Across Asia

I’m now in Tokyo, following a 24-hour stay in Singapore. We held 2 usability sessions for the intranet and I spent the time in between the sessions with HR. We have a greater self-service deployment in Asia than EMEA, and the folks I met with are keenly interested in doing more. The discussions centered around how to promote self-service when it’s not mandated, which translated means pulling the plug on other channels. They were interested to know what supporting communications plans we were using in North America to promote self-service. I contrasted Asia with North America in that Asia has typically provided a higher level of service through their generalists and service centers compared to NA. So the challenge is more correctly how to promote self service when it’s clearly a step down from the existing channels? I maintain that the existing ‘solutions’ including the one I manage, are missing the mark. I see more and more clearly the need to create a custom, process-driven interface to the multiple systems we use. This runs counter to our common wisdom of ‘buy, not build’ but I don’t see anything that can present these services in a coherent manner.

After a fantastic seafood dinner at an open-air restaurant on the South China Sea, we boraded our flights to Tokyo, our last stop on this outing. I’ve napped and hopefully will be awake for dinner tonight. It’s November 24th in Tokyo, Thanksgiving day for the US. Our Japanese offices host a Thanksgiving dinner for American expats and visitors, which I find charming – and I’m greatly amused that my first proper meal in Japan will be a traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner!