The marketplace in the world today is more competitive than ever before. Businesses are trying to increase profits and lower operating costs. Stockholders are insisting that companies make money, thus increasing their stock portfolios. Consumers are busier than at any point in the history of man. They work longer hours and try to squeeze more extracurricular activities into their evenings. Into this arena has come the automated customer service system.
Automated customer service has brought many advantages to today 's businessmen and consumer alike. It has decreased consumer waiting times, enabled businesses to lower operating costs, and eliminated the middleman. While it is not bug free no new innovations are. The telephone was not perfect when it was invented, and I 'd be willing to bet that the light bulb burned out a few times at the most inopportune moment before it was perfected.
As with all of these things, the automated customer servant will need time to be fully developed. One thing that is certain however, it does offer us many advantages. The consumer no longer has to deal with a worker. There 's no call for getting into an argument over the phone; this would be a little absurd considering that it is a machine that is being talked to. Not that I have ever yelled at an inanimate object because it wouldn 't do what I wanted it to do. The most important advantage the automated attendant offers in my humble opinion is the decreased waiting times. This allows the consumer the luxury of not being kept on hold while waiting to speak with a human operator, who may or may not provide good service.
Today automated customer service is a necessity. Recent years have shown an increase in the pace of the average consumers life of forty percent. This, added to the stress of today 's economy and the era of the two-income family, has given birth to the need for change. That, however, is only one side