Quotation of the Week, re Moving Work to Customers

“…. A subtle, calculated business principle enabled by today’s electronic technology and increasingly used by businesses and government is to move work to customers….“

From: NCSC’s “Multnomah County, Oregon, Circuit Court New Central Courthouse Planning and Space Programming Final Report,” August 2014

Context: “…. 1.2. Customer-Centric, Customer-Friendly Work Processes

A subtle, calculated business principle enabled by today’s electronic technology and increasingly used by businesses and government is to move work to customers. Electronic banking, airline ticket purchases, and internet shopping (i.e., Amazon, E-Bay, Hotel.com, etc.) are prime examples, as is e-filing. By doing so, the number of business transactions that require staff to engage in one-to-one (i.e., face-to-face, phone-to-phone, email-to-email, etc.) contact with a court user is reduced, saving time, money – and space – while enhancing productivity and efficiency….”  [Page 18 of the report, page 27 of the PDF.]