Self-service IT goes bananas
ITBusiness.ca
11/26/2004 5:00:00 PM - An important training lesson learned in the check-out lane
by Neil Sutton
Let's face it: self-service is a relative term.
It seems fairly appropriate when you're at the gas pump or the salad bar, but less so at the grocery check-out, even when you're swiping bar codes across a scanner yourself.
I had my first "self check-out" experience at a Loblaw's superstore
that opened up recently just north of Toronto. Practically any new big box retail outlet will draw crowds for its first couple of weeks either through its sheer novelty or the promise of grand opening bargains. Such was the case at this Loblaw's -- the place was teeming with overeager shoppers and the line-ups were daunting. It was then that I spied two lonely check-outs, curiously bereft of cashiers.
These self check-outs had all the usual features -- a scanner to capture the bar code information, scales to weigh produce, and a display that totaled the purchases.
A man with a small child was trying his hand at one, but was having difficulty getting the bar codes to scan. I lined up behind him and thought, "Man, this is amateur hour." I could have had this guy's stuff scanned and bagged in two minutes. He muddled through, trundled off with child in tow, and I stepped up to the plate.
Easy-peasy. I'll be done with my cart of groceries in no time while the rest of these losers wait in line. I was doing pretty well and had a decent rhythm going with the swiping and bagging. Then came the produce. Never has a bunch of bananas so befuddled a human being since apes descended from the trees and started walking upright.
No bar code.
In a move that ultimately takes the "self" out of self check-out, two employees who were waiting in the wings stepped forward and instructed me to manually tap in a four-digit code to indicate "banana." The apples and tomatoes sitting in my cart followed suit.
These women have stations in the store to aid the checkout-challenged. When a banana-wielding luddite can't figure out when to do next, they swing into action.
This really isn't unlike practically any enterprise scenario in which employees are presented new technology -- the basics are pretty self-evident, but throw a banana problem in the works and it's time to put a call in to the help desk.
Companies spend vast amounts of money sending employees on training excursions to figure out how to handle the banana problems of IT. Whether it's an HR portal, a business intelligence suite or a new PDA, staff require time and training in order to master the technology's potential.
Here at ITBusiness.ca, we devote a reasonable amount of our coverage to "training" stories since it's a universal issue within the industry. Many enterprises are using e-learning tools to communicate IT changes to their staff. It's a relatively cost-effective way of doing it and users can generally learn at their own pace. Others prefer more hands-on training and actual classroom sessions. Those tend to be more expensive and time-consuming, but the personal attention can often yield better results.
Then, of course, there's the help desk and dedicated IT workers who provide ongoing support -- answering questions, smoothing over problems and just generally troubleshooting.
The patient young women who presented me with a solution to the banana problem in the Loblaw's are the equivalent of help desk, but surely their jobs are just transitory. Sooner or later, people are going to have to figure out how to scan bananas for themselves or self check-outs will never take off.
I first heard of the technology when I started working at ITBusiness.ca almost five years ago. NCR provided a briefing at its Atlanta office and talked about the impact self check-out would eventually have on the retail industry. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see an awful lot of these devices out there.
The problem is, there really isn't any training for the public at large. Most people have watched enough cashiers swipe bar codes to intuit how do to it themselves, but the nuances of self-checkout are somewhat baffling. (I haven't even mentioned the "bagging platform" that chirps at you if you remove a bag before you've finished swiping all of your groceries. Then there's the bizarre array of payment options. Coin-feeder, anyone?)
Maybe we'll get there eventually -- after all, pumping your own gas was once considered unthinkable -- but for now, self-checkout's going to be playing second banana.
November 26, 2004 at 10:50 PM in Web lifestyle | Permalink
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