When technology enables greater personalization, why do so many companies throw it out the window when offering customer service?

Say “yes” to speak with a representative -- service automation frustrating customers -- Peter Weill | MIT Sloan Experts:
In the category of "major trends waiting to happen" is the computer assisted customer service system that adds to the customer experience, not merely a misplaced use of tech to save money at customers' expense.

In the linked article, MIT's Peter Weill examines a tactic called "softscaling," now being used by some companies with great success.

What are the triggers for better customer service?

• Genuine end-to-end customer relationship management (CRM,) one of the most promising uses of Big Data
• New forms of human-machine interaction, especially the maturation of voice interaction systems
• Artificial Intelligence that senses emotion levels, understands complex interactions, and escalates to human agents in the same way a caring person would escalate to a supervisor: "I think we can help you better if I bring in my boss, who has specific experience in this area."
• Business education/enlightenment to appreciate the changed rules of customer engagement and the bottom-line value of greater personalization at the front-line customer service level

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Herman Miller Co. on new technologies and the office of the future.

New Technologies, New Behaviors – Research Summaries – Herman Miller:

This is actually very cool--a look at business and workplace technology through the eyes of a furniture manufacturer.  In addition to being the source for Eames Lounge Chairs and George Miller benches, Herman Miller is also a major supplier of office systems: what we sometimes derisively refer to as "cube farms."

What should an office look like when we are using new technologies and new collaboration tools to work with?
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