A tale of two American EV makers.

Dark and early today, I went to drop off our Chevrolet Bolt for it's battery recall. As there lacked way-finding signage, I drove around Carter GM for sometime to find the service entrance. I stood in line, then the service advisor spent another 15 minutes checking me in and getting signatures. Once that was complete, he informed me their driver was out so I didn't have a ride home. He then pulled out his Rolodex Autodex (!), called me a cab, and gave me a paper voucher for $12 to get home (before leaving the dealership the counter in the cab was already at $4). Needless to say, the remaining eight dollars on my voucher did not get me home.

I had three back-to-back phone calls to sort out when I could come pickup the car, and I will have to call a taxi to drive me there. This process moved as quickly as the bureaucracy and dated policies allowed.

Last week, I went to drop off my Tesla to get it's windshield replaced. I was told to leave the car absolutely anywhere in the lot. Based on my location, the app knew I was there for service and checked me in automatically. It instantly sent a $130 voucher to my Uber app. No lineup. No checkin. No signatures. I was out of my car and on my way in 60 seconds.

Once my car was ready, I got a message in my app. I texted my service advisor to thank him. I was in and out without having to talk to a single person. This process moved as quickly as I could navigate the app.

It is incredible people consider these companies to be competitors. One company is stuck in the 1980's, refusing to modernize or even accept that things are changing. The other one has figured out a way to replace an entire team with code.

Organizations, especially the larger and more bloated ones, have not yet grasped the power and efficiency good software brings. These huge companies are unwilling to invest in infrastructure that will create operational efficiency and more streamlined process. They are sacrificing customer experience, time, productivity, and for what? They do it for the comfort of doing things the same way they were done yesterday. Being agile and modern requires the courage to be comfortable with change. If you aren't willing to change, the world will move on, and so will your customers.