Customer-service representatives at Bell Mobility, the wireless unit of Bell Canada, can make instant offers based on a customer's calling patterns, his age and the way similar customers have reacted to such offers.

ECONOMIST: Always-on people

The project accelerated late last year after Gordon Shank, then president of Levi's Americas unit and now Levi's chief marketing officer, visited a customer-service center and heard the frustration firsthand.

FORBES: Digital denim

An advice and response unit is being set up in Northampton's central Market Square where Anglian Water experts and customer service staff will be available to answer any concerns of residents, she said.

BBC: Schools still shut over water bug