Buy a Franchise
SPONSORED
Hey McDonalds, Don't Go Too Far with Technology
When it comes to integrating technology into your brand, don't take things too far—you might eliminate the human part of business altogether.
Watch the world around you. Technology is quickly replacing human beings. Kiosks at McDonald’s, for instance, can now take your order instead of a human. There are kiosks at airports that provide you with everything you need to fly. Cell phones can personally train you through fitness. And computers have the power to correct your spelling and grammar (thank you for that one).
But be careful—technology cannot and will not be the ultimate solution to everything.
Brands are focused on finding this happy technological balance with Millennials. Yes, this demographic desires more simplicity—a path of least resistance—but I would imagine that when all the definitions of Millennials are defined, they will still want some form of human contact.
When building 1851, we didn’t want to simply create a technology solution that eliminated humans from the communication process. We wanted to integrate both forms of client management together—this meant maintaining a regular call and regular strategy rather than allowing our solution to manage the entire solution.
While not perfect in their execution of people-meets-technology, a company like GrubHub seems to get the importance of striking the right balance. You place your order through your phone and a person arrives with a bag of hot food and a smile. Their customer service is a live person who is quite willing to give you free grub when necessary to keep you as a client (unless, of course, your food takes three hours to receive like it did for me—like I said, it’s not always perfect).
Brands are trying, in my opinion, too hard to have technology take over. I don’t know if it has to go that far. Brands should use technology to ease the uncomfortable parts of the interaction and to simplify and provide ultimate data to the customer. Don’t swing too far in the technology direction—you might eliminate the human part of business altogether.
Brands don’t see brands—people do.
Don’t Miss the Next Big Franchise Story
Sign up for the 1851 Franchise newsletter to get our biggest stories before everyone else
By signing up, you agree to our user agreement (including class action waiver and arbitration provisions), and acknowledge our privacy policy.
About the Author
Nick Powills
FollowNick Powills, CFE, founded No Limit Agency in 2008 and serves as Chief Brand Strategist for the Chicago-based firm. No Limit is a full-service communications agency that establishes and elevates brands by bridging Public Relations, Social Media, Marketing, Advertising, Digital, and a lot of creativity, to best strategize well-rounded and successful campaigns for 50+ global franchise brands. By presenting visionary ideas and building real relationships, No Limit is able to create effective media branding strategies to help companies grow. Nick currently leads a staff of writers, media strategists, designers, social media experts and digital producers in an office think-tank where brands are humanized for strong, compelling media stories. Prior to starting No Limit at the age of 27, Nick spent four years working at a franchise PR agency where he mastered the art of building rapport with media outlets and creating newsworthy pitches for earned media placements. He holds a Bachelor of Journalism from Drake University in Iowa.
