Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson has been grappling with a conudrum when it comes to technology. Although it has the power to enchance the customer experience, it also puts limits on human interaction, which is key to the experience offered at Starbucks. The blog on the chain's website has pulled back the curtain on how the company balances technology and human interaction in its 31,000 stores and 400,000 employees serving 100 million customers a week.

Johnson, a former tech exec, said when he took over in 2017, he obviously expected scale and complexity to be two of the company's biggest challenges but also undestands that technology will figure into the 49-year-old company's success for the next 50 years. He spoke, for example, about how over the past five years, Starbucks has continued to evolve the in-store experiences with mobile payment on the Starbucks app, now used by more than 17 million loyalty members; mobile ordering; drive-thru experiences and new beverage platforms such as nitro cold-brew.

"In thinking about the two transformative elements of modern-day retail, it begins by creating unique and relevant experiences. If you can't create a customer experience in your brick-and mortar store, an experience that goes beyond convenience, you're just another node in the supply chain," Johnson said in the blog. "And that in-store experience must then be extended to a digital mobile relationship."

He believes in the need to balance the need for convenience with the need for connection. The future winners in retail, he said, will be the businesses who do both well.

"This age of unparalleled digital connection has brought with it an age of unprecedented human disconnection. While technology has done many wonderful things, it's also changed behaviors in a way where people don't interact with one another nearly as much, which is unhealthy and I think is contributing to a global epidemic of human loneliness. I believe we are just beginning to see and understand the implications," he said. "And I realize that serving 100 million customers a week at Starbucks means we have at least that many opportunities to enhance human connections and perhaps create that sense of community and a place where people feel more connected face-to-face with other people."

Then came his "hold my coffee" moment. Starbucks would try to flip the script on the paradoxical relationship between humans and technology.

"Technology has done so much positive for the world, but it has contributed to some unhealthy outcomes as well. When it comes to enhancing human connection and enabling people to be present and feel a part of a community, I believe technology, if used in responsible and thoughtful ways, can also be the enabler of freeing up people to be more human and better serve humanity," Johnson said.

He began talking to store managers and baristas about tasks that reduce the amount of time they have to really connect with each other and with customers in store — what was keeping them busy or isolated in the back room — and invited them to share their ideas about ways Starbucks could use technology to free up their time and allow them to focus more on connecting with customers.

"Our partners know best what's working, and they have great ideas about fixing what's not," Johnson said. "Everything we are doing is really to try to put them in the best position we can and to give them time back to connect more with each other and customers. That's what makes a job more rewarding."

Johnson thought about how to best serve those customers who want to relax in the stores as well as the millions in a hurry who place mobile orders and hustle in to pick up their drinks. What parts of the Starbucks experience on both sides of the counter could be improved to create a better experience for both partners and customers? And how can the company offer brief but authentic moments of connection, even for customers on the run? And in a world where too often business success is measured by non-human factors, like productivity, operating income and revenue growth, how will Starbucks stay focused on the more important elements of its mission and values by staying human-centered in a way that's good for business?

"At Starbucks, we have always believed that investing in our partners and creating the best possible experience for them leads directly to customer connection. Investments in the Starbucks partner experience is what creates that special customer experience, and that in turn drives our business success," Johnson said. "I want to ensure we stay true to that approach. So we will pursue world-class technology, not just for the sake of technology, but in service of humanity and in support of our mission to inspire and nurture the human spirit one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time."

The blog goes on to ask if "smartphoning is the new smoking" and if artificial intelligince can lead to more human interaction.

With rates of loneliness, depression and suicide on the rise, Johnson spoke with Richard Davidson, a renowned neuroscientist, who believes our lack of well-being, has become an urgent public health crisis not unlike when people started to realize the dangers of smoking. He said recent studies have shown 76 percent of Americans report moderate or significant levels of loneliness, and that loneliness is a more reliable predictor of morbidity than obesity two times over and has the same impact on mortality as smoking 15 cigarette a day.

"Human interaction is essential — as essential as food. We cannot thrive as human beings without connection," said Davidson, who also believes tech can combat lonlienss.

"I love his vision," he said. "To see an organization like Starbucks take something like this on is heartening to me. I think there's so much good that can be done."

Read the full story here here. 

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