The second biggest risk of digitization is over-complication. The biggest risk of digitization is not doing it at all.
It is very tempting to add just one more thing…One more thing doesn’t seem like that much to ask.
Of course, it is never that sample. It is not one more thing. It is one more thing factorial.
One more option cascades through all the other options. It requires more testing and it is one more thing to go wrong.
The interaction between multiple options can often have interesting and unanticipated consequences.
What is great about digital is that it forces choices to be made. Even if there an option to leave something blank, it usually has bad downstream effects.
Living in the part digitized world and the part non-digitized world feels like a place where nothing works. We can have seamless experiences in either world right now, but it is the experiences that live between both worlds that need the most help.
Customer service phone queues may be the worst offenders. The funnels and paths that they try to force you down are awful if you have anything non-standard to do. And I usually only call when I have something non-standard to do….
The same thing happens when trying to get through ‘chat’ for what it is worth.
The challenge is how to effectively support something that is custom for each customer. Sometimes the customer knows what they need and just need the right person to fix the issue for them. Other times the customer needs help from the right specialist to diagnose and solve the problem.
There is not an obvious solution to either side of this issue. Complexity and customization require even better customer support.
