How do you know a company still doesn't get technology? Well, just look at the many ways companies are creating disappointment amongst their customers - and losing them - because they can't see beyond the "tool." Here's a simple case in point:

One of the neatest new developments in tech in the last decade has been the evolution of high-speed, large volume "print on demand" services. My personal favorite has been Kinkos. Although they are really ridiculously expensive, they are also amazingly convenient - which is really what you're paying for in a pinch.

For example, one of the most common ways I use Kinkos is to upload a file to their website for mass production. Frequently we do classes which involve large workbooks for the students - maybe 100 pages or more. With 50 or more students, there's no way to do that kind of work in-house effectively - especially at the last minute. And better still, the Kinkos online software is pretty neat: you can look up the branch of the Kinkos nearest to your destination, upload the software directly to their computers, choose binding types, covers, paper weights, even add tab divisions to your materials. Then, pay by credit card and jump on your plane. By the time you land, your workbooks are done and delivered (by courier) to your hotel. Nice, huh?

So, what's to be upset about all this cool stuff? On the one hand, it sounds like Kinkos has their tech working well - make it easy, provide every option to the customer to customize the print job, eliminate the need for the customer to call your (under-trained) employees, and let them pay by credit card online. In fact, it gets even better - because Kinkos will even email you (directly to my Blackberry) when your print job is ready. And that's very convenient AND reassuring when you're zapping critical print jobs to an unknown destination.

OK, enough anticipation! What's the problem? How is Kinkos mis-using their technology to disappoint?

It only takes a little thing. And yes, it was a little thing, but just enough to spoil the entire experience. While it seemed clear that dozens of engineers and testers must have helped refine the upload/configure/order and alert-me-when-it's-done process, nobody seemed to focus on any other potential communication with the customer online. So, when I got the cool email saying my print job was done EARLY last week - just as I landed and was in baggage claim - I clicked reply on my Blackberry and asked a simple question:

"What's your address so I can pick up the materials on my way to the hotel?"

Now, the response was fast; almost instant. In fact, too fast, even for the best customer service. I knew it had to be an AUTO REPLY. And I usually HATE auto replies. But I thought - surely auto-replies are smart nowadays? They should be able to read my message for common works or phrases and then respond accordingly. I mean, how many times must Kinkos have received the "what's your address" question by email in the past? Lots, right? So they would have programmed their email to simply zap-back their address so I could plug it into the GPS in the rental car and come get my goodies. Easy, right?

Nope; not even close. The auto-reply was essentially a 1970s-style e-burp. Worse than an answering machine telling me nobody was available to help me. Instead, it said, "We got your email. Here's a basic blurb about Kinkos. And if you want to find our address, CLICK HERE TO FIND IT YOURSELF".

In other words - somebody KNEW that auto responders could quickly reply to customer inquires but FAILED to consider the CONTENTS of that reply. So the technology was used as a TOOL rather than a SERVICE. Tech for the sake of tech - rather than for the sake of customer service. Bad. Bad. Bad.

The simplest - highly COMMON PIECE OF INFORMATION probably requested about a company - and they send an email telling the customer to "go to the website and look it up." All that was missing was: YOU DUMMY.

Oh, sure, they included a hyperlink directly to their webpage. Which displayed like CRAP on my Blackberry because their webgeeks probably don't even know that busy businesspeople don't sit at a computer all day looking at webpages but need to surf to WAP enabled pages on their mobile device. Even then - when I knew I wasn't going to be able to find it easily on my Blckberry - I really just MORE upset at the "do it yourself" part. It just seemd like somehow, the "auto responder" was programmed to DISAPPOINT OFF customers; not delight them.

In the end, I found the address. No, I didn't call one of their under-trained lackeys by phone. I used another technology - GOOGLE SMS - to send the phrase "Kinkos Mt Laurel NJ" to "466453" and got the address back in 1 second flat. So, sure, someone's using technology to delight their customers. Unfortunately, it just wasn't the company I was paying - and who was supposed to be doing it.