The Hindu Business Line : Looking for good advice

The world has moved on beyond the professional expert to a new breed — the well-informed, expert-user, rather like the motorcar buff or racing enthusiast. And the new phenomenon of buyer communities comes into its own.

NEVER WAS so much advice sought by so many so often, it seems, from so few. You only have to consider the proliferation of options, models and variants in products, where some degree of specialist knowledge is essential, and a bit more than small change to pay for it. Suppose you were thinking of changing your Internet service provider, mobile phone service, income-tax consultant, mutual fund adviser or insurance agent.

What would you do? A few seconds' reflection would reveal that your hands will reach out at once to the phone to call someone — either one of the candidates for these roles themselves, or someone whom you know well enough, and who, in your opinion, is au fait with what is going on in the field.

Malcolm Gladwell, in his famous book, Tipping Point, refers to the people who hoard information and relationships the way some of us collect old coins or stamps. They seem to be made from a different mould altogether and their reach and access is as impressive as their information range is unusual. Friends and acquaintances who collect such titbits of useful information, always needed in short order, perform a function that has critical survival value. Without them technology — strange as it may seem — is totally useless. The truth is that smart machines have always outpaced smart users and outgrown them. Thus, the latest in allergy remedies, for instance, are of no avail without the doctors who can confidently prescribe them, and in whom we are willing to place our trust. So too, if one wants to buy the best combination of connectivity and computing power on one's desk-top, along with flexibility and mobility, then one's own knowledge and even the Web are not enough to make an informed and confident choice. One has to reach out to the friend who knows best.

What is more, the world has moved on beyond the professional expert to a new breed: the well-informed, expert-user, rather like the motorcar buff or racing enthusiast — and the new phenomenon of buyer communities comes into its own.

Bloggers and blogging are such recent words that they are not yet in the MS Word dictionary. They represent a new outcome, a sense of participation in making the customer experience or co-creation, which has been written about for a few years now. More and more categories will gravitate to this trend. Marketing people had better watch out! Yet, the traditional, knowledge-based specialists remain very relevant too — and here we run up against a major hurdle. Not only do these experts seldom agree but they are no longer able to keep up with what is happening with competition and ever-new regulatory frameworks. Talk to any practising chartered accountant or travel adviser and she will confess to this.

Keeping up with the latest circular from the Income-Tax Department or announcement on the Web site has never been more embarrassingly difficult. The result is that the more energetic and activist customer is often one step ahead of the so-called expert.

Yet, can we entirely do without agents and intermediaries who provide us with access, knowledge and service? The answer (at least, I find) is a resounding No! It is even more difficult than ever before for us to know all the intricacies of any system — from how to cash an IT refund cheque from the Government (never present it immediately, because it will bounce for want of `advice' from the department, so wait for a few days) or how to time purchases of mutual funds (find out the likely dates of dividend declaration) or when to get the best deals for airline tickets and so on.

Short of acquiring encyclopaedic knowledge on an array of subjects, about the only way left for you and me then is to simplify life, stick to a few advisers but not to expect them to have a better than a 70 per cent batting average. Otherwise, we can, of course, retire to an ashram!

S. Ramachander

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