What is the value of people in digital?
One of the concerns we hear from people who we talk to about digital is about automation, artificial intelligence, and how to do more with your tech dollar. An overlooked expenditure is the people in your organization and on your team. In this post, we will break down why it is important to understand the value of people when you work in a digital world.
People are a value-add to digital.
Many tech organizations and businesses view people as resources, not as a value-add. They are seen as weaknesses or things that should be managed to prevent loss to a company. Here at Drive Digital, we don’t believe that all. We fully believe that people are the greatest strength in tech and should be treated as such. While there may be an occasional “bad apple”, more often than not people want to do honest work and do what’s right. We see each person as their: 1) their value-add, 2) their goals and how tech is aligned to them, 3) what values they have, 4) how willing they are to listen and understand to contrary points of view, 5) what transferrable skills they have from past experiences, and 6) their perception of how computers & technology can make life better for people
People make it easier to do more than math with a computer.
Computers first started out as data processing and number crunching machines. That’s still happening, and it’s an important task to help in the evolution of science. However, people are looking at new ways to use processing to complete important tasks. From scheduling a meeting to paying bills to even connecting with others, a computer’s utility has greatly increased due to the value of people and their influence over digital.
People’s needs and curiosity pushes the limits of technology.
As computers and technology are more ever-present, our need to push the limits of technology and curiosity also increases. When we work with a client at Drive Digital, we not only look at what someone needs now, but we look at what they may need in the next 2 years. This allows us to choose the right solution and anticipate the next thing. How do we know this? Because we ask many questions of our clients and customers, which allows us to envision something more powerful than just taking a recipe and making a client the same thing every time.
People teach other skills through digital.
Most websites, apps, and other pieces of technology are intended to be used as tools to complete tasks. In the hands of creators, businesses, and other developers, people have used digital to share new ideas, skills, techniques, and points of view. Without people to create these tools, we wouldn’t use, for example, YouTube to look up visual ways on how to do something, or even Shazaam to help us identify a song that we are listening to that we don’t know. These tools are people teaching others important skills, and that’s one of the major values our company has: teaching about digital as we help clients solve their problems.
People help us validate we are making the right thing.
When creating a new tool, app, or website, it is paramount to include your audience and users in the process. Ultimately, they are the ones who will determine if your piece of technology will work and add value to you. With spending time – and sometimes money – to talk to people and understand their current days, you get to understand the life factors that make doing business successful digitally. Most digital products fail because they skip these two steps. And since we don’t want our clients to fail, we have put the “V” in our process to mean that we verify and validate what clients want with their target market. It may take a second more, but we see it is a way to ensure you get to success.
People are the source of inspiration and creativity.
As a company that makes digital products, it takes time and energy to find inspiration to get to the right answer. However, people provide us with inspiration and creativity every day. For example, we were talking to a potential car shopper the other day, and they were obsessed with getting a particular color, but the dealer didn’t have that color on the lot. Instead of being frustrated, a computer can help someone with this problem. A computer can take a picture or a video, and in real time, substitute the color of the car with another color that the manufacturer makes so that the shopper can really see if that color can work for them. Without talking and listening to people, that idea for an app would never happen (or even be repurposed for other industries, like paint selection).
People are the workforce that make the magic happen.
Like most things in the world, greatness doesn’t happen overnight or at the snap of a finger. Digital takes a lot of elbow grease from many people to make the magic happen. Digital relies upon: designers, content writers, coders, industry experts, financial knowledge, and legal protection. All of those skills don’t come out of the blue, or can’t reside within one person. All of these skills come from a team of people, who work together to make digital work for you. The next time you use a piece of technology, or get frustrated by a piece of technology, know that it came from a lot of people’s time and energy to make it happen. And to make technology better, it relies on that same human talent to push it to the next level.
People provide a purpose for digital.
Without people, digital experiences and products wouldn’t exist. And vice versa. Many now have a sense of purpose now because they have been given a tool to be productive and have an equal chance at life. Technology gives people an unlimited access to the rest of the world, and this instant connection provides people with a purpose and a sense of belonging that would be harder to achieve if we weren’t connected through technology. And without people, it’ll also be harder to add new features into the technology that we already are used to using.