The recession spurs self-service: Help yourself

Customers are working for companies free of charge, and they like it AMERICANS worried that cheap labour in faraway countries threatens jobs at home should redirect their gaze to the mirror. Yes, companies are outsourcing jobs—to their customers. They are steering ever greater numbers to ATMs instead of tellers, websites instead of telephone hotlines and automated checkouts instead of manned registers. The recession is making them even keener. Self-service is on the rise in industries from retailing and entertainment to travel and telecommunications. According to VDC Research Group, retailing, hospitality and health-care firms spent $2.8 billion on self-service technology in 2008. Between now and 2013 their investment will grow by around 15% a year. Speech-recognition technology, which permits automated responses to telephone calls, is also faring well. Datamonitor Group, a consultancy, expects spending on that to rise by around 8% in 2009. ... (link)