A visit to my 98 year old Nana gave me an insight into the value of the human touch.
She lives in a home - Nana and her friends sit not speaking, often dozing looking out of the window. It makes me sad at times as I sometimes feel there is an inevitable waiting for death aspect as I walk in. However, I always spend time talking to as many people as possible...many of the ladies get no visitors and are very quiet...until
You ask them about their "story", their history and then their faces light up as the regale stories of their youth. The happy memories bring their faces to life and suddenly they engage with the present world. I sometimes get a few together and start a game of dominoes...and let me tell you, they have not lost their competitive spirit even when they can't see what they have in their hand.
The value of human interaction can be lost in an online world, in a world that seems to be far to busy to have human smiles, conversations, a desire to know the people around you. However, for all the technology...these older people reminded me that the human touch is priceless, the human voice is the greatest engagement tool.....business needs to push the technological boundaries to reach their customers for sure, the ones that will win are the ones who combine the humanity with the technology.
