoming passengers into lines at the airport. This seemed pretty high-tech at the time, but after reading your post, I can completely relate to how you feel about the importance of face-to-face interaction. Similar to your experience, I gained valuable customer service and social skills when I worked as a salesperson at Nordstrom over the summer. The company stressed the importance of customer service. In my opinion, without extremely significant technological advances, person-to-person interaction was necessary. Even though I partake in online shopping, I am not looking forward to in-store shopping transitioning to online shopping. This is one example of disruptive innovation, for online shopping disturbs the retail market. Already, stores like Nordstrom use technology to assist customer experience. For example, there is now a buy online, pickup in store option. Additionally, sales people like me were prompted to use the store’s app on our smartphones to show customers more merchandise options both in-store and online. There are also new in-between ways of shopping, such as services like HauteLook and Stitch Fix, where personal stylists ship clothes to a customer, who keeps the clothing they like, and sends back the clothes they don’t like. For now, the use of technology combined with employee-customer interaction seems to be the most beneficial. However, I can envision a successful store that completely replaces salespeople with technology, somewhat similar to the Amazon grocery stores that we looked at in class.
As an out-of-state student from Dallas, Texas, I frequently fly to travel between school and home. I commend Delta Airlines for attempting to quicken their services for customers. It can be incredibly frustrating to have to wait in long lines to check in, especially when I’m running late for a flight or I’m trying to pick up food before I board. As much as I love interacting with people and believe that it’s crucial to keep human interaction alive, I would have to argue in favor of the application instead.
I would attribute this to how much I fly, but I also believe there are other pros to interacting with technology. For example, sometimes when I order fast food the employee will interpret my order incorrectly and give me something that I didn’t want to eat. When I input my order in a kiosk, the information is correct. I am all for good customer service, but there have also been times where employees have been rude or are not knowledgeable on the subject matter at hand. In this case, I would prefer to deal with technology as opposed to humans. However, I think that if we rely too much on technology then we won’t be able to function in social settings. This would also encourage us to be lazy and not proactive.
This past June, Jet Blue Airlines announced that they are in the process of developing technology that would allow passengers to board with just a selfie. By connecting with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, it will be very easy to just take a photo. This would take self-service to a whole new level. I believe this is a step in the right direction, not only for taking advantage of progressing technology, but for speeding up the airline experience for people who need to fly. With the development of biometrics, it has the potential to make passports completely obsolete.
http://www.businessinsider.com/jet-blue-will-start-letting-passengers-board-with-a-selfie-2017-5
I personally believe that this new technology is what a lot of companies are trying to lean towards. But, this will come with many problems. One of the problems, being that (as you stated) customer service would be lost. Not completely, but it is definitely a skill that every human needs. Although, we’ve all had a bad customer service experience, we have all had great ones. You never know what could make you feel a lot better when possibly stressed during this flight you need to catch, weather it be a nice compliment or a smile. I also worked in customer service this past summer.
https://blog.capterra.com/provide-a-human-connection-in-customer-support/
Another issue is loosing those people skills we all need. Also what if there was a mix up, and there was no more customer service to go to, and the app won’t load or something? I personally think this is a good idea if they tie in a reliable customer service part to the app.
I definitely agree that the best customer service comes from human to human interaction. Every time I call a company and I get an automated messaging system I immediately become upset. Delta however is on the right track to creating something special with this new app. The idea is great and could save flyers hours off of their waiting time. If they are able to check in 24 hours before their flight then they will no longer feel the need to rush around before their flight. It seems like Delta has a few speed bumps to get over before this app is working to it’s full potential. But this just shows that companies are evolving everyday as they try to make sure their customers are getting the best customer service available.
I definitely agree that human to human interaction is very important within customer service, and we should be wary of how far we stray from it with the technologies we develop, however, I think this new app could be very beneficial. Airports tend to be extremely bust places so I think an app like this will definitely ease congestion and allow people’s experiences before getting on a flight go much more smoothly. I do think that the difficulties the app will have with verifying that customers aren’t carrying restricted items poses a huge security risk, and if they don’t have another method of verification, some bigger problems could develop.