Where Have All The Grocery Checkers Gone?

Bank Of Montreal To Approve Mortgages Online

New York City Installs Electronic Probation System

Telemedicine Use Increases In Rural America

DO WE NEED PEOPLE ANYMORE?

As marketers we concern ourselves with publicity, direct marketing efforts, advertising, and response rates. But how much feedback do we receive on what the buyer experiences when he or she goes into a store to buy our products, fill out an application for a loan, gain access to the right doctor, or work with electronic tech support?

Technology is not just changing the way we market and distribute products, it’s changing the way customers pay for items, get interviewed or screened. And these changes involve more than e-cash, e-mail or the web. This month, MWT presents you with five different technological advances that are dramatically altering how customers interact, purchase or maintain their relationships with vendors, doctors, even parole boards. The implications and ramifications of these technologies pose interesting new challenges for the future.

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Where Have All The Grocery Checkers Gone?

NCRCorp. has unveiled a prototype grocery express checkout system that will allow shoppers to scan, bag, and pay for their groceries without cashier assistance.

The company said the system has the look and feel of the familiar automated teller machine. The user would touch selected points on the machine’s screen to purchase groceries and even make cash withdrawals without cashier assistance.

Joanne Walter, NCR vice president of future retailing systems, said the system will speed checkout and also reduce the front-end costs of grocery retailers. The new system, which allows customers to pay by cash or credit card or debit the sale to their bank accounts, will get customers through the checkout line more quickly even when fewer checkers are on duty.

Walker said the automated systems will allow stores to have more checkout lanes open with fewer checkers needed, an advantage in a tough labor market. "There is a lot of (checker) turnover and it’s hard to get people," she added.

The system uses a sophisticated security system to keep customers honest, said Walter. A video camera watches customers as they scan their groceries’ barcodes. If it detects the customer placing an item in the shopping bag that wasn’t scanned, an on-screen alert will remind the customer to check their bag for unscanned items. The system can also be set to alert store management.

Walter said pricing has not been set for the ATM-cum-checkout system, but she predicts retailers can get a 12-month return on investment. The system is in prototype testing and will be generally available in early 1998.

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Bank Of Montreal To Approve Mortgages Online

The Bank of Montreal, one of Canada’s large national banks, has announced that it will approve mortgage applications via the Internet, almost instantly. Bank officials said they believe Bank of Montreal is the first to offer mortgage approvals in an immediate, interactive session on the World Wide Web.

The Bank of Montreal’s Mbanx electronic banking division has developed the mortgage-application system with American Management Systems, a Fairfax, Virginia, systems integrator. The Web site is linked to a host system that conducts an immediate credit check and calculates the applicant’s eligibility.

Although the system gives a near-immediate response, acceptance of a mortgage is subject to confirmation of the information the applicant has given, said Jane Weatherbie, vice president of Personal Lending Services at the bank. The applicant must come in person to a Bank of Montreal branch to complete the arrangements, she said, and can choose any branch in Canada from a list presented on the Web site.

The bank is prohibited by Canadian law from offering mortgages outside the country.

The bank’s Web site — at http://bmo.com — also includes related features such as a mortgage calculator and a system that asks would-be borrowers a series of questions and then recommends a mortgage type, Weatherbie said.

Jerry Tylman, a senior principal at AMS, said the system uses standard Netscape browser security.

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New York City Installs Electronic Probation System

Parolees won’t be able to play hand jive with their probation officers under a new electronic reporting system installed by the New York City Department of Probation. The system, developed by Pacer Infotec Inc., identifies probationers by reading their hand geometry or fingerprints features multimedia kiosks with video touch-screens.

"The system, called CheckIn, will allow probation officers to manage large caseloads better, and focus on rehabilitation and other important duties instead of routine administrative tasks," according to Pacer Infotec chairman and chief executive officer John C. Rennie.

Rennie said that under the $925,000 contract, the Probation Department will install the CheckIn units in probation offices across the city beginning in March 1997.

The CheckIn system allows probationers or parolees to check-in electronically with their probation officer on their reporting date. The system, already in use in three other states, identifies probationers and then prompts them to answer a series of predetermined questions. Rennie said the New York City system will use hand geometry as their biometric identifier.

"The Probation Department currently supervises over 60,000 adult probationers," Probation Department chief contracting officer Marlon Torres said. "A minimum of 35,000 primarily low-risk probationers will report to the CheckIn system. This will allow probation officers to focus more efficiently and effectively on the supervision of the high-risk probationer who is prone to criminal activity," he said.

Torres explained that under the CheckIn system, new probationers or parolees are enrolled during a face-to-face meeting, in which their name, identification number and other pertinent information is collected in English or Spanish, together with a photograph and their hand geometry. This information is stored in the CheckIn database, and subsequently, at each reporting date, probationers register at any CheckIn kiosk. Once the electronic reporting session is complete, the system issues a receipt to the probationer.

