Automation versus the human touch: this is the battle that I suspect will rage on in business over the next 10-20 years. The former will result in a race to the bottom in terms of pricing (this doesn't mean that there will be no money to be made - potentially quite the opposite!). Whilst the latter, if delivered well, will generate premium pricing (and potentially premium profits).
I can already see it starting to play out in my industry of accountancy. Automation is becoming a buzz-word. Many are rushing towards it. Let's race to build platforms and allow our clients to load in their data and get the output that they're after. All done automatically. Ta-dah! Heck, I too enjoy building in a bit of automation here and there (using tools like Zapier to auto-generate activity between apps without human intervention). But there is an important strategic decision to be made here regarding how far down the path of automation that you take your business...
As I fear that too much automation won't suit everyone. Both from a business and customer perspective.
This leads us to the types of customers that might be attracted to each business model:
I believe that there will always be two types of customer: the DIY'ers and the DFY'ers.The DIY'ers are the 'Do-It-Yourself'ers'. Those people who like to think 'how' if they need something done. They will sign up for online courses to learn new skills, spend hours reading up on 'how-to' articles and watching YouTube video guides. If there is an opportunity to learn and do for themselves whatever service you deliver or product that you offer, then they will do it. These guys will get giddy over automation and DIY automated platforms.
On the flipside, we have the DFY'ers or the 'Done-For-You'ers'. These folk think 'who' not 'how' when they see something that they need doing. They are uninterested in learning how to do it themselves. If they can pay money someone else who is skilled at that task to do it, they will. These folk will hate automation and will crave the human touch and intervention. They don't want to deal with robots especially when they have a question or problem. Spend time clicking on FAQ's and typing in Qs into chatbots etc? I think not.
There is no right or wrong answer here between these two very different approaches: automation will likely demand high levels of operational efficiency in delivery as it will no doubt attract a large volume of transactions at lower prices. Meanwhile, businesses that pride themselves on a high level of personal service might be able to retain higher price points but volumes might be lower.
So herein lies the opportunity for you as the entrepreneur at the helm of your business: to decide which way you will go in terms of the customers that you wish to serve: is it the DIY'ers or the DFY'ers?
Both will have very different demands that will play into the degree of automation that you wish to build into your business going forward.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://businessn2k.com/diyers-v-dfyers-automation-versus-the-human-touch-in-business/