Jeffrey founded the International Technology Group, a market research firm in Los Altos, Calif., in 1983 as an IBM-watching company, but broadened its focus as demand for detailed third-party examination of IBM products and policies decreased. Today, ITG analyzes marketing issues. In a recent report on Internet commerce, Jeffrey found the average response time from phone-based customer service was 5 seconds, while Web-based customer service pages averaged 29 seconds to respond to a query. That kind of service, he says, "produces a steady accumulation of dissatisfied customers."
In financial services, where a customer's lifetime value to a single vendor may be as high as $1 million, companies "can't afford to irritate customers" with slow response times.
Paul Schindler talked to Brian Jeffrey about the changes that have to occur before e-commerce becomes real. (Recorded Feb. 10, 1998.)
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Los Altos, Calif.
Education
Masters degree, St. Catherine's College, Cambridge, Economics.
Career
After working for several European firms, came to the U.S. with Burroughs in 1980 and has been a consultant since 1983.
First Computer
"I remember my first PC vividly. It was a Macintosh. I remember telling them at the time the screen was far too small. I haven't changed my opinion about that. It was an embarrasing experience, like the first time you have sex. It took me a couple of weeks to master it. Then when the Internet came along, it took me a couple of weeks to master Netscape and all that. I believe, as Groucho Marx does, that a four-year-old child could do this -- so we have retained a four-year-old child on the staff, who deals with questions related to Internet access."
First Internet experience
Optimistic statement about the Internet
Pessimistic statement about the Internet
"I was amazed at how slow and unreliable it was. I am still amazed at how slow and unreliable it is. The quantity of information is amazing. It is faster than finding information by phone or mail. As a vehicle for customer service it is a disaster."
"It's going to catalyze change in a lot of businesses, including telecom, banking, and particularly in the international payments system. These are changes which are long overdue. It will push deregulation and genuine competition in all of these areas."
"I am concerned that the world payments system can be stuck up by any nerd with a modem. That becomes a rather disturbing prospect. Anybody who knows how the world payment system works, knows it is very stable, predictable, and secure. No one knows what will happen if very large electronic funds transfers take place over an insecure medium."