Influx

There are blogs and sections of magazines devoted to gadgets and legions of fans try hard to predict what Apple’s next technological advance will be.

We are seduced into the next, new thing, but the reality of the experience for many of us, is technology fails to live up to the initial promise and we end up having to deal with problems. 

This is the conclusion of some recent research from the Pew Center.

The number of people with problems is significant…

• 44% of those with home internet access say their
  connection failed to work properly for them at some time in the
  previous 12 months.
• 39% of those with desktop or laptop computers have had their machines not work properly at some time in the previous 12 months.
• 29% of cell phone users say their device failed to work properly at some time in the previous year.
• 26% of those with Blackberries, Palm Pilots or other personal
  digital assistants say they have encountered a problem with their
  device at some time in the previous 12 months.
• 15% of those with an iPod or MP3 player say their devices have not worked properly at some time in the prior year.

The challenge of solving the problems is clearly a problem for many consumers

• 72% felt confident that they were on the right track to solving the problem.
• 59% felt impatient to solve the problem because they had important uses for the broken technology.
• 48% felt discouraged with the amount of effort needed to fix the problem.
• 40% felt confused by the information that they were getting.

Technology companies seem to be seasoned experts in the world of designing and pushing the latest things, but they seem inept when it comes to handling the service delivery that this technology requires. Obviously, this is expensive, but companies could be more creative in how they deal with his. Offering good concierge services is one solution, but they could also go way beyond the pathetic FAQ pages they have on most of their web sites to provide real Brand Utility.

Posted by Ed Cotton