Is Your Technology Serving You?

GETTY

What makes for happy clients? The answer is often more human interaction, not more technology.

Happy clients are loyal clients, and loyal clients are profitable clients.

Here is food for thought. In 2020 many companies are changing how they measure success with customers to focus more on how the client feels and not so much what they buy.

The recent PwC 2019 Global Customer Insights study emphasized this shift, coining a new term, return on experience, or ROX. The pursuit of efficiency and lowering overhead are important business goals, but ultimately the experience needs to be pleasant, that’s what turns a customer into a returning customer.

The subject of high-tech vs. high touch, i.e. human interaction, has been the subject of debate for years now in business, education, even dating. The Internet era brought a swing towards automation that has mostly taken human interaction out of the equation. Still, now companies are looking at bringing the human element back and using technology as a tool to serve them, not the other way around.

How industries are changing their relationship with technology was the topic of conversation with Nicole Schmidt, founder and CEO of Source, a new technology platform for architects and designers looking for materials. Schmidt saw the limits of technology in the creative space and shifted tactics to find harmony in her industry.

“Previously, searching for materials to specify for projects was either through a material sales rep or a laborious online search, so architects often relied on who and what they already know,” Schmidt explained. During her years as an internationally award-winning interior designer, working for both large firms and as a small business owner, Schmidt saw an issue with how the design industry was using technology.

Schmidt is doing for the architecture industry what other visionaries are doing in education, customer service, hospitality, and finance. She is using technology as a tool to supplement and enhance the experience for employees and customers alike.

This all ties in with the broader shift in many industries to valuing and measuring a customer’s experience with your company over their ROI. Connecting with clients and customers on a human level can have a bigger impact on their satisfaction than technology alone can offer. 

With any technology you use in your life, it should be assisting you and your goals. If you feel like technology is limiting your business, or making the experience cold, consider adding a more human element back into your business model.

When it comes to finding the intersection between efficiency and real human interaction, Schmidt says, “Source is simply following the science: Our brains are happier when we’re creatively engaged, and our work is better when it comes from an inspired place.”

This article was written by Henry DeVries and originally appeared on Forbes.com.