Re-humanizing business | Travel Research Online

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Re-humanizing business

Technology has become an integral part of nearly ever facet of life.  In business it is not only integral, but also essential to survival.  Improved productivity, lower costs and enhanced communication with employees as well as customers are all just a few of the promised benefits.

Unfortunately the adoption of technology has increasingly come at the expense of something far more important:  the human factor.

Even in this online, self-serve world, we seem to have forgotten that humans are behind every click, tap, and transaction.  Business is becoming de-humanized.

Technology alone is not the culprit.  We have developed an entire vocabulary that removes humanity from our business decisions and considerations:  demographic, end-user, customer, prospect, market-segment, etc.  How easily we forget that we ourselves are thought of in the same de-humanized way.

These are useful terms for spreadsheets and databases, but can be also cause us to forget the real purpose behind business:  people serving people.  Profit is the result of doing that well.

Yet, within the trend are infinite opportunities!  As genuine human-to-human interactions have become harder and harder to find, they have also become more sought-after and valued than ever before.

Luckily, re-humanizing business is not difficult.  Most of us already know what to do.  Some of us just need to be reminded of the ordinary people behind the artificial labels, statistics, and market studies.

When we mentally and emotionally strip away the artificial de-humanizing layers we have placed between us, the tide begins to turn:  one person at a time.  It happens not at the expense of business and profit, but to our mutual benefit.

For better or worse, business runs the world.  If we can change the way business works, we’ll change everything.

To my travel industry friends I ask:  what can you do to re-humanize business today?

Nolan Burris is an author, former travel agent, failed musician and self-professed techno-geek. He’s also a popular international speaker both inside and outside of the travel industry.  He is the founder and chief Visioneer of Future Proof Travel Solutions (futureprooftravel.com) based in Vancouver, Canada.  Nolan’s believes that if can change the way business works, you’ll change the world. His goal is to spread the message of integrity and ethics in a techno-driven world.

 

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