Tech Myopia: Recentring Technology on Human Needs

Throughout history, humanity has harnessed technology to address fundamental challenges. The mastery of fire provided warmth, protection, and a means to cook food, significantly impacting human evolution. The development of metallurgy enabled the creation of tools and structures that propelled the earliest versions of industrialisation and civilizations forward. While different, what is common is such seismic advances were driven by a clear understanding of significant human needs, and a focus on solving specific problems

In the 21st century, successful innovation leaders have embraced customer-centricity, building businesses around the specific jobs customers are trying to accomplish. This approach was steeped in the application of technological advancements being aligned with and deployed to deliver for real human needs

However, as technology ontinues to advance at an exponential rate and perhaps even faster than prior pace (as we are starting to see with the Moore’s Law-beating development of AI technology stacks – see Jensen Huang being quoted here), perhaps a concerning trend has emerged. Is there a shift, a natural one perhaps with the amazement of it all, from addressing human needs to pursuing technological innovation for its own sake. This phenomenon, which could be described as “Tech Myopia”, would reflect a besottedness with technological development over the actual problems people are seeking to solve!

When Technology Drives Without Direction

Examples of technology-first approaches that missed the mark highlight the risks of tech myopia:

• Google Glass (2013): A groundbreaking wearable device that captured the imagination of technologists but failed to address clear customer needs. While it offered impressive augmented reality features, users were uncertain about its purpose, leading to poor adoption and concerns over privacy – we see similar lingering lack of excitement today with Meta’s latest developments in their glasses and AR headsets
• Segway (2001): Marketed as a revolutionary form of personal transport, the Segway struggled to gain traction because it addressed a problem most people didn’t have—replacing walking over short distances
• Cryptokitties (2017): Among the first blockchain-based digital collectibles, Cryptokitties showcased the potential of NFTs but provided little utility beyond speculation, leaving many questioning the broader application of the underlying technology

Each of these examples illustrates how innovation can falter when it prioritizes technological novelty over addressing real and practical or emotional human needs

Closing the Gap: Recentring on Human Needs

To counteract tech myopia, innovation leaders must reaffirm their commitment to aligning technological advancements with real-world problems. This involves three key strategies:

1. Deep Customer Engagement - the most successful innovators actively involve customers in their processes to identify pressing needs and co-develop solutions. For example:

• Tesla: Built its brand by understanding the pain points of electric vehicle adoption—range anxiety and charging infrastructure—and solving them comprehensively
• Apple: Continually fine-tunes its products by focusing on usability, design, and the way its customers interact with technology in their everyday lives to make it just easy and enjoyable

2. Purpose-Driven Innovation – breakthroughs must begin with the question, “What problem are we solving?” Rather than creating technology for its own sake, businesses should anchor their R&D efforts in addressing unmet customer needs. For example:

• Zoom: While video conferencing existed long before Zoom, the company succeeded by solving specific pain points like ease of use, reliability, and seamless integration for remote work and collaboration
• Duolingo: The company didn’t just create an app to teach languages; it built a tool that empathizes with people’s time constraints, financial challenges, and motivation hurdles. Duolingo’s gamified, free model empowers millions worldwide to learn in a fun and accessible way, reflecting its purpose to make education universally available

3. Balanced Investment - organisations must allocate resources to both technological development and understanding customer needs to ensure a harmonious integration of the two:

• Amazon: The investment in voice technology (Alexa) to support the growing desire that they uncovered through deep research for shoppers to be able to engage with the platform while doing other things e.g. dictating the weekly shopping list while cooking supper
• Unilever: Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan, which prioritizes sustainability without compromising business performance has embedded empathy into its strategy and made significant investments in reducing environmental impact and improving global health while achieving strong financial results at the same time

A Call to Action for Leaders

Bridging the innovation gap requires intentional effort. Leaders must balance the allure of rapid technological advancements with the discipline of staying grounded in solving human problems. By focusing on the principles of customer engagement, purpose-driven innovation, and balanced investment, businesses can ensure that their innovations are not just cutting-edge but also meaningful and impactful

Reflections for you and I as innovators, business makers and problem solvers:

• Is your organization driven by solving customer problems, or are you pursuing technology for its own sake? Look no further than the plethora of AI use cases that are lying by the way-side
• How can you involve customers more deeply in your innovation processes? Do we actually involve them at the beginning, the middle and the end?
• What is one outdated or impractical technology-first initiative you could refocus on delivering true value? Let’s not waste what may well just be misguided, but still be usable with a broader frame of reference.  Just think how much space-technology from the earlier moon-chasing efforts have made it into our everyday lives e.g. freeze-dried foods, memory foam, scratch resistant lenses etc.

By reframing innovation as a service to human needs, we can ensure that technology evolves as a force for progress, not distraction

Garvan Callan is a Board-level and c-suite transformation adviser, speaker, lecturer, Non-executive Director and author who works across sectors and regions to bring strategy in to execution, the power of digital culture and innovation to the fore, and help leaders and their businesses prepare for tomorrow, today. He is the author of Digital Business Strategy: How to Design, Build, and Future-Proof a Business in the Digital Age.