high-touch

adj. involving personal, face-to-face attention or service, especially in interactions between a business and a customer. Also as a noun. Subjects: English, Business, Jargon

Editorial Note: Often juxtaposed with “high-tech.” Etymological Note: This term was first popularized by John Naisbitt in his book Megatrends: Ten New Directions Transforming Our Lives, published in 1982.

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Citations: 1982 Karl E. Meyer New York Times (Dec. 26) “Good Times Coming”: Big Brother is banished from Mr. Naisbitt’s 1980’s. On the contrary, to use his key words, the decade will be decentralized and high-touch, participatory and networked, filled with multiple options in an information society hooked to a world economy yielding blessings for all. 1984 Lena H. Sun Washington Post (Feb. 23) “Alexandria Proposes Elementary Magnet School in Science”: “If we go high tech, we’re also going to go high touch,” he said, referring to what he said would be an increased contact between pupil and teacher. 1992 ABA Banking Journal (Sept. 1) “Technology: Ally Or Enemy Of Customer Service?” p. 88: We face a recurring problem, one of segmentation. We need to segment customer groups and be able to reach all of them—those that need high touch and those that need high tech. All of us are talking about meeting banking needs, and it will become more and more important to understand the segments and have technology for those who need it and high touch for those who need that. 2007 Jon Knutson In-Forum (Fargo, North Dakota) (Aug. 13) “Banking on technology”: Will banks need to be high-tech to succeed? There’s always going to be what I call the high-touch bank. There’s always going to be the high-tech bank, and banks in between.

Posted 17 Aug 07 | Permalink | Tell a Friend