There can be advantages for customers, too: convenience, speed and control, says Mr Kolsky.

ECONOMIST: REPORTS

If companies are going to jump on the self-service bandwagon, says Mr Kolsky, they had better be prepared to do it right.

ECONOMIST: REPORTS

That union, says Esteban Kolsky of Gartner, a consultancy, is now doing for the service sector what mass production once did for manufacturing: automating processes and significantly cutting costs.

ECONOMIST: REPORTS