Kiosk Customer Service?

This was posted today on the net.

IT depicts a way to deal with big

discounter boxes; it has NOTHING
to do with customer service.

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end of human help in stores?

Posted: Friday, July 18 at 03:45 am CT by Bob Sullivan

Imagine standing in a retail store desperately looking for help from someone, anyone, and being directed to ... a computer screen.

"No one here can help you," a clerk might say. "But someone 1,500 miles away probably can."

This just might be the future of customer service. Two companies, with products named Live Agent and Live Support, hope that consumers who today wander aimlessly through store aisles looking for help would be happy to use videoconference kiosks instead.

Already, shoppers in 34 Canadian Staples Business Depot stores all around the country have the option of getting video help from operators based in Toronto, according to Seattle-based Experticity, which makes the video kiosks for Staples.

Stores that are strapped for cash and have trouble hiring knowledgeable employees can offer better customer service through videoconference kiosks, says Chris Woods, chief technology officer of ClairVista, which makes Live Expert. Companies can also save money by leaning on a centralized staff, he said.

"Everybody who goes into a retail store today and walks away frustrated that they could not get their questions answered can get the help they need," Woods says.

Experticity

But won't customers lean on the exit doors after realizing the store has no plans to provide live human beings to help? DL Baron, CEO of Experticity, says just the opposite has occurred in trials at Staples.

"We found that consumers are lining up to talk to the person on the screen because they know the dopey kid behind the counter can't answer their question," he said. "When consumers start using it, it becomes their preferred mode of engagement."