Humans over tech in the digital age
At a time when technology is taking a pivotal role in our work and personal lives, adding convenience and upping productivity and efficiency, it’s good to remember that behind every seamless customer experience is the blood, bones and grey matter of the human who created the tech-enabled solution. After all, the tech can only be as brilliant as the person behind it.
Prior to the widespread work from home necessitated by the pandemic, tech was largely to blame for an always on culture, where a 24/7 onslaught of emails, messages and tasks took priority. Then remote working opened people’s eyes to a different reality where technology could (and should) be used to enable a better work/life balance.
As a result, the next wave of technology, what’s being referred to as smart tech, is being designed to ‘rehumanise’ the workplace. Smart tech is essentially AI and advanced technologies that improve workflows by automating mundane, routine tasks and freeing up humans to do the thinking, intuiting, empathising and communicating we are inherently designed to do.
Smart tech offers the opportunity for humans to use digital advances to redesign jobs, enrich human lives and make work a happier place to be. To achieve this, however, takes careful strategic decision making on the part of a company’s leadership to prioritise employee wellbeing and implement systems to enhance it.
So, how can leaders examine the effects of automation and use technology in a way that upholds our humanity and improves productivity? Here are a few initial steps:
- Identify key human-based pain points to determine the correct use of tech. These should focus on areas where tech can take over mundane tasks to streamline workloads and reduce worker stress.
- Choose the right tech for the job. Make sure the solution or system will result in the right business benefit and be sure that the tasks that require empathy and intuition are assigned to people.
- Create a virtuous cycle of testing, learning, and improving.
By remaining conscious that people create (and control) technology, we can choose solutions that help us enjoy the best of our humanity.
Ian Dury - Business Support Manager - KYOCERA Document Solutions South Africa
