I just want to make sure it is noted that a tenet of design in the internet age is letting users do things for themselves. Replacing human and physical infrastructure with computer+user infrastructure. This is mostly obvious; it’s just worth keeping in mind as a way to frame new technologies.
Examples: online shopping, checking in online for flights, internet-mediated ride sharing.
“letting” users is an optimistic way of putting it. I would say that companies are replacing customer service (which costs a lot in labor hours) with customer imposition (making the customer spend the labor hours).