The title of this memo is a line one of my son’s likes to say regarding technology in cars, homes, and everywhere else. We see and hear about it every day. Robots in warehouses, manufacturing, Alexa and Google Home, toasters with Wi-Fi, AI doing medical diagnosis, and more.
I’m amazed at all the ideas for using technology where it hasn’t been used before. It works for customers in the Uber/Lyft industry but not so much for the cash-draining companies, so far. If you pay attention, you’ll see a lot of these ideas don’t make it. And it’s because some things need the human touch. Almost 40 years ago John Naisbett wrote Megatrends and stated the more high tech we get the more high touch we’ll want.
As I’m always asked about good and bad industries, I pay attention to this stuff. Walking through an airport it struck me that food will always need the human touch. Sure there’s automation but watching someone pushing a cart of food boxes through the airport made me realize people will always be involved with growing, moving, cooking, and especially eating food.
The key to a good business is to blend technology with people. A mechanic uses computer devices but still has to hook up the machine, turn the wrench, etc. Heating systems may be very automatic, but someone has to clean them, fix them, install them, and haul away the old ones.
What are you doing in your business to blend technology with people? Over the last two weeks I met an owner still doing the books on paper (no QuickBooks) and an owner who modernized the company, dramatically reducing overhead by using technology and its systems.
The more you can integrate technology into the business the more time you’ll have to meet clients and prospective clients, which is how you grow most businesses.
“True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.” Kurt Vonnegut
