Globalization has led to worldwide economic growth, shared resources and shared business functions. Some countries dominate manufacturing, others software or the service industry. The quality of manufacturing operations has been improving for decades, but the quality of service appears to be declining every day.

I experience poor service daily and I often wonder how service providers think about their processes. Companies now typically start their first customer contact with an automatic answering machine that makes customers speak exactly the way the computer can understand. Welcome to the age of technology and service—we don’t even get to speak to a human being.

We talk all the time on cell phones, but we can understand barely half of what is said due to poor signal strength, or an important call is blocked by the roaming warning or the low-battery signal.

Wireless service providers often provide poor service. Service representatives are called “consultants.” As a consultant myself, I have an expectation that consultants can help me and answer my questions so that I will continue to pay for the service. But that’s unlikely to happen.

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