Never assume technology is easily adopted
Today I was reminded of a story that my daughter told us a few months ago. For the last four years she has been a bank teller in an area of town primarily composed of retired individuals. The stories she tells are always humorous and full of love for the job and the people she sees on a daily basis.
Technology Use
During a normal banking day and older gentleman came in and wanted to withdraw some cash for a trip he was planning. As part of their strategy to minimize identity theft, the bank requires the consumer to swipe their ATM card and enter a PIN. This double-security approach is a great thing but a hard-sell to those customers who have been banking for 20-30 years at the same location. She often hears, "I've been coming here longer than you've been alive young lady, why do I have to verify who I am?" Fortunately during this instance, the polite customer was willing to abide by their security protocol.
"I would like to take out some money for a trip," explained the customer.
In her normal, smiling approach, "Absolutely sir, can you please swipe your ATM card and enter your PIN, so the system knows who you are?"
After stumbling around in his wallet, he finally found his card and swiped it, and then looked up at her.
"Just enter your PIN sir and we can get that money for you," she explained.
Holding up his wallet, he began digging while explaining that he has it in there somewhere.
In triumph he withdrew a small scrap of paper with a written, four digit number on it.
By this time the transaction had timed out so he had to swipe his card again, and she explained that he needed to "enter his PIN" to finish the identification process.
After swiping his card he then laid it down and immediately pulled the piece of paper through the magnetic reader.
As you can imagine, most people would smile or chuckle at this time, but her gentle nature and customer service training taught her patience as she watched him pull the paper through two more times.
Eventually she interrupted and explained that he needed to enter his PIN on the keypad; resulting in a successful transaction and happy customer.
Oftentimes in our jobs we assume more than we should because of our own experiences and view points. As a technology evangelist, I try very hard to see the positive in the tools we use and the best applications we can place them in. From our perspective, the most obvious application is not well, obvious.
Imagine how a cell phone would be perceived 100 years ago? How about a typewriter to a monk in the 1700's? Try explaining Twitter or Facebook to your Grandmother.
The challenge we have in technology adoption is one of perspective.
Once you get everyone on the same page, the rest of the story is easier to tell.
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