InformationWeek

November 15, 1999

When Well Done Is Rare

By Lou Bertin

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University of Texas study released recently projects that the electronic economy will account for the sales of slightly more than $500 billion in goods and services during 1999. This is the story of how--and why--$140.14 dropped out of that electronic economy.

An itinerant columnist and commentator we'll call "Lou" has in his possession a 9-month-old notebook computer whose original battery, when fully charged, now provides slightly more than three minutes of operating time. It was time, Lou decided, to buy a new battery, so he went to the home page of the computer's maker, a company in Texas we'll call "C'q."

The home page, an unsolicited link to which appears every time Lou accesses his browser, was easily navigated and the "Home and Home Office Computing" sector provided Lou with several choices for replacement batteries, one of which was quickly selected. So far, so good.

In completing the order, Lou asked that the battery in question be shipped to a post office box address, not an uncommon phenomenon when dealing with small businesses. Lou also knew that some companies refuse (that is, they "refuse" because they "could" if they opted to selectively use the U.S. Postal Service for such orders) to ship to P.O. boxes.

In the past, when Lou had requested shipment to his P.O. box, E-merchants that refuse to ship to P.O. boxes noted that fact before the order was accepted. Forewarned being forearmed, that seems an acceptable practice that allows buyers to make informed decisions as to how they wish to proceed. With no such advisory appearing from C'q, Lou was pleased to print his order confirmation from C'q showing that the P.O. box address would be accommodated. This was the first of several wrong assumptions.

The order was placed on a Friday afternoon, and Lou was leaving for an extended trip Wednesday morning, so it appeared the chances were good that the new battery would be locked in its notebook slot by then. Then came the Tuesday afternoon call from "John" at C'q, whose duty it was to inform Lou that C'q cannot ship goods to a P.O. box.

This was disappointing, but far less so than the insider's look Lou got at how C'q manages its E-business customers. Lou spoke with John at 2:16 p.m. Eastern time Tuesday. During that conversation, John informed Lou that C'q couldn't provide Lou with an E-mail confirming the cancellation of his order because his department can't send E-mail--this despite the fact that it was dealing with an electronic order.

When pressed for an explanation during a terse conversation, he said that his supervisor, "Johnny," would be on the line with Lou in two minutes. At 2:28, Johnny came on and, while sympathetic, could provide no help, other than to advise Lou to call "Eric."

At 5:55, Lou finally was able to reach Eric, who was so sympathetic that he offered to have Lou wait "for just a moment while I run over to my supervisor's desk to see if I can find that order." Amazing! Not only is C'q running an electronic-procurement division that can't send E-mail, its front-line people are reduced to rifling colleagues' desks while looking for pieces of paper. Despite his best efforts, Eric was unable to help, but at 6:06 transferred Lou's call to "Jeff," who sadly reiterated that "there's no way to send confirmation of the cancellation online. You can call and we'll provide the cancellation number."

So here we have a technology company, of all things, unable to send an eager buyer so much as an E-mail, despite the fact that the company knows the buyer's E-mail address, despite the fact that the order was placed via the Web, and despite the fact that the company is not shy about using the online medium to send user-directed promotional messages. Worse, the company's first telephone contact with the buyer to advise him of its inability to fulfill the order as placed and confirmed came on the date when the product was expected to arrive. At least the company didn't rely on paper mail as its communications medium of preference.

Is this ham-handed little tale intended to poke fun at a specific company? No, despite the fact that it makes itself such an easy target. The intent is simply to reaffirm that the outsized potential benefits E-business initiatives bring carry an equally outsized downside if that E-business performs as badly as the provider did in this example.

Lest we all succumb too quickly to the human instinct to embrace enthusiasm, it might be wise to pause for a moment to consider what happens when the best of intentions lead to the least satisfying of results. Forewarned is forearmed.

Lou Bertin is an industry consultant. He can be reached at Lou.Bertin@gte.net.