Lately a lot has been made of the new advancements in technologies like VR, AI, and many many other technologies that are supposed to make our lives easier.
And, I am sure in a lot of ways they do make our lives easier.
But I keep returning to the idea that a lot of these “solutions” that we are investing so much time and energy into are using the idea of solving a technology problem when the real issue is a people issue.
This is really at play a lot of places.
Like if you go to the grocery store.
Sometimes, paying at the self service cashier is totally the way to go. You have an item or two. There is no line, no wait.
Other times, you have a bunch of items and you are really under a little stress. You go to the cashier. In that case, you should feel better about your interaction and not like you wasted your time not going to self service, even if that would have been a hassle as well.
The same goes for self-service kiosks at fast food restaurants.
The same goes for buying tickets to a baseball game.
The same goes for purchasing things online as opposed to going to the store.
In many cases, we have defaulted to the idea that people would just rather have a technology solution. No matter what the case.
But the truth of the matter is that people will always choose a technology solution over a bad human experience.
But the truth is also that now more than ever, people want and need people solutions more than they need technology solutions.
And, the organizations and companies that are going to win are going to be the ones that put people back at the forefront of what they are doing, not just focusing on the next best technology solution.