The Technology Gamble
Updated: Oct 15, 2022
Technology continues to make advancements at what seems like the speed of light. Now more than ever technology is helping both the private and public sectors to become more efficient and effective.
What Technology Can do
Increase efficiency and effectiveness through process consistency and systems development
Create economic efficiencies in areas where human resources would be wasted doing such tasks
Enhance the product development process
Enhance the efficiency of employees at all levels within and organization
Enhance customer service by providing a variety of options when it comes to communication and information
Enhance customer satisfaction when it comes to product use
Destroy relationships and the customer's experience with the organization
Lead to a lot of wasted time
It is certainly true that technology has made life easier. If a business is primarily transactional, certain technologies can drive the business. However, those businesses will always be subject to the transactional effect, which is a lack of customer loyalty.
What Technology Can't Do
Develop collaborative organizations
Set goals and a strategy for taking an organization to the next level
Read the verbal tones, non-verbal expressions, and attitudes of people and use that information to enhance the customer experience, improve product quality, and positively develop the organization as a whole
Create innovative products through the observation of customer behaviors
Predict future product development through market analysis and the observation of cultural changes
Develop organizational culture and create a work environment that is empathetic to the human needs
Create a warm and inviting climate that enhances the overall experience
Relate to the customers emotional needs
As much as technology has made life easier, technology has also made life more stressful. It has also become a causal factor for much life dissatisfaction. For example, while cell phones are a great communications tool, they have also led to much time being spent engaged in activities that have taken us away from those things that really matter most in life, such as developing relationships with people and getting essential work done in a timely manner. Technology has also led to time spent on social media sites that lead to comparison to others based on fantasy lives as depicted in a snap shot of time. Technology has contributed to poor mental health.
Why?
Humans are, for the most part, not very disciplined. If we were there wouldn't be multibillion-dollar diet, exercise, time management, and other similar industries. We struggle to resist comparing ourselves to others and evaluating where we are based on where we are made to believe someone else is in their life. We see a snippet of someone else’s life and assume that is their life 24/7.
It’s incredibly hard for us to put our cell phone or tablet aside and resist that urge to check them every time we hear that little dinging sound that indicates a new email or text message has arrived. This is true even though we know that 90% of the time the message is neither urgent nor important. We have become Pavlov’s dog.
High Achievers Do It Differently
We all know that there are organizations, families, and individuals that seem to excel beyond what others are able to achieve. They have identified what matters most to their success and harnessed that knowledge to create the type of business, organizational culture, family culture, and personal habits and behaviors that lead to achieving the goals they have for themselves. They've understand that technology is to be used as a tool to elevate their efficiency and make them more effective. Technology does not rule their life.
High performers also understand that technology can never replace the human factor. They know that technology will never replace the smile on a face, the glow in an eye, the warmth of a touch, or the softness of a kind hello. They know that it is people who make the real difference.
Technology can certainly elevate a business and make it more efficient and effective, but it will not take it further than great people and a great culture can. For it is people who ultimately decide who to do business with. People want to do business with people. Kind and empathetic people.
No matter how great technology becomes at helping businesses achieve operational goals, it will never replace the human factor. Businesses that fail to understand this will be tossed aside as quickly as last year’s technological innovation.
Randy Stepp is a Principal with Renaissance Leadership Group. RLG is a full-service business and franchise development company whose purpose is to help business owners realize their dreams of independence and freedom.
Visit Renaissance Leadership Group at www.renaissanceleadershipgroup.com to learn more about business development
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