Human-Centric System Design

I have a personal "human-centric" story to share.

When I went to the M1 Service Center at Tampines Mall, Singapore to pay my phone bill today, I realised that I had forgotten to bring along my bill and did not know the amount to pay.

The M1 Customer Service Officer told me that she was unable to check the outstanding balance from the computer terminal at the payment counter. Billing enquiries could only be made at other counters at the service center and there was a long queue.

I was in a hurry to attend to other errands on my Saturday off and it would be a waste of time to join the queue.

She then suggested that I send a text message with just the word "Balenq" (Balance Enquiry in short) and send it to 1627, the M1 telco service number.

In under 3 seconds, I received a reply via SMS indicating my phone account number and amount due. The information was collated and linked to the M1 database of my phone bill account.

In 10 minutes flat, the whole transaction was completed. If I had to join the queue, I would have to wait for at least an hour or so.

This is the type of integrated "human-centric" system design which Michael Dertouzos wrote about in his book "The Unfinished Revolution."

Michael's theory on "how to make technology work for us - instead of the other way around" must have influenced and inspired the system designers at M1 to build a "human-centric" system to provide better service to its customers.