Is technological efficiency important to you?

I had lunch last week with a business contact. She mentioned that the owner of her company personally goes to the bank two times each day as part of his daily business activity.  He enjoys the personal experience at the bank and he knows exactly where his money is.  Peace of mind for people arrives in different ways.

Think of the conveniences we take for granted.  When your email goes down or there is a delay getting messages on your cell phone, how irritating is it for you? How about food? How frustrated do you get when your burger and fries takes 5 minutes? When I used to spend the night with my grandparents, “fast food” was grandma’s 20 minute hot dish.   

For many of us, online banking has become second nature and part of our fast paced, convenience driven life style. Anytime we want we can access our accounts via computer or phone.  As technology has changed, the banking industry has had to evolve to adjust to the expectations of consumers. Have we forgotten how things used to be?

We are quickly reminded when the inevitable happens.  You might have seen the article recently explaining that Chase.com was down in a lengthy system crash and customers were forced to conduct their banking business at a local bank branch, ATM or through the company’s phone service.  For those who are used to the efficiencies of online banking this came as a surprise.  And the ability to bank anytime, anywhere, easily and quickly was removed. 

http://money.cnn.com/2010/09/14/technology/Chase_online_service/index.htm?source=yahoo_quote

In this case, it sounds like a regression was more painful than people anticipated, both for the customers and the bank. I have a feeling that upon reading this, my business contact’s business owner was laughing all the way to the bank…both times!

This was Amy Hershman’s last post.