Artificial intelligence may be advancing at what seems like an unstoppable speed, but according to consultant Georg Meyer, the one thing it won’t replicate anytime soon is the human touch.
“I am confident that there will still be a unique human touch that remains with humans,” Meyer says. “We are uniquely equipped to delight others and to care for them.” He compares it to a hand-written letter: while machines can mimic the appearance, people recognize when something is truly personal. “The explosion of AI actually sharpens our sense for the value of the hand-crafted. It makes the costly signaling of spending our precious and limited lifetime more noticeable.”
When Custom Beats Big Box
For many companies, growth means defaulting to big-box software solutions. But Meyer argues this shouldn’t always be your go-to choice.
“The trade-off is between having uniquely tailored functionality that can give you a competitive advantage and having immediate access to out-of-the-box functionality,” he explains. For everyday tools like Microsoft Word, big-box makes sense. But when it comes to core operations, the decision is more nuanced.
Meyer recalls building warehouse management systems that dramatically simplified operations. “In every out-of-the-box solution we saw, the operators would have had many more steps and clicks for every operation,” he says. The custom solution not only saved time but also reduced training needs because the process was almost self-explanatory.
Beyond efficiency, Meyer notes that stability and transparency are big wins for custom systems. “Custom solutions don’t change unless you change them intentionally,” he says. By contrast, users of off-the-shelf products often get frustrated when upgrades move or remove features without warning. And unlike “black box” enterprise platforms, custom systems can explain their recommendations in ways users easily understand.
That clarity, he says, builds trust. “The real value came from the fact that the solution was not a black box. Every user could get an Excel sheet that explained in an easy way why the system suggested a certain purchase.”
The Case for Simplicity
Meyer also believes businesