The tech cred principle

Not that this is a very refined principle, and your mileage from it may indeed vary, but I`ve come up with a way of pre-judging companies by looking for them on the Web first.

Not that this is a very refined principle, and your mileage from it may indeed vary, but I`ve come up with a way of pre-judging companies by looking for them on the Web first.

I recently decided to familiarise myself with the range of personal investment services. Unit trusts, investment funds, retirement annuities - the spectrum can be quite bewildering for someone without a financial wizard`s expertise. The way I usually reseach anything is by looking on the Web first and reading up on it. This usually gives a good international perspective and might lead me in the right direction via unexpected paths.

Some financial service companies have very spiffy Web sites, others are still stuck in the Web dark ages where "Web site" mysteriously means last year`s marketing brochure. After obtaining general explanations and guidance, it occurred to me that the Web was actually quite a good bench mark for finding the right financial service provider. Doesn`t good responsiveness and a broad spectrum of services online imply that the company is agressive, forward-looking and generally switched on? These are all qualities I take as a personal benchmark. After all, I chose my bank according to the quality of its Internet banking facility.

So I filled in some feedback forms last weekend, asking for something quite simple - a spreadsheet or other modeling tool which would enable me to plug some of my own numbers into different types of unit trusts and watch the capital growth and returns over time. I thought, "At the very least, it will be interesting to see who responds first and what the quality of their responses will be." I even typed in my real address and phone numbers, thinking that I`d allow them every possible way of responding.

In a list of "Web ventures that work", Investec get big bonus points from me. By the time Monday morning came around, I had both a friendly return email and a voice mail message waiting for me at the office, asking me to get in touch to discuss possibilities. Very impressive. Generally, interaction with Investec was so pleasant that I commented to the sales consultant during a phone conversation that they did really well. She was happy to hear it and jokingly suggested I should tell her boss. Naturally, I did (I`m a big fan of giving positive as well as negative feedback).

Investec`s Web business really deserves high accolades. It was a pleasure to deal with them. Going back to my idea in last week`s column of talking about a "communications mix", they seem to have grasped the principle. I find a mix of online information, online signup and trading, phone consultation and - if need be - longer documents by fax quite acceptable. The main thing, as always when doing business on the Web, is of course reaction time and the assumption that a Web customer isn`t a faceless entity but deserves quick service. It`s cultural, and I think Investec have managed to engender that in their organisation. This is the type of Web business that I would feel comfortable dealing with.

Usually, South African reviewers assume that US businesses have this Web trading thing licked and that on our shores, we`re behind, slow; that we don`t get it. I beg to differ. I recently placed an order at Music Boulevard, an online CD retailer. I ordered two CDs. The catch with this order was that I decided, a day later, that I didn`t want them after all. So I cancelled. The problem was that Music Boulevard`s databases aren`t talking to each other. I emailed my request for order cancellation to their general customer service desk and got a response, within a few hours, saying my order was cancelled. "Good," I thought. "Nothing more to do here."

A few days later, I signed into their Web server with my account details, and what do my sore Web shopper`s eyes see but the exact same order, its status marked: pending shipping? I immediately mailed them again and pointed this out. I got mail back informing me that the order wouldn`t be shipped and that it had been cancelled. So I laid it to rest. A few days ago, the DHL man pitches up and hands me a package containing one CD from my original order. The invoice shows the other CD as "backordered". I phoned DHL who informed me that it was probably best to simply write, "Return to origin" on the parcel and give it back to the courier. I then sent furious mail to Music Boulevard.

Today (a few days later) I got a vaguely apologetic response, saying that they were upgrading databases and that various servers weren`t synchronised (ie warehouse and ordering databases weren`t connected). They apologised. Disillusioned, I`m now waiting for a charge to be made to my credit card, sort of to add insult to injury.

This is the sort of thing that gives Web commerce a bad name. And it`s especially bad coming from a renowned retailer like Music Boulevard.

Interactive commerce is all about responding to your customer. Sure, it is about having your systems in order, making sure all the databases talk to each other, etc. But it`s primarily cultural: it requires deep buy-in throughout your organisation, and everyone has to take it seriously.

So the "Tech Cred" principle needs to be refined a bit after all: it`s not enough to have a decent site with good information and trading facilities, although that`s a good starting point. A Web site is like a window onto a company`s technical foresight, while great customer service and responsiveness is the door through which customers will actually enter into a relationship with you.

Well, enough of the strained metaphors. My principle may not be the last word, but suffice it to say that certain SA financial service companies didn`t even make it onto my shortlist. Why? They didn`t have anything useful on their Web sites.