When was the last time you got somebody's voice mail and heard, "Your call is important to us." and/or "We're sorry we missed your call."? As the world moves to more "self-directed service" and companies tell us how much "control" we have over our accounts and how we interact with them, a question arises given the quest for greater profitability as competition becomes global. Are our calls really important or is the cost of handling the calls the greater consideration? Is the regret in missing our calls at the moment paramount, or is saving the cost of an additional customer service representative paramount? It is sad that these voice mail responses elicit such skepticism, but today it's a fact. As each of us in our businesses grapples with the challenge of providing superior customer service and strict cost containment, where we err is less divine and more human that most of us would want.

Ask yourself each time there is an opportunity to automate a process or customer contact if the change really makes it easier, better, more supportive for the customer or merely cheaper for us. If cheaper is the only, or primary, value, think twice before implementation.