Airport Avatar Enters Brave New World of Customer Service

Travelers coming through the New York City areas three airportsLa Guardia, JFK, and Newarkmight soon feel the need to double check that they arent walking through the set of a science fiction movie. Thats because the airports are introducing some high-tech help in the form of Avaa life-sized, computer-generated female avatar. Shell provide answers to airport patrons common questions. Customer service expert and author Ron Kaufman says Ava the Avatar offers a fun, exciting way to improve customer service for weary travelers.

Ava is an absolutely fantastic customer service innovation, says Kaufman, author of the New York Times bestseller Uplifting Service: The Proven Path to Delighting Your Customers, Colleagues, and Everyone Else You Meet (Evolve Publishing, 2012, ISBN: 978-09847625-5-2, $14.95, www.UpliftingService.com). Like the invention of the telephone, the pager, email, and company websites before her, I think avatars will prove to be the next important step in how we use technology to improve service.

Kaufman says these avatars have the potential to be of great help in other high-volume service situations.

I was at the Marriott in Times Square the other day and I asked a hotel employee seated behind the security desk how to get up to the rotating restaurant, notes Kaufman. Im sure he gets this question a hundred times a day, so he mechanically and unsmilingly gave me the answer. Sure, the information was accurate, but it wasnt a very pleasant experience. What if, instead, there had been an avatar there saying, Hi! How can I help you? The front desk is located on Floor X. The restaurant is located on Floor Y, etc.? The information could have been relayed to me in a fun, cheery way. But most importantly, the hotel employee would have been freed from behind the desk to be a roving customer service representative, greeting and helping guests with more complicated issues.

Read on to learn more from Kaufman on how Ava the Avatar will help uplift service:

Shell work tirelessly and cheerfully all the time. Anyone in service knows how difficult it can be to be at your 100 percent best all day long. Now imagine how difficult it might be to do so at some of the busiest airports in the world. By having Ava the Avatar, these airports are offering travelers a guaranteed friendly face to come to when they need quick help, says Kaufman. Shes in the same spot all the time so shes always there when you need her. Her mood cant be shaken by busy, curt passengers. Shell always provide service with a smile. I think thats a great addition to any business.

Shell be the FAQ of the airports. While the first round of avatars wont be interactive, they will come equipped with a lot of helpful information. These avatars will be like the FAQs of the airports, says Kaufman. Theyll provide a one-stop location for getting information on flights, restroom location, taxi location, and so on. All those things we want to know as travelers but dont want to spend time running around finding an airport employee to ask.

Shell free up airport employees to do what a machine could never do. Naturally, the first inclination will be for people to be concerned that these avatars will replace jobs done by humans. At least for now, that doesnt seem to be the case, as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has said in addition to adding Ava, it will be boosting its customer service staff by 20 percent.

I dont think any service provider should be afraid of this technology, says Kaufman. Many customer service situations require free thinking, something only humans are capable of. For example, sometimes the rules need to be bent to make a customer happy. Youll need an actual person there to decide when that is and isnt appropriate. Sometimes you have to go that extra mile, for example, physically walking with someone from one place to another, and obviously an avatar cant do that. I really think service providers will be pleased to see how this frees them up to do what technology can never doprovide truly personal, unique, out-of-the-box, unexpected service situations.

Eventually, shell be able to provide specialized care. As the technology develops, I think avatars will be a great way for companies to provide efficient, specialized help to customers, says Kaufman. For example, perhaps theyll be able to recognize different languages and respond in kind to customersa great asset for an airport. Perhaps theyll be able to recognize a child or someone with special needs and immediately be able to answer the questions or concerns of those groups. The next step might be a 3-D holographic service advisor who will know your name, where you have been and where you are going, and can walk you there and converse with you in real-time. The possibilities are endless, and it really is exciting to think about what a boost this technology can provide to service.

At $180,000 for a six-month rental, the avatars price tag is probably too hefty for many small or mid-size companies, says Kaufman. But for high-volume businesses like these airports, its probably quite reasonable, especially when you consider that theyll free up other employees to do their jobs more efficiently.

It will be very interesting to see what travelers think of Ava the Avatar once shes installed at these airports, says Kaufman. I suspect theyll find that shes a positive service improvement, both in the helpful information shell provide and in the way shell free up airport employees to provide even greater service themselves. Heres to the future of uplifting service!

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About the Author:
Ron Kaufman is the author of the New York Times bestseller Uplifting Service: The Proven Path to Delighting Your Customers, Colleagues, and Everyone Else You Meet (Evolve Publishing, 2012, ISBN: 978-09847625-5-2, $14.95, www.UpliftingService.com). He is the worlds premiere thought leader, educator, and motivator for uplifting customer service and building service cultures in many of the worlds largest and most respected organizations, including Singapore Airlines, Nokia Siemens Networks, Citibank, Microsoft, and Xerox. He is the founder of UP! Your Service, a global service education and management consultancy firm with offices in the United States and Singapore.

Ron is a columnist at Bloomberg Businessweek and the author of 14 other books on service, business, and inspiration. Ron has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and USA Today.

With powerful insights from working with clients all over the world in every major industry for more than 20 years, Ron is an inspiration to leaders and managers in his high-content, high-energy speeches and impactful, interactive workshops. He is rated one of the worlds Top 25 Whos Hot speakers by Speaker magazine. He is passionately committed to uplifting the spirit and practice of service worldwide.

About the Book:
Uplifting Service: The Proven Path to Delighting Your Customers, Colleagues, and Everyone Else You Meet (Evolve Publishing, 2012, ISBN: 978-09847625-5-2, $14.95, www.UpliftingService.com) is available at bookstores nationwide and all major online booksellers.