bfcanada The assumption syndrome
And what am I talking about now? After having spent the last six months carrying out informal interviews with various levels of staff from the banking industry, I have come to the conclusion that alas! A very growing and concerning syndrome has crept quietly into our landscape and unfortunately it is going to be both customers, clients, and dedicated staff who are going to suffer at the hands of those higher up management who have unfortunately assumed that certain requirements need to be fulfilled no matter what and woe to those growing groups of very important consumers; seniors and persons with disabilities.
I guess that it is coming down to a matter of the higher ups in companies deliberately choosing to do all that they can to increase their bottom lines at the expense of the more vulnerable and you know what? Whenever the going gets tough for these folks in their ivory towers the first thing that they do is to cut services to the vulnerable so why should I be surprised anyway?
In my humble opinion, higher levels of management in not just the banking industry but in several other industries as well have decided that ready or not the online way is the right way to go! Mobile apps and mobile banking is the way to go! Using apps to carry out tasks such as ordering, purchasing, and engaging and communicating with the world is the only way to go. Then when you have developers who ought to know better deliberately developing apps that clearly ignore the needs of those with vision challenges it only serves to rub salt in the wounds!
The heck with those seniors who either do not own or know how to use a cell phone! The heck with a growing group of consumers who either do not have access to wi-fi, do not know how to cope, do not have the training, or who simply cannot afford to keep up with the online landscape! In short this picture is riddled with decision makers who appear to have tunnel vision. Who have not taken the time to engage and communicate with those groups who are directly affected; their own staff, and seniors and persons with disabilities.
My research has also revealed that too many mainstream consumers feel the very same way! So what is driving this very unhealthy syndrome? A need to satisfy the urge to rough ride over the real needs of important stake holders? A wanton disregard for the needs of the said groups mentioned above? Or maybe it is simply decision makers who have missed the boat completely and who find it easier to give in to their own desires instead of taking time to sit down and to start thinking outside the box!
Just my two cents for today!
Image. 3 smart phones stand next to each other, each with a different screen shot of the AccessNow app displayed on their screen.
To learn more about me as an award winning sight loss coach and advocate visit http://www.donnajodhan.com