Are We Really Delivering What Our Customers Want?

We live in an era where almost every problem seems to have a technological solution.

Need to check into a flight? There's an app.

Need to order food? There's an app.

Need to talk to customer support? Well... now there's a chatbot pretending to be a human.

Somewhere along the way, we've started assuming that if an experience becomes more digital, it automatically becomes better.

But does it?

Over the last few months, while studying service design, I've been forced to challenge many of my own assumptions. Coming from a product and technology background, my instinct has always been to look for efficiency, automation, and scale. If a process can be digitalized, why not digitalize it?

The deeper I got into service design, the more uncomfortable that assumption became.

Because customers don't always want the most technologically advanced experience.

Sometimes they just want the experience that works.

The Mistake We Often Make

Most digital transformation projects begin with the same question:

"How can we improve this process using technology?"

What if that's the wrong question?

What if we should first ask:

"What outcome is the customer really trying to achieve?"

Those are two very different conversations.

In service design, there is a concept called a service encounter. At its core, it's simply an interaction between a customer and a service provider.

Historically, service was viewed as a one-way activity.

The company delivered.

The customer received.

Simple.

Digitalization changed that completely.

Today, customers are often expected to participate in creating the experience themselves.

A self-check-in kiosk at an airport is a perfect example.

The airport may see it as a technological enhancement.

But for that enhancement to work, the customer must know how to use it.

The customer becomes part of the process.

Without customer participation, the technology fails to create value.

In other words, technology hasn't removed work.

In many cases, it has merely transferred some of that work to the customer.

Customers Are No Longer Consumers. They Are Co-Creators.

One of the most influential ideas in modern service research comes from Vargo and Lusch's concept of Service-Dominant Logic.

The idea is surprisingly simple.

Customers don't buy products.

They buy the value those products help create.

Nobody buys a drill because they desperately want a drill.

They buy it because they want a hole in the wall.

Nobody buys a smartphone because they admire the hardware.

They buy it because of what the phone helps them do.

This perspective also introduces something important:

The customer is not a passive recipient of value.

The customer is a co-creator of value.

And that's where many digital experiences start to break down.

Because the success of the experience now depends on both sides fulfilling their role.

The company must design the process effectively.

The customer must be capable of participating in it.

If either side fails, the experience collapses.

Technology Is Evolving Faster Than Humans

This is where things get interesting.

We often discuss technological progress as if it automatically translates into customer progress.

But those are not the same thing.

Today we have access to technologies that would have sounded like science fiction a decade ago:

• Artificial Intelligence

• Machine Learning

• Virtual Reality

• Augmented Reality

• Digital Twins

• Autonomous Systems

The problem isn't the technology.

The problem is adoption.

Just because a capability exists doesn't mean people are ready for it.

I've started noticing a pattern across industries.

Organizations are evolving their technology faster than customers are evolving their behaviours.

As a result, customers often struggle to become the "co-creators" that digital experiences require them to be.

The technology may be advanced.

The experience may not be.

The Human Problem Behind Every Technology Problem

The philosopher Nick Bostrom raises an interesting point when discussing advanced technologies.

Humans themselves struggle to agree on what is right.

What is fair.

What is ethical.

What is valuable.

And yet we increasingly expect algorithms to make those judgments on our behalf.

Every technology solution is ultimately designed by human beings.

Which means human assumptions inevitably become part of the system.

Human preferences become part of the system.

Human biases become part of the system.

We can reduce bias.

We can manage bias.

But completely eliminating it is far more difficult than most organizations would like to admit.

Technology is never as objective as it appears.

Why Human Touch Still Matters

Perhaps the biggest misconception in digital transformation is the belief that customers always prefer convenience over human interaction.

Reality is much more complicated.

Think about your own experiences.

When ordering groceries, you may prefer an app.

When booking a cab, you may prefer an app.

But when your flight gets cancelled.

When your bank account gets locked.

When your vehicle breaks down on a highway.

Do you want another app?

Or do you want a human being?

Most customers are perfectly comfortable with technology until something goes wrong.

The moment uncertainty enters the experience, human reassurance becomes valuable again.

That's because customers are people first and customers second.

We often design experiences around efficiency while forgetting that people also seek confidence, trust, empathy, and reassurance.

Those needs don't disappear because a process becomes digital.

The Digitalization Assumption Nobody Questions

Many organizations operate on a silent assumption:

Customers will eventually adapt.

Maybe.

But that's a very large bet.

Today, most of us click "Accept Cookies" without fully understanding what data is being collected, how it's being used, or where it's being stored.

Tomorrow, customers may become far more informed.

What happens then?

Will companies be comfortable giving customers complete control?

Will current business models still work?

Will customers continue to exchange privacy for convenience?

Nobody really knows.

Yet many digital strategies are built on assumptions about future customer behaviour rather than a deep understanding of current customer readiness.

A Simple Example

If I'm thirsty, just give me a bottle of water.

I don't need an app that tells me I'm thirsty.

I don't need a real-time hydration dashboard.

I don't need AI-generated recommendations for nearby water sources.

I just need water.

It's an intentionally ridiculous example.

But many organizations do exactly this.

They add technology to an experience without first asking whether technology improves the outcome.

Sometimes technology solves a problem.

Sometimes it creates one.

When Technology Becomes the Goal Instead of the Tool

One of the most extreme examples of this mindset can be found in the Boeing 737 MAX crisis.

The issue was far more complex than technology alone, but at its heart was a dangerous assumption:

A software system could compensate for changes in aircraft behaviour without requiring significant additional pilot training.

The goal was understandable.

Reduce costs.

Simplify adoption.

Improve commercial attractiveness.

But the consequences were catastrophic.

The lesson extends far beyond aviation.

When organizations become overly focused on what technology can do, they risk losing sight of what humans need.

Technology should support human capability.

Not replace human judgment where it matters most.

Finding the Balance

This article isn't anti-technology.

Far from it.

Technology has transformed our lives in extraordinary ways.

It has made healthcare more accessible.

Transportation more efficient.

Communication almost instantaneous.

The problem isn't digitalization.

The problem is digitalization without reflection.

For years we've been asking:

"How can technology improve this experience?"

Perhaps we should also ask:

"Should technology improve this experience?"

And if the answer is yes:

"How much technology is enough?"

The future isn't human versus digital.

The future is finding the right balance between the two.

Because great experiences are not created by technology alone.

They're created when technology helps people achieve what they were trying to do in the first place.

Sometimes that requires an AI assistant.

Sometimes that requires a human being.

The challenge is having the wisdom to know the difference.