What is about advanced capitalism that reproduces primitive Soviet-style customer service experiences? what bank wouldn’t want to help a valued customer stressing out about her lost payment cards and personal data. Or so we thought. Five reasons why call centres end up failing.

I don’t often post other peoples’ content. But I thought this was such a great presentation about why “online” continues to be a disruptive technology. It encompasses beautifully why putting “eLipstick” on the pig of a fragmented legacy organisation doesn’t meet customers’ service and experience expectations.

I get unreasonably impatient with bad service but turn into a love-struck puppy when a company really impresses me. But to do that, doesn’t just mean exceeding expectations. It’s increasingly about doing the seemingly impossible. The amazingly lovely Elysium Hotel gave us one of the best customer experiences of our lives. So this is a ‘customer service postcard’ from our holiday.

Great service defines a company. But a recent study by Accenture found that customer service standards are in freefall. The problem is that service is complex, cross-functional, rational and emotional. In our experience, there are five archetypal failure points of service management.

In a just world, everyone would love the new utilities like Google, Skype and Facebook. Reality isn’t like that because people expect great customer service. New utilities could meet that expectation. But they need a new approach to service management and design. Customers are demanding a good service experience and that’s exactly what the new utility’s struggle to provide when things go wrong.

The iPhone is one of the least usable phones for sending text and email but gets the highest consumer satisfaction of any smartphone. Why? It’s designed around experience not features.