Christine

**Best Face Forward: Improving Companies’ Service Interfaces with Customers** By Jeffrey F. Rayport, Bernard J. Jaworski and Ellie J. Kyung

Technology is on the rise along with the increasing demands of customers. Companies are integrating advanced technologies into their front-line or service work. The article I focused on was //Best Face Forward: Improving Companies’ Service Interfaces with Customers.// Strategic use can provide cost cutting ways of doing business and at the same time optimize customer satisfaction. The main goal is to be able to integrate human interaction and machines to optimize customer relationships between firms. The biggest issue is qualified labour is not catching up with the growing sophistication of customers.

Since the industrial revolution businesses have implemented ways of using machines to replace human labour. Visiting a grocery store self-check outs are emplaced to even flying out from an airport the ability to print boarding passes at automated kiosks. When automating certain business processes the division of labour needs to be determined (Jaworski et al. Pg, 67). The solution is to arrange a hybrid service which human labour and technology advances can be used hand in hand to accomplish a task. For example, the Home Shopping Network (HSN) deploys a hybrid interface. The company uses both human operators and websites.

Many organizations are eager to jump onto using the latest technology. However, when it is not strategically planned it does not usually prove successful. Knowledge is paying and some of the most successful organizations spend less than 1% of its revenues to developing information technology. 

Discussion Question:

Works Cited:  Jaworksi,Bernard J; Rayport, Jeffrey F.; and Ellie J. Kyung. "Best Face Forward: Improving Companies'   Service Interfaces with Customers." __Journal of Interactive Marking__ 19.4 (2005): 67-79. 

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