If you make  

Winnipeg 311 was recently launched in Winnipeg.  For those unaware this is a non-emergent call center that strives to answer all non-emergent inquiries.  I gave them a call to see what it was all about.  I posed the question, "where is the closest veterinarian to my home?"  As the operator was finding my answer, as an internet savvy consumer I was sitting at my computer trying to Google the answer.   I was very impressed with the speed of the operator's response!  However, many of these answers are available via the internet to any avid Googler.  Although this service does offer an incredible breadth of questions, as internet savvy consumers become more plentiful this service may not be what they are looking for.  Winnipeg 311 puts information at their fingertips as they demand, but is it in the right format?  Is a phone call the way they want to search out their answers?  My take on Winnipeg 311 is that it is catering to a specific niche of consumers by essentially bridging the gap between the Googlers and the non.

As the number of internet savvy consumers grow, it would be a logical transition for services like Winnipeg 311to gradually be phased or altertered to meet the search demands of the new consumer.   Upcoming generations will be turning to the internet, and whatever new technologies are available to them, as their primary lifeline to information.

With this breed of technology avid consumers, it is more important than ever to understand where they are looking and what they are looking for.  Programs like Google Adwords can help you be there when they are looking (read more about this).  Make sure that you are putting yourself in a position to quench your customer's thirst for information.