Algorithms or Attitude? Being Human in the World of Tech

Robots. AI. Machine Learning.

The world of tech has become decidedly ‘inhuman’. Machines are increasingly ‘talking’ to each other and developing a new language, because English was just too long winded.

AI Chatbots are another recent tech innovation. Fantastic for time stretched recruiters in guiding an applicant through a process – but for anything that requires nuance or a sense of humour? They’re almost like that lady barking ‘unexpected item in bagging area’ at you whilst you’re scrambling to escape from the behemoth that is a Tesco Extra store.

So why, oh why, oh why are inboxes up and down the country flooded with sales emails that sound like they could have been knitted together by the paperclip assistant from Microsoft Word circa 2000? Generic. Bland. Uninspired. The list could go on and on. Maybe it’s being immersed in the industry – but these emails, scripted calls and cold InMail’s seem particularly rife in the technology market.

Although they won’t admit to it, a lot of managed service providers and value-added resellers sell (generally) the same stuff. Ok, the nitty gritty might differ – a different firewall provider here, a different coding language there – but to the uninitiated, they aren’t exactly key selling points.

After all, if you’re selling the basics like ISDN or in fact anything that requires the ancient system of copper wiring under the UK’s streets, then you’re just reselling Openreach. So, to the end user, it usually boils down to one of two things: the price, or the salesperson.

Price is a tough one to work with. After all, if two VoIP systems look identical, sound identical and for all intents and purposes are identical – why spend more?

There’s a big difference in spending £15 per user and spending £20 per user – in a company one hundred people strong, that’s a difference of £500 per month and £6000 a year. That’s a big chunk of cash for a small business.

The issue, as you may have noticed, is that the focus on price has led to a ‘race to the bottom’ situation, where businesses compete to see who can provide the cheapest solution. Not the best service, not an inherently different product, simply the cheapest product.

So that leaves us with the salesperson and brings us nicely back round to those emails mentioned earlier. ‘People buy from people’ is a tired cliché – and yet, it doesn’t get overused for no reason. Of course, this is hyperbolic, but imagine you have the choice between buying a new car from two salespeople.

Salesperson one, knows their product, is £20 a month cheaper than their competitor but has all the charisma, passion and excitability of a teaspoon. Salesperson two, is £20 a month more expensive than the other one but has a real passion for their product, is witty and fun to be around and clearly enjoys what they’re doing. Soon, £20 really doesn’t seem that much of a big deal. In fact, it barely registers in your decision.

So this leads us back to technology. Have you ever tried being sarcastic to Siri? Alexa isn’t much of a joker either. To be honest, calling any of their retorts ‘funny’ would be an insult to humour the world over.

Technology hasn’t quite yet mastered the art of wit, sarcasm, humour or nuance. But humans have. We utilise body language. We build rapport. We get excited to spend time around people that uses these subtleties regularly. And that’s why people buy from people – because people aren’t perfect. They are flawed and funny and interesting in a way that technology just can’t match.

So the next time you're looking for a technology partner that actually values the relationships only another person can bring,  get in touch with us instead. We’ll work closely with you to find the right tech solutions to address your challenges today and in the future, and we do it with all with a decidedly human touch.