In this clamour to embrace our customers it’s important not to lose sight of how we can align their needs with those of our business.

A website or application needs to serve both your customer and your business. We call this “iCubed”. While the concept is “bleedin’ obvious” – by giving it an explicit label, it means we don’t lose focus of this purpose.

Hand dryer versus the hand towel

A few weeks ago our toilet hand dryer went AWOL. The reason? There was an electrical problem - the building is using too much juice – and something had to give.

Steorn, our next door neighbours, are still working on their free magnetic energy generation technology but obviously we couldn’t wait that long.

In trying to solve a business problem, and keep users happy, the hand dryer was replaced with a hand towel dispenser. Note the result in the photo.

In effect, what has happened in replacing “their system”, the building managers haven’t replaced “their process” – which would mean replacing soggy towels at least three times a day, a new internal inefficiency.

The suffering user

And who bears the result of this? The unsuspecting user who now has to dry their hands on the back of their jeans.

It’s quite easy to see how easy it is for the user to suffer when the business changes “just one little thing”. A failure to solve a problem from “inside-out”, but also creating a new problem from the “outside-in”.

A better solution?

Efficient motor and design uses up to 83% less energy than other hand dryers.

The Dyson Airblade may have been a better solution – it could give all users “an experience” when mundanely drying their hands while saving our building managers from having to collect and replace soggy towels all day.

Other examples of “Loo-I Design”

Check out a previous post, Fitt’s Law in the Lavatory