When Digital Becomes a Barrier: Why Vital Services Still Need a Human Alternative

Technology is supposed to make life easier. Quite often, it does.

Apps let us manage bank accounts without visiting a branch, or when we aren't near a branch. 

QR codes can take us instantly to menus, information and payment pages. 

Online portals allow appointments to be booked at any hour, while automated chatbots can deal with straightforward enquiries without leaving people sitting in a telephone queue for hour after hour. Taxis can be booked in seconds.

But there is an increasingly important question we need to ask: what happens to people who simply cannot cope with all this technology?

There is a danger that, in the understandable rush towards digital services, organisations are confusing digital convenience with universal accessibility.

They aren't the same thing.

Not Everyone Can Simply "Go Online"

We've probably all encountered instructions such as:

"Scan the QR code."

"Download our app."

"Use our online portal."

"Speak to our virtual assistant."

For somebody comfortable with smartphones and computers, that's usually straightforward.

For others, it can represent an almost impenetrable barrier.

Some people suffer from technophobia, a genuine fear or severe anxiety surrounding the use of technology. 

Others may have learning difficulties, cognitive impairments, poor eyesight, problems with manual dexterity or conditions affecting memory and concentration.

There are also people who simply haven't developed the digital skills many organisations now assume everyone possesses.

Age can sometimes be a factor, but we should be careful about assuming this is exclusively an issue affecting older people. 

There are younger people who struggle with technology too, just as there are people in their 80s and 90s who happily use smartphones, tablets and computers.

Poverty matters as well.

"Use our app" assumes somebody owns a compatible smartphone, has sufficient storage space to install another application and can afford a reliable mobile data connection.

"Visit our website" assumes internet access.

"Scan this QR code" assumes somebody knows what a QR code is and has a device capable of using it.

Those are considerable assumptions when access to healthcare, banking, utilities, transport, housing, government services or other essentials may be at stake.

Chatbots Aren't Always the Answer

Automated systems present another problem.

A well-designed chatbot can be useful for simple questions. But anyone who has spent ten frustrating minutes repeatedly explaining something to a bot only to receive irrelevant answers will understand their limitations.

Some areas of the UK be they heavily built up urban areas or rural areas simply do not have mobile digital access for a variety of reasons. 

Sometimes people need to speak to another person.

That's particularly important when somebody has an unusual problem which doesn't conveniently fit into the options anticipated by the software developer.

"Computer says no" was once a comedy catchphrase. Increasingly, it can feel uncomfortably close to reality.

Digital First Mustn't Mean Digital Only

None of this means we should abandon technological progress.

Far from it.

Apps, websites, QR codes, artificial intelligence and automated systems can make organisations more efficient and services dramatically more convenient. For millions of people, they are the preferred way of doing things.

The problem begins when the alternative disappears.

Organisations providing essential or important services should maintain reasonable non-digital options. That might mean a telephone number answered by a person, a staffed counter, paper documentation or simply an employee who can help somebody through the process.

And those alternatives shouldn't be deliberately made difficult to find in an attempt to force customers online.

There's an important principle here.

Good technology gives people more ways of accessing a service. Bad implementation uses technology to take choices away.

Digital transformation shouldn't mean leaving behind those who cannot transform with it.

Perhaps the real test of technological progress isn't how sophisticated our apps, bots and online systems become.

It's whether the services behind them remain accessible to everyone.