Devil's Advocate: Call that automation?

Whether it's moving pension funds, switching ISPs or any one of hundreds of other tasks, Martin Brampton sees barriers put up by IT as much as torn down. Does it have to be that way?

I thought it would be easy. My request was simple enough, just the transfer of a small pension fund from one provider to another. With automated systems, data repositories and customer service systems, surely it was a simple matter? But it seems that as fast as we speed up one process, something else slows us down.

It all started more than a year ago. I made my choice to move a very small pension entitlement into a slightly more substantial fund. It would give me a better pension one day and be easier to manage until that day came. But my request was lost a couple of times and it took me a while to notice, so time drifted by. Then it seemed things had started moving.

I received a letter from the administrators of the small fund, asking for details of where the money was to go. That would have seemed reasonable, were it not that they asked for all kinds of codes and numbers and authorities. I had no idea what they were talking about. So I rang to ask them how I could possibly give them the requested information.

They assured me that I was not expected to know and suggested I pass on their letter to the administrators of the bigger fund. Well, that seemed an ideal application for an XML-based system between pension fund providers, using an agreed document standard. After all, they were using jargon that presumably meant something to people inside the pensions industry. In the absence of that kind of technology, I forwarded the letter by post.

At first, I thought the problem was solved. Now, a few weeks later, I have received a book of questions from the company that runs my bigger fund, asking for all kinds of details about the small fund I want to transfer. It asks even more arcane questions, including apparently expecting me to know whether the old fund was approved under Chapter I Part XIV of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988.

Now I have to confess, I have not read any of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act of 1988, nor do I know whether any of my modest collection of pension funds have been approved under any chapter of the act. And it seems to me that these seemingly simple administrative tasks are getting harder and harder.

Automation has made it much easier to carry out many tasks, such as managing an ordinary bank account. Also, it is usually quite easy to set up new arrangements, such as the Surf Time flat rate internet service that was my best available option at one time.

In May this year, BT at last made broadband available in the small country town that is my home. After a few hiccoughs, I had a high-speed internet link coming into the house and distributed across the whole family using a basic wireless network. Magnificent! All that remained was to cancel the old internet access arrangement.

The ISP was relatively easy. It took only about 15 minutes of paying exorbitant phone charges to listen to a tinny rendition of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" followed by a few moments giving details to the call centre operator who eventually took the call. Surf Time is split into two, though, and I still had to contact BT to cancel their half of the service.

At least their phone call was free but it was taking a very long time to get an answer, with a recorded voice urging me to use the internet instead. Being cautious, I hung on to the phone with one hand, simultaneously searching around the BT website with the other hand. It took me a while to navigate to the correct place and to fill in all the relevant account details.

Then the website informed me that its computers were overloaded and it could not deal with my transaction. The voice call still consisted of the usual disembodied voices assuring me of the importance of my call and how keen the company was to speak to me. Fortunately, I found a web page that had a button requesting a call back and, finally, an hour or two later, my Surf Time subscription was consigned to history.

I am left wondering how much has really been gained from all this automation? While in some ways I seem to have all kinds of new facilities at my disposal, just dealing with the everyday bureaucratic issues is somehow taking more and more of my time. Is there any escape?