The human connection and empowering users
This week my Dad asked me, “Andrew, how do I transfer photos from my iPhone to my iMac?”
Providing parents with tech support is a weekly occurrence for newer generations.
I stopped reconciling my business accounts and wandered into Dad’s study expecting to do the job for him, but I discovered that he already knew what to do. All he needed was some supervision.
Dad is no slouch and has always been tech-savvy. TechTiger probably wouldn’t have been founded if Dad didn’t bring home the 512K RAM Fat Mac twenty nine years ago that sparked my love affair with computers.
Reflecting on a decade of industry experience, this “supervision comfort-factor” isn’t limited to the home. I’d have colleagues ask me to cast an objective eye over their code to figure out why it wasn’t working. Nine times out of ten, my colleagues would demonstrate their code to me and solve the problems in their logic before I’d even had a chance to open my mouth.
It seems that a basic human connection results in an uplifting sense of empowerment.
This translates in a commercial sense because it doesn’t matter how cutting edge a digital agency’s website solution is, if a client doesn’t feel confident and empowered to use their new technology, they won’t. Empowering an end user with the requisite knowledge and skills for them to make proper use of their website solution, Email Marketing tools, or their new business Facebook page is arguably the most crucial step of a project.
Empowerment, trust and understanding are just a few of the pillars TechTiger stands for, and this tech support dialogue from notalwaysright.com really summarises the message of this blog post.
Spotting a friend at the gym is no different. Why does standing over a person as a safety net result in them being able to bench-press an extra 20kg that they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to? What about finally nailing that tricky guitar riff or drumming pattern when your tutor is watching you? Mind over matter is another topic to write about!
And coming back to my Dad, he successfully imported his phone images into iPhoto. It’s only fair I extend the same patience during our family tech support sessions, that him and Mum afforded me as a child. I remember being three years old, crying my eyes out after dropping and smashing Dad’s binoculars, as he pointed out some whales frolicking in the ocean.
TechTiger promises to extend the same level of patience to our clients as they learn to administer their own Online Marketing campaigns. We’ll just make sure we first setup a “sandpit” to play and learn in, and we won’t hand over the binoculars until we know a client is feeling empowered enough to handle them.
Happy Friday!
