Digital with a human touch
Is technology destroying the quality of human interaction? There is often a worry that the adoption of technology could create a de-humanising experience in which our clients won’t be able to speak to a human being if they need to.
This is a valid concern. Even more fundamentally, we need to ask whether our clients will be willing to hand over their money without knowing the people behind the brand.
We live in a time where people just expect things to be easy and to work – always. That is what technology has to be – simple and reliable
Looking at the world around us today, many things that were not here 10 years ago are fully ingrained in our daily life. A day without Google, FaceTime or WhatsApp would be quite an experience for me. I use WhatsApp to stay in touch with my family and thanks to FaceTime my kids can see their dad every day even if I am on the other side of the planet.
Although I have never met any of the makers of the software, I have trust in these brands because their products work seamlessly. So instead of trusting the people behind the brand, I have built trust in the brand because it has continuously satisfied my expectations.
Obviously, banking is richer than a simple messaging service. Our spectrum ranges from a basic transaction to a complex corporate financing deal. The latter cannot be acknowledged by just ’two blue ticks’.
Transforming client interaction
But within our portfolio, there are many steps that are (or should be) simple and straightforward to digitise. I just want to get the simple things done immediately. For more complicated questions, I prefer to talk to a person who can guide me through the matter. In turn, that person must have all the necessary information about me and the product at his or her fingertips for us to have an informed discussion.
Technology and humanity are two sides of the same coin
This person, being accustomed to how quickly we can access information in today’s climate, expects to access the information immediately without logging into various systems, downloading information from various places and integrating it into a spreadsheet. This is a perfect example of how advancement in technology and human interaction can transform the way we serve our clients.
We live in a time where people just expect the things to be easy and to work – always. That is what technology has to be – simple and reliable. Technology has to cater for this very essential modern human need. Or in other words, technology and humanity are two sides of the same coin – although they seem different, they are actually closely linked.