The growth of self-service

Time Article Link: Time Self Service Article

I thought that it was very interesting back in 2007 when NCR and Teradata split off that the young, aspirational, motivating CEO of NCR Bill Nuti was chosen to head up the new NCR versus move over to the Teradata division spin-off to drive the growth of enterprise intelligence. Seeing where he is now and the aggressive repositioning of the "National Cash Register" company into the self-service juggernaut, the move is making sense. Especially as this market is poised, based on most analyst reports, for incredible growth which NCR can take advantage of if it's positioned to uniquely meet the market needs.

Self-Service in commerce is prevalent and hits all aspects of our daily lives. Obviously, the first mainstream application was the ATM machine back in the '80's but with the growth of the Internet and Web 2.0, consumers are becoming much more comfortable with shopping and selecting services without the in-person assistance of a human being on the other side. This phenomenon is moving into the brick and mortar world as well as electronic kiosks and self-service checkout devices are becoming more common, with the trade off being between that personal service we love and convenience.

It's not always successful, but when it is (as companies like NCR, IBM, eBay, and Amazon.com would like it to be) the following criteria is usually met:
- Customer convenience is delivered
- The consumer trusts in the outcome of the transaction
- The consumer continues to feel an affinity to the merchant's brand
- The merchant is able to use the channel to offer value-added services that consumers value
- ... and even more interesting, if the devices include personalization, then companies can deliver unique offers through Relationship Management technology at a key selling opportunity

For instance, my favorite self-service application may be the Papa John's online ordering tool. Through it, I find out about specials without having to sift through my mail, order quickly, and usually get the pizza at my house quickly. It's worth checking out.