The “Zero-Touch” Trap: Why the best digital experience sometimes needs a handshake

I got the feeling that in the rush to digitise everything, we became obsessed with a single metric: “Zero-Touch.

The dream was a flow where the user never speaks to a human, never signs a paper, never pauses. We optimised for speed. We optimised for silence.

But here lies the paradox: in high-stakes decisions, silence feels unsafe.

For a top-up, a simple tax payment, or booking a flight, users want speed. They want the “invisible” experience. But for a mortgage, a complex medical treatment plan, or a 24-month enterprise contract, speed isn’t the only currency. Reassurance is.

For years, across Banking, Telco, and the Public Sector, we made the same mistake. We treated the "App" and the "Counter" as enemies. We assumed Digital’s job was to eliminate the clerk, the civil servant, or the consultant.

They were wrong. Digital’s job is to remove friction — not the human being who creates trust.

Whether it’s a citizen at a city hall, a patient in a clinic, or a customer in a flagship store, the pattern is the same. They aren't rejecting technology. They are seeking a human conversation — powered by technology.

• In Telco: They want the agent to instantly configure a complex family bundle, not struggle with legacy screens.
• In Government: They want the civil servant to see their data instantly, not ask for another physical file.
• In Healthcare: They want the doctor to have AI-driven insights on a tablet, but to deliver the news face-to-face.

We need to stop building tools that bypass these frontline professionals. We should build tools that make them look like superheroes.

If the system is slow, the civil servant looks bureaucratic. If the data is fragmented, the doctor seems unprepared. But if the digital experience is seamless, the human interaction shifts from "data entry" to "advisory."

And here is the uncomfortable truth for digital purists: sometimes the most advanced digital feature is a bridge to a human being.

We are not heading toward a world of machines talking to machines. We are heading toward a world where technology becomes so good, it becomes invisible — leaving two people discussing a future plan.

Digital isn’t the destination. It’s just the language we use to get there.