A lot it seems – if you have a ‘special’ character in it. Considering I attended our Teradata Universe last week when there was much discussion on how to address the ‘big data’ issue challenging many companies these days (For more on Big Data see Daniel Tehan’s blog – The Royal Wedding) – and some of the nifty solutions being implemented, I still find it annoying that computer systems still don’t consistently accept people’s surnames (and maybe given names) in their correct and legal format.
How many of you reading this have a hyphen, apostrophe or space incorporated into your name? Considering that the big data insights are primarily about improving customer experience the task of getting a name right and consistent would appear to be a critical prerequisite.
So why am I complaining? Well last week I had to make an airline booking through our company’s travel agent. This agent’s on-line system has a customer profile that includes provision for frequent flyer accounts so that I am ‘known’ to the relevant airline when I make a booking through them. This time I had to make my return flights using different airlines and after making my flight selection the system returned with a page full of red error messages. It seems that my system profile has been setup without my hyphen. Now this has not been a problem with one of the carriers as they don’t use special characters in their reservation system. However, the other airline has been considerate and does store my name as legally registered, with the hyphen. Since this is my maiden name, I have had a hyphen well before the creation of computers.
The agency interface system does not make allowances for this condition. Their solution, with the assistance of their help desk, is to remove the ‘offending’ frequent flyer profile so that the name is represented in only one format. The irony was that the person who helped me on the help desk has a space in her surname.
How hard is it to code a solution? Not very. I was working on computer payroll systems in 1969 that incorporated my hyphen. In fact, I get irritated every time I look at my boarding pass that has my name strung together and wait for the attendant try to pronounce it as they welcome me onboard.
Big data might be the current challenge and if improving the customer experience is really that important – then I suggest companies start with the basics and get their customer’s name right.
PS: I have just registered with Adobe for the ebook pdf reader and they would not accept my hyphen either! Yet another red error message.
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