In the manufacturing world they use the term “monument” to refer to any piece of equipment that is too big for its purpose.
They are expensive pieces of capital equipment that drive massive economies of scale at a local level but fundamentally mess up the total system.
Because of their inflexibility they must be “fed” to get the best ROI. Examples include auto palletisers, robotic paint shops, electronic sorters.
Because they have to be fed everything revolves around them, shift patterns, stock holding, customer orders… If you have ever worked in that environment you will know exactly what I mean.
Drawing a parallel, what are the monuments in the service industry? Does the new GUI that you have spent millions on fundamentally improve the service your customers get? Or does it just optimise agent handle time and other internal measures?
Does the monument drive service efficiency or effectiveness?
Photo by Forest Simon on Unsplash
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