Travelers coming through New York’s three airports—La Guardia, JFK, and Newark—might soon feel the need to double check that they aren’t walking through the set of a science fiction movie. That’s because the airports are introducing some high-tech help in the form of “Ava”—a life-sized, computer-generated female avatar.

Ava is an absolutely fantastic customer service innovation. Like the invention of the telephone, the pager, email, and company websites before her, I think avatars will prove to be the next important step in how we use technology to improve service.

Avatars have the potential to be of great help in other high-volume service situations.

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