The slippery path of computer-human relationships

Péladeau, Pierrot, "Le périlleux chemin de la relation informatique avec l'individu" [The slippery path of computer-human relationships]. Direction Informatique, July 2002, p. 11.

Abstract
Lack of understanding by the developers of the varied reality of organizations' clients can lead to particularly awkward blunders in client relationship management applications, especially when the clients are not considered to be partners in the computerization process. Computer science itself is implicated, in that it naturally favours manipulation of abstractions. If the status of a client amounts to being an abstract informational entity, it's hardly surprising if the administrative design of computerization projects does not take into account the specific needs of the various types of people who make up the clientele. Developers ought to devote as much attention to the human dimensions of their projects as to the conceptual or technical dimensions. Two case studies illustrate the point: the misadventures of a smart health card project, and a financial institution's system designed to give its clients access to money deposited in their accounts.

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