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Telemedicine Use Increases In Rural America

Telemedicine is taking root across America, not only in urban medical centers, but across the rural heartland as well. Although most programs are still new and usage is low, as many as one-third of America’s rural hospitals now are using telemedicine to improve patient care, according to a study conducted for the US Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP).

"Trends in telemedicine are being watched closely because of its immense promise to connect the 55 million rural Americans with specialists located in distant hospitals for diagnosis and treatment," Dr. Gary Gaumer, Abt Associates program vice president for health and co-author of the study conducted by Abt for ORHP.

According to Gaumer, the study was a two-year inquiry that began with a nationwide screening of rural hospitals, followed by an in-depth survey of established rural telemedicine programs. The screening survey was mailed in the summer of 1995 to 2,365 nonfederal rural hospitals in the US. With phone follow-up, the response rate to the survey reached 96 percent, he said.

In the study, 353 rural hospitals were identified as currently using telemedicine for direct patient care, which named an additional 205 other telemedicine affiliates ranging from urban medical centers to rural clinics to participate in the survey. In addition to the surveys, the study included an in-depth examination of four rural telemedicine networks.

Of the 499 facilities participating in rural telemedicine systems that responded to the detailed follow-up survey, Gaumer said that 340 reported using only teleradiology, while 159 others used telemedicine, or interactive video, for many diverse clinical applications.

Of the 159 programs that go beyond teleradiology, Gaumer said that more than 40 percent reported using telemedicine for one year or less, while 67 percent were using their equipment less than four times per week.

Gaumer said that most rural hospitals are using telemedicine for clinical consults, distance education, administrative meetings and demonstrations to health professionals, although some are offering their networks to community groups for other purposes as well, including education and civic functions.

The survey’s results did show a downside to telemedicine, Gaumer noted, in that equipment acquisition is costly, and connectivity and transmission costs are high.

"These costs make telemedicine an expensive method for improving access to care," Gaumer said. "High costs, combined with low volume in these young programs, yields high costs per session; however, as the volume of consults increases, the unit costs per consult will drop."

The survey also identified a number of additional barriers to telemedicine, all involving cost. The study noted that few third-party payers cover telemedicine services, costs are high, interactive sessions are inconvenient for busy clinicians and, outside of radiology, there are no standards for acceptable telemedicine practices.

"Cost is a big contributor to a perception that telemedicine may not be a cost-effective way to improves access," Andrea Hassol, senior researcher at Abt and co-author of the study, said. "The challenge for these programs is to communicate effectively the value of telemedicine and convince clinicians, both specialists and rural practitioners, to participate."

The report is on the Web at http://www.hrsa.dhhs.gov/news.html

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Electronic Tech Support Called Horrendous Says Survey

Island Data Corp, a privately held company, revealed results from an informal survey of 56 high-tech companies’ electronic technical support. Results found tech support from well-known companies through electronic mail and the World Wide Web to be "pathetic."

Island Data Corp. offers automated technical support service and serves as third party contractor handling electronic support for a number of computer industry companies. Major players on Island Data’s list included Apple Computer, Borland, IBM, AST, Delrina, Conner, Novell, 3COM and others.

Company president, Guy Jones, spoke about the results of his study. "We randomly chose 56 high-tech companies to determine whether they offered electronic technical support," he began. "This was really an informal study to help us determine the nature of technical support through e-mail. What we found shocked us."

Out of the 56 companies listed only 35 offered electronic tech support. Island Data sent each of the 35 companies simple basic tech support questions related to specific products. Only three companies, Adobe, Micropolis, and Mindscape responded on the same day. Their responses were automated and stated a more direct response would be forthcoming.

By the end of one week, only 30.4 percent had made any kind of response outside the three previously mentioned. In summary, Island Data said, "Electronic support in this test group is pathetic. Almost 70% of companies in the group did not respond within one week. Less than 6% of companies responded within one day."

According to Island Data, previous studies have shown that customers expect to receive a response to an electronic request within one day. Clearly, this expectation is not being met. The companies that have invested in auto-response and advanced electronic support are doing it very well. The same companies that provided auto-response services also followed up with a real answer the same day and customers reach an online support rep faster.

More information is available at http://www.islanddata.com.

(Contacts: Connie Olasz, NCR, 770-623-7340, e-mail to connie.olasz@atlanaga.ncr.com and Marnie Gordon at 770-431-6207; Jane Weatherbie, Bank of Montreal, 416-927-5771; Pauline Weger, American Management Systems, 703-267-5053, e-mail pauline_weger@mail.amsinc.com; Larry Kerpelman, Abt Associates Inc., 617-349-2713; e-mail larry_kerpelman@abtassoc.com; Paul Serotkin, Pacer Infotec, 508-667-8800; Rob Edenzen, Island Data, tel 619-487-9335)

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