Let’s Get Web 1.0 Right First — Web 3.0?
Why can’t simple web transactions work the way they’re supposed to?
Last year some of those web 2.0 bloggers started talking regarding web 3.0. It was quite a buzz for regarding three days ahead of they found something else to write regarding.
But even as we live in a world of “web 2.0”, why can’t big firms get simple web 1.0 stuff right? I have lots of examples, but here are just two.
First is DisneyShopping.com, the official online store for Disney (NYSE: DIS). Following Disney World managed to lose my luggage, it sent me an apology note that included three $25 gift cards. I visited DisneyShopping.com where I saw an offer for free shipping if I spent $75 or more. Perfect! I loaded up the cart with toys for my daughter and went to check out. I entered the first gift card number, but there was no way to add additional gift card numbers. I had to call client service, which informed me the system limited use to one gift card. I could use a grand total of two if I called in 30 minutes following placing my order and gave the client service rep the second card number.
Isn’t the web supposed to prevent having to make a phone call? Is it that hard for a Fortune 500 firm to program its e-commerce site to accept more than one gift card?
Another example that has me roiled up today is Paychex (NASDAQ: PAYX), which I use for payroll. I’m not going to complain regarding its 1994 user interface. It’s what goes on in the back end that throws me into a tirade.
I submit my employee payroll and deduction information through an online “time sheet”. It’s simple stuff: pay this much gross, deduct this much for dental, etc. Then I click submit, and you would think this sent the time sheet for processing automatically.
You’d be wrong. It sends the time sheet to a payroll representative who then has to manually key in all of the information into a different system. You can imagine what happens when you add a human to the process: stupid mistakes. Two months ago I had five errors on my payroll, counting stupid ones like transitioning 72.37 to 73.27.
So while the blogosphere talks regarding the greatness of web 2.0 and 3.0, I’m going to quietly pray that firms get working on web 1.0.
