As we continue to evolve in the ever changing world of technology, my hope is that businesses keep their eye on the customer. There is no question that technology has improved, enhanced, and simplified many processes. But, what I am talking about is customer processes that should always stay manual and personal.
"Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or customer gets out of it." - Peter Drucker
On a recent cross country road trip with my niece, we had an experience at a Starbucks that was less than desirable. 
We woke up bright and early ready for day number 2 on the road. At 5:30AM all we desired was a big and delicious cup of coffee. We pulled up to the drive thru shortly after the store opened and placed our order of 2 venti skinny vanilla lattes. We pulled forward to the window and waited behind another car in line. We then sat...and sat, and sat. We waited over 10 minutes and expected the drive thru window to open and hand the car in front of us 20 coffees for their entire office staff. However, that was not the case. One cup of coffee was handed to the driver. Off they drove, and now it was our turn. We were so surprised by the long wait, so when we pulled up we were sure there would be an apology and possibly even compensation for our wait. Not the case. We paid for our coffee with no apology or even pleasant greeting. My niece was still unhappy about our experience so she jumped on Twitter and sent Starbucks a tweet about our experience. Within moments, we had a response from Starbucks on Twitter asking for more information.
After our tweet to Starbucks, my niece received an email from Jeffrey R, who is a customer service agent with Starbucks. He asked for details of our experience, was concerned, apologetic, and empathized with us. After several email exchanges, Jeffrey R. made our prior negative experience with Starbucks now into a positive memorable exchange due to the personal touch he gave our situation and the special attention he gave to us.
The ability to quickly alert a company of a complaint or compliment with the use of technology is remarkable. This has changed the customer process in a way that gives customers and companies the accessability and efficiency to handle situtations that arise immediately. My hope for this world of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and more is that we do not lose the personal contact and relationships that are so important to customer service and customer experiences. What my experience with Starbucks has taught me is that there are still companies and people out there doing it right.
