Self-Service - A Tale of Caution
The self-service approach has disrupted many industries and has created a number of successful businesses - from IKEA to McDonald's and when applied correctly can be a core differentiator for business models. Clients perceive (sometimes ut is the perception that counts) getting speed, convenience and sometimes even some price advantage out of the model.
Another obvious advantages for systems (bith software and enterprise) using it is scalability - part of the service scales proportionally to the users of the service and does not require investment when it's not needed.
It seems ideal fit for todays society increasingly being brought up in front of a screen.
There is no question that self-service models has become a cornerstone in many business strategies. It promises to empower individuals, reduce friction between teams, decentralize access to tools and data, and enable faster decision-making. From business users generating their own dashboards to developers deploying applications independently, self-service is reshaping how organizations operate.
There has been many success stories with self-service approaches in digitalization.
Probably the biggest success story is one that everyone forgets about.
The biggest disruptor in self-service digitalization in the past 40 years has been the humble Microsoft Excel.
A Tale of Four Markets
Business offerings can be broadly categorized based on quality and volume in four types. These categories help define how they deliver value and what their clients are primarily seeking.
Every business tgat seeks success chooses a category and caters to tge specific needs of their customers.
1. High Volume – Low Quality (Mass Market)
Examples:
Fast food chains (e.g., McDonald's), fast fashion (e.g., Zara, H&M), Temu, budget retailers (e.g., Dollar General, Shein), basic services (e.g., budget salons, discount gyms)
Client Priorities:
- Low price
- Speed
- Convenience
- Accessibility over personalization
2. High Volume – High Quality (Scalable Excellence)
Examples: Apple, Starbucks, designer bags
Client Priorities
- Consistent quality
- Reliable service
- Brand trust
- Ease of access at scale
3. Low Volume – High Quality (Premium/Niche)
Examples: Luxury brands (e.g., Patek Philippe, Rolex, Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin, Omega, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Blancpain, Cartier, A. Lange & Söhne, Rolex - although they create false scarcity and others), high-end consulting firms, artisanal food or craft businesses, boutique hotels
Client Priorities:
- Exclusivity
- Customization
- Experience and craftsmanship
- Personal service
4. Low Volume – Low Quality
(Local businesses)
Examples: Small businesses without differentiation, small unbranded dollar shops, low-quality local shops with few customers
Client Priorities:
- Usually none specific; visits are incidental or based on price or convenience alone
- Survival-based
Self-Service Works Only in High Volume Situations
Just imagine buying a Rolex watch from a kiosk or having a self check out lane in your small local grocer.
In the first situation self service cheapens the experience and in the second there is not enough volume of business to justify the capital expense.
When You Misjudge Your Customer - Power BI as a Self-Service Solution
From our current perspective it is no longer a mystery why Power BI, although extremely successful as an analytics and visualization tool, outhright failed to upturn the way executives receive actionable analytics. Basically a self-service approach was pushed in a low volume, high quality market, where its strengths were not recognized by its intented customers.
So before implementing a self-service approach in your digitalization efforts - make count of the specificities of the situation - self-service is not suitable in every case and every customer.