The Human Factor: Digital Connectivity Still Needs a Human Touch

We live in an amazing era of technology-driven transformation that’s redefining how we sell, market, communicate, collaborate, innovate, train, and educate—all in an amazingly short period of time. Because of this, there are worrisome questions for many in a multitude of different industries: What will happen to my job? Will technology disrupt my business to the point of closing it? The good news is it won’t if you don’t let it!

We must not lose sight of the fact that the future is ahumanfuture. When it comes to humans, it’s all about relationships and trust. If you don’t have trust, you don’t have a good relationship, no matter how your relationship is fostered.

But trust isn’t something you give and receive freely. Trust is earned through key values, such as honesty, integrity, and delivering on promises—a cross-cultural concept around the world.

Social media and other communication technology connects us to others more than ever before due to the fact that we access it predominantly on our mobile devices. Andnow with 5G connectivity coming to fruition, the speed at which we can send and receive information and communication will be quicker than ever before.

Despite technological advancements, trust is more important for business success than ever before. For example, with 5G, we may have the speed to automate customer service at our organizations, a feature that permits satisfying customer needs more quickly than a human being can. Yet more than ever, customers actuallyprefertalking to a human being when having an issue with your product or service.

If an automated help line does not fix their problem, a physical employee just might, even though many worry that people themselves are considered “legacy technology.” We need both technology and human beings in certain scenarios.

So can youleverage today’s technology to increase the human factorinstead of just relying on it to do the job and replace humans with it?

Of course! Let’s look at a department with “human” right in the name: human resources. Because this department trains employees, your human resources staff are now in a position to not only transform their careers, but also transform your organization using technology to improve the human factor.

Education and training do cost money, but they are essential for companies to do, especially in a time of rapid change and transformation we find ourselves in.

You want your people to feel that they’re working for a company that’s vibrant and thriving, but also as I mentioned earlier regarding fear, you want them to feelindispensablewithin the organization so as not to be replacedbytechnology.