We’ve all been there.
“Welcome. Your call is important to us.”
Good start.
“For sales, press 1.”
“For accounts, press 2.”
“For claims, press 3.”
You press 3.
“Please listen carefully, as our menu options have recently changed.”
They haven’t.
You listen anyway.
Press 2.
Then 4.
Then 1.
Eventually, after demonstrating the patience of a Buddhist monk, you hear the glorious words:
“Please hold while we transfer you to a consultant.”
A human!
You could cry.
Then the call disconnects.
There are few experiences in modern life quite as effective at turning a perfectly reasonable adult into someone capable of throwing a telephone through a window.
Technology is wonderful.
We use it every day.
It makes businesses faster, smarter and more efficient. It can process information in seconds, spot patterns humans might miss and take repetitive work off people’s desks.
And it’s getting better astonishingly quickly.
But at Howdie, we’ve always believed something rather old-fashioned:
There should be a human being on the other end of the line.
Because insurance isn’t always a transaction.
Sometimes the person calling has just had an accident.
Sometimes they’ve been burgled.
Their business may have been flooded.
Their car may have disappeared from the driveway.
Something they worked years to build may have been damaged in minutes.
That’s not a menu option.
That’s somebody’s Tuesday.
And sometimes what that person needs first isn’t artificial intelligence.
It’s human understanding.
Someone who hears the wobble in their voice.
Someone who understands that anger might actually be fear.
Someone who knows when to stop following the script and simply say:
“I’m sorry. Let’s see how we can help.”
That’s difficult to programme.
The answer isn’t to resist technology either.
That would be equally silly.
Let technology find the policy.
Let it retrieve the documents.
Let it check the details, remove duplication, speed up processes and do the boring stuff brilliantly.
Then let the humans do the human stuff.
Listen.
Reassure.
Explain.
Empathise.
Care.
That’s where the real opportunity lies.
Not human versus technology.
Human with technology.
Technology making us faster without making us colder.
Efficiency without losing empathy.
Automation without losing accessibility.
Progress without removing the person.
Because when everything is going well, clicking a button is wonderfully convenient.
But when something has gone badly wrong, most of us don’t want another button.
We want somebody to answer.
Preferably without having to press 1 first.
Until next time, stay safe, stay connected and, most importantly, stay human.
