Reset: theme 6 – balancing tech and human experiences
2020 marks the dawn of a new decade. Rachel Bevans of the Healthy Brand Company explores theme six of ten themes driving brands into the next decade.
With advancements in technology, organisations and brands have been finding their way in applying technology, gathering and applying data to deliver seamless, secure and increasingly individualised experiences to their “customers” (be they consumers, employees, supply chain, partners, stakeholders).
I use “individualised” instead of “personalised” for the very reason of making the point that the focus on digital innovation has, in many cases, de-personalised or de-humanised the brand-customer relationship. From closing branches, replacement of cashiers with and call centres with chat bots and burying contact details; to remarketing that follows you around the web, SMS’s that know where you are and creepy emails that seem to know you too well. MarTech has exploded from 150 applications in 2011 to over 7,040 in 2019. And the potential is only going to increase with greater application of robots, artificial intelligence, machine learning and automation, and more effective application of data and analytics.
Of their CX 2030 report, Futurum Research principal analyst and founding partner, Daniel Newman states: “It is becoming increasingly clear there will be a rapid growth in the relationship between humans and machines over the next decade,”
“Companies will have to strike a delicate balance between providing highly empathic human-like experiences with the instantaneous results that consumers have come to expect. Technology will be the bridge as data, analytics, machine learning and AI will enable machines to deliver this balance in a more humanistic way that satisfies customers and delivers increased efficiencies to the enterprise.”
I wrote an article in August off the back of being inundated with content talking about the need for human centric organisations and more human experiences. This highlighted four key needs: the need to add qualitative insights to quantitative data; the need to develop experiences with your brand in hand; the need to treat the people who are designing experiences “more human”; the need to integrate technology in a way that is more human, and that doesn’t have to involve a human at all!
Rachel Bevans is strategist, researcher and business director, with over 28 years’ experience helping organisations become brand-driven, customer-centric and employee-engaged. Rachel founded The Healthy Brand Company in 2012 to unite her brand experience, passion for health and wellbeing and curiosity about what motivates people.
