Archive for the ‘airline staff’ tag
Paying with your smartphone at Starbucks UK
When Starbucks announced recently that an Android app is now available in the UK to let you pay for your coffee and other products in store with that app, I was looking forward to trying it out.
And I finally did that yesterday at Starbucks in Hammersmith Broadway, west London, in a process that took less than ten seconds to complete:
- Load app and log in to your Starbucks account
- Hit ‘Pay Now’
- Hold phone to store’s barcode scanner and scan barcode that appears on your phone’s screen
- Done!
Using an app on a smartphone to complete a financial transaction is nothing new these days – think of Amazon and PayPal as two good examples. But having the process from end to end work so smoothly is a refreshing experience.
Too often you encounter a cool new way of doing something that uses your mobile device as the transaction medium, only for something in the experience chain to fail.
Typically it’s not the technology at fault but rather another part of the process, eg, an employee not being aware of the cool new way of doing something or not knowing what to do – which suggests a likely fault in the organization’s communication and/or training rather than being the employee’s
A ‘good’ example of a bad experience in this regard is QR code boarding passes: in my experience, I often get confused looks from airline staff at boarding.
In the case of the Starbucks Android app in the UK, end-to-end continuity was 100 percent yesterday. Not only did the store employee know about it – I imagine from experience with the similar app for iPhone that’s been available for a while – but knew exactly what to do and what to tell me.
All with a nice smile.
The app also lets you manage your card account including topping it up if you’ve associated a credit card or PayPal account with it, as well as manage your Starbucks Rewards loyalty points, and find a store location.
As mobile devices become ever more useful to people where completing a transaction of one sort or another becomes commonplace and simple to do, it’s the overall experience you have that will be the important element in the process, not the tool you use; and your overall perception of the brand and your desire to continue engaging with it.
A really good example of that comes readily to mind – the Foursquare and American Express promo in the UK with partners like Tesco where the process is all behind the scenes, leaving the great experience as the focus of your attention and remains in your memory.
So I’m looking forward to another such Starbucks experience again. Which reminds me, from looking at the screenshots, I ought to top up…
Related posts:
- American Express and Foursquare connect in the UK
- Evolving the shopping experience
- Shopkick may redefine consumer loyalty
You Are The Company That You Keep
It’s a question of scruples: is what you do off of the company’s time any of the company’s business?
It’s hard to answer "yes" to that question. We’re entitled to do (and be) whoever we want on our own time so long as when we’re on the job, we’re doing everything we can to meet or exceed the requirements and expectations of our employers. The problem is that many of our lives are no longer all that private at all. I’m currently reading Jeff Jarvis‘ latest business book, Public Parts, and it is – without question – challenging me to think very differently about the concept of privacy. It’s not just Jarvis. Increasingly, our jobs and lives are one. They’re not delineated by the weekdays from nine to five. We have Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and more where we are sharing anything and everything that we’re up to. To say that you can separate which part of that life is work and personal is also becoming that much more fuzzy.
That being said, when you’re on the job, you are the company (or at least a representative of it).
RIM (the makers of BlackBerry) don’t need any more stress than they already have (for proof of that, please see this: Business Insider – RIM’s Absolutely Awful Year). This past week, two of their executives got drunk on a flight, allegedly became belligerent, were restrained by airline staff and passengers, forced the flight to land and the story just keeps on getting uglier. I was surprised to see a Blog post on BlackBerry Cool called, The Air Canada Issue Has Nothing to Do With RIM that stated: "So two drunks were charged with mischief and had to be removed from an Air Canada flight from Toronto to Beijing. Why is it relevant that they’re RIM employees? Stories like this have been reported before, but the place of work for those charged is never disclosed because it’s simply not relevant. Did RIM as a company have anything to do with them being drunk? Of course not. Also, have you ever taken a flight from Toronto to Beijing? I dare you to fly for 13 hours without getting blackout drunk. It’s boring as hell."
It’s not that simple.
These two executives were travelling on business for RIM… not pleasure. Their tickets were paid for by RIM (their employer). I would argue that they are ambassadors for the business that employs them 24 hours a day (especially because they are executives). I would argue even harder that if they’re travelling for business, then they represent the business. This issue has everything to do with RIM because these two were "on the clock." Is RIM responsible for their behavior? No. But, these two should know that when they’re travelling for business, they are the business. I believe that RIM’s name was front and center in this story because of this.
In a twenty-four hour world.
It’s easy to run. It’s easy to hide. It’s easy to say that your private life is private. The challenge is when you’re posting and sharing all of this "private" stuff for everyone to see, share and comment on. One simple way to work around this is to ensure that you and the company that you keep have shared values. This goes over and above your employment and your non-disclosure agreements. Think very seriously about your "private" actions and ask yourself, "if this should happen to get on YouTube, how will it be perceived in terms of my professional life?" While that may sound, harsh, cold, and/or impractical, we have to realize how much our world has changed. In the instance of RIM, it seems pretty cut and dry (considering that they were travelling for business), but this Blog post isn’t about RIM… it’s about all of us and how we think and act (day in and day out). In the case of RIM, the two executives (who pleaded guilty) were fired (more on that here: The New York Times – 2 RIM Executives Are Fired for Disturbance on Flight).
The lesson? You are the company that you keep.
Tags: