Comments on: “If it ain’t broke, you ain’t looking hard enough”

By: Jefferson Vancura

Jefferson Vancura — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:00:19 +0000

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By: Kobi Korsah

Kobi Korsah — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:32:13 +0000

When you’re right you’re right. I could not agree more. I would add that converting potential customer traffic into an assured revenue stream, retaining that custom and attracting more, depends on your ability to consistently exceed expectations of the buying experience. As customers interact with progressively sophisticated services – fuelled by the innovative use of web-technologies – they unwittingly reach through complex web apps into layers of IT sediment and the risk of service expectation gaps increases. Alertness and speed of reaction to customer satisfaction risks requires extraordinary service performance insight. With tools like the CA Wily Application Performance Management solution, companies can achieve desired levels of online customer satisfaction and maintain SLAs. This means better customer service, more stable revenue streams and higher productivity. You can explore this viewpoint further at http://www.ca.com/gb/content/campaign.aspx?cid=212132

By: Kevin Ertell

Kevin Ertell — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:12:10 +0000

Thanks for your comments, Chris. I hadn’t heard the term “software rot” before, but it makes a lot of sense. I read the wikipedia article you posted, and there’s some good information there. I definitely agree that websites rot much faster, especially because they can quickly seem dated and insufficient when compared so easily to other sites with better usability and capabilities.

By: Kevin Ertell

Kevin Ertell — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:20:10 +0000

Thanks for your comment, Jason. I agree that continuous improvement can mean different frequencies for different companies. To me, the key is to build a business model around the idea that continuous improvements are necessary to compete in the online marketplace. That potentially means thinking differently about resource allocations, organizational structures, budgets and processes. I absolutely agree that continuous measurement of effectiveness in the eyes of the customer is key to understanding when are where those continuous improvements should be directed.

By: Chris Eagle

Chris Eagle — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:36:44 +0000

Unfortunately, I’d guess there are two groups, those who get it and those who don’t.
Those who get it understand that web sites need continuous work. Those who don’t get it think their web site is ‘finished’ and doesn’t need to be changed except for normal maintenance, just like their HR system or inventory management system. Simply put: all software rots, but web sites rot at warp speed and a lot of companies don’t even understand normal software rot. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_rot)
I love the steps you point out but it seems to me, for a lot of the companies that are suffering decreasing CustSat, they need a step 0 – “It’s breaking all the time.”