BEST FACE FORWARD

Book Description

Companies face increasingly demanding customers and a lack of skilled workers to serve them. At the same time, networked "smart" technologies - from Web sites in retailing to kiosks in shopping - are enabling managers to recruit machines into "front-office" roles that both drive down the costs of consumer interactions and deliver more satisfying customer experiences.
In Best Face Forward, Jeffrey F. Rayport and Bernard J. Jaworski argue that this unprecedented industrialization of front-office services - akin to what transpired in agriculture and manufacturing a century ago - is sparking a revolution in services that goes well beyond efficiencies gained by automation, off-shoring, and outsourcing.

Based on extensive research inside both start-up and established businesses across many industries, Best Face Forward proposes ways that companies can radically reengineer their front-office operations to deploy three types of service interfaces - people-dominant, machine-dominant, and hybrids of the two.

This book shows how new roles for technology and people will radically reshape business and competition - and ultimately create a "people-rich" workplace that benefits customers, employees, and shareholders.

In Best Face Forward, Jeffrey F. Rayport and Bernard J. Jaworski argue that as this "front-office automation" revolution unfolds, competitive advantage will increasingly depend on deploying the right mix of interfaces with customers - human, automated, and hybrids of both - to surpass current levels of performance and service. Based on extensive research inside both start-up and established businesses, Best Face Forward proposes guiding principles and a practical auditing tool for determining how humans and machines can best collaborate in mediating critical customer interactions. Far from dehumanizing the workforce, the authors show how this revolution will create a "people-rich" workplace - one that combines the unique capabilities of humans and machines to create a better world for all of us.

About the Author

Jeffrey F. Rayport is Chairman and Founder of Marketspace LLC, a subsidiary of Monitor Group. Bernard J. Jaworski is Vice-Chairman of Marketspace LLC and heads its Monitor Executive Development business unit.

Book Dimension
Height (mm) 244 　　　　　　　　 Width (mm) 164

Book Description

Companies face increasingly demanding customers and a lack of skilled workers to serve them. At the same time, networked "smart" technologies - from Web sites in retailing to kiosks in shopping - are enabling managers to recruit machines into "front-office" roles that both drive down the costs of consumer interactions and deliver more satisfying customer experiences.
In Best Face Forward, Jeffrey F. Rayport and Bernard J. Jaworski argue that this unprecedented industrialization of front-office services - akin to what transpired in agriculture and manufacturing a century ago - is sparking a revolution in services that goes well beyond efficiencies gained by automation, off-shoring, and outsourcing.

Based on extensive research inside both start-up and established businesses across many industries, Best Face Forward proposes ways that companies can radically reengineer their front-office operations to deploy three types of service interfaces - people-dominant, machine-dominant, and hybrids of the two.

This book shows how new roles for technology and people will radically reshape business and competition - and ultimately create a "people-rich" workplace that benefits customers, employees, and shareholders.

In Best Face Forward, Jeffrey F. Rayport and Bernard J. Jaworski argue that as this "front-office automation" revolution unfolds, competitive advantage will increasingly depend on deploying the right mix of interfaces with customers - human, automated, and hybrids of both - to surpass current levels of performance and service. Based on extensive research inside both start-up and established businesses, Best Face Forward proposes guiding principles and a practical auditing tool for determining how humans and machines can best collaborate in mediating critical customer interactions. Far from dehumanizing the workforce, the authors show how this revolution will create a "people-rich" workplace - one that combines the unique capabilities of humans and machines to create a better world for all of us.

About the Author

Jeffrey F. Rayport is Chairman and Founder of Marketspace LLC, a subsidiary of Monitor Group. Bernard J. Jaworski is Vice-Chairman of Marketspace LLC and heads its Monitor Executive Development business unit.

Book Dimension
Height (mm) 244 　　　　　　　　 Width (mm) 164

1 Interfaces as the next frontier of competitive advantage
1
2 The interface imperative
27
3 The front-office revolution
55
4 What people do best
87
5 What machines do best
113
6 Putting the amalgam of people and machines to work
145
7 Managing interface systems
173
8 The interface audit
207