Near Miami, Florida stands a nine-story, double-chute tower slide that corkscrews adults and children down 93 feet.
Any guesses on where you could “slide” into line for this ride of a lifetime? Hint: it’s not Disney. A recent New York Times article featured the thriving Aventura Mall, home of the nine-story slide, to headline a story about the dying in-person shopping phenomenon. Almost in the same breath, another article said “Talk to the Hand,” as it illustrated Amazon’s vision for putting purchasing power in your palm – literally.
Both articles were top features on LinkedIn’s newsfeed, and dozens of readers chimed in with support of these experience-centric concepts. Today’s most innovative companies are investing their time and research on developing more positive shopping experiences, lending itself to more attractive mall environments where people – even those who aren’t “shoppers” – want to spend their time. Now imagine applying those same consumer-and-staff-first strategies to places and processes frequented out of necessity?
Places like clerks’ offices, the DMV and other government agencies, and even insurance organizations who manually certify and process paperwork like, well, it’s their job. The truth is, it’s not. Their job is to help people by getting them the documentation and information they need to move forward. And in such people-first environments, just like in malls, shouldn’t we also be focusing on a five-star experience?
Imagine this Certifiably Simple Experience
Molly is a single, working mom of two and, amidst a legal dispute, needs a court-certified document.
Experience One: The clerk’s office closes at 5 p.m., which is also the time Molly usually gets off work to pick up her kids from the sitter. In order to get her certified documents, Molly scrambles to find someone to cover her shift so she can leave work early. Doing so means Molly loses out on a few hours’ worth of wages while also paying the sitter extra for keeping the kids a bit longer. After stopping for gas and commuting across town, Molly walks toward the clerk’s office only to be greeted with a line of people. Behind the desk sit two court clerks, only able to work at the speed of manually raising seals, validating identities and double-checking security protocols for each foot-tapping citizen. An hour later, Molly finally reaches the desk, quickly Venmo-ing the sitter even more money for the unexpected wait.
Experience two: Before leaving for work, Molly logs on to the county clerk’s website and requests a certified copy of the documents she needs. At the clerk’s office, the clerks receive Molly’s request and, with the click of a button, create an official, certified document. Within minutes, the certified document is uploaded to the eCertification portal, and Molly is automatically emailed with a link, encryption key and instructions on accessing her certified copy. For everyone’s protection, the already-encrypted documents are configured to expire within a certain timeframe to ensure that private information is further protected. After leaving work at her normal time and picking up her kids, Molly comes home and downloads her certified documents in between bites of dinner with her children.
Two vastly different experiences yielding the same result. In Molly’s case, leveraging a virtual portal made a world of difference amidst an already stressful situation. From the clerk’s perspective, (s)he was able to do his/her job – assist someone, and probably many others that same day – with ease and no sense of overwhelm. You see, this is the “why” behind digital transformation. It’s not about being “high tech” or “ahead of the curve” – it’s about doing better by people through their day-to-day interactions with the world.
Dare We Work Like We Shop?
Certifying and requesting records and documents will never be as fun as gliding down a 93 ft. slide – such is life. But in a world where we get excited about simplifying purchases to the mere scan of a hand and offering up memorable experiences to consumers outside of instant gratification’s euphoria, don’t we owe our every-day experiences that same ease and innovative approach?
Transform your raised seals to raised standards by exploring a certifiably simple, streamlined approach to every-day to do’s. Because when we learn to work like we shop, we don’t have to work ‘til we drop.
We Want to Hear From you!
If you could work like you shop, what experiences would change and how?
Reply on LinkedIn or in the “comments” section below. We read and respond – promise!
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