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High-touch

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

High-touch refers to the involvement of personal attention and service.[1] In business, the term often refers to situations where trust between the customer and employed individual(s) is necessary.[2] High-touch areas include: medicine, wealth management, real estate, and legal.[2] Stock trading done by humans, as opposed to automated trading or using online brokers, is also referred to as high-touch.[3]

Origins

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The term was coined in 1982 by John Naisbitt in his book Megatrends.[4] It was explored further by Naisbitt in his follow-up book High Tech/High Touch.[5]

In medicine

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High-touch may also refer to the frequency in which a surface is touched.[6]

In pharmacology, high-touch may refer to medicines that require temperature control, ongoing drug management, or compliance monitoring.[7]

Relation to high tech

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High-touch was coined as a term in response to "high tech".[5] High tech, as opposed to high-touch, is when customers don't need human interaction to perform activities such as onboarding, ordering, and account management.[8] High tech services, such as chatbots, allow customers to get what they want on-demand.[8]

References

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  1. ^ "HIGH-TOUCH | meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary". dictionary.cambridge.org. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
  2. ^ a b Stewart, Karl Stark and Bill (2013-06-04). "Building a High-Touch Business". Inc.com. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
  3. ^ "Human high-touch trading is here to stay". Bloomberg Professional Services. 2017-05-11. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
  4. ^ "Definition of high touch". PCMAG. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
  5. ^ a b McDonnell, John. "Council Post: How To Offer A High-Touch Experience In A High-Tech World". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
  6. ^ Huslage, Kirk; Rutala, William A.; Sickbert-Bennett, Emily; Weber, David J. (August 2010). "A Quantitative Approach to Defining "High-Touch" Surfaces in Hospitals". Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. 31 (8): 850–853. doi:10.1086/655016. ISSN 0899-823X. PMID 20569115. S2CID 31732439.
  7. ^ "Specialty Pharmacy Drug List" (PDF). Magellan RX Management. 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  8. ^ a b Williams, Howard. "Do Customers Want High Tech or High Touch?". homebusinessmag.com. Retrieved 2020-03-22.