Does anyone remember Full Service Gas Stations? If you live in the United States, the State of New Jersey still mandates that gas stations be Full Service and not Self-Service. Pull up to the pump, stay in the car, have someone pump the gas, have them take your payment and drive away.
But Full Service didn’t mean that they were fully open 24 hours a day. Many years ago, when Full Service was the norm, I ran out of gas and it was a Sunday and it was Easter Sunday and there was no open gas station to be found. Today, Self-Service changes that…the convenience of accessibility at anytime and anywhere makes it more palatable to lose the luxury of assistance from a human server.
Automation in technology can be a great time saver, more convenient, less expensive and resulting in a higher level of employee productivity and user satisfaction. Self-Service tools such as Password Reset tools can achieve that. But human nature tends to stick with what’s comfortable and familiar. When gas stations were transitioning to Self-Service Pumps, I still looked for the Full-Service Stations…creature of habit and lack of knowledge as to how much more convenient learning how to pump my own gas could be!
Cross Identity Xpress Password is designed with such a user in mind…making it as user friendly and as comfortable to use as possible. We respond to customer feedback and adjust to meet those needs. However, our users face the same challenge with this and other technology tools: although they may lose time waiting for the Service Desk to help reset a password, it is still a comfortable and familiar way to get a reset: letting others handle it as they have before. So, when our organization introduces a self-service tool and expect the Service Desk to be relieved of its reset volume, management is surprised when that doesn’t change! And leadership is disappointed when the company doesn’t achieve the expected ROI.
Hopefully the company has selected the right robust tool with a clean interface, well worded communications and one that resolves the password issues quickly. However, humans will be using the tool and we need to consider that the self-service password management solution might not have been configured and deployed with the users in mind. People and work cultures are unique.
With that in mind, organizations need to help their unique company community embrace the “self” in self-service. Cross Identity Xpress Password has features and guides to assist companies with the “self” in self-service. For instance, it’s worth the time to customize alerts and messages from the tool; to remind users how to use the tool and when to use the tool; to use company branding; to get feedback; to know when these users are most likely to call for help and circumvent that with good messaging.
At Cross Identity, we believe our solution will make a significant difference. However, the value of the tool is in its use, not purchase, implementation and deployment. The value is in stewarding users…cultivating users so that they use the tool.
