Best Face Forward: Why Companies Must Improve Their Service Interfaces With Customers

by Jeffrey F. Rayport, Bernard J. Jaworski

In Best Face Forward, Jeffrey F. Rayport and Bernard J. Jaworski argue that as this "front-office automation" revolution unfolds, competitive advantage will increasingly depend on deploying the right mix of interfaces with customers - human, automated, and hybrids of both - to surpass current levels of performance and service. Based on extensive research inside both start-up and established businesses, Best Face Forward proposes guiding principles and a practical auditing tool for determining how humans and machines can best collaborate in mediating critical customer interactions. Far from dehumanizing the workforce, the authors show how this revolution will create a "people-rich" workplace - one that combines the unique capabilities of humans and machines to create a better world for all of us.

262 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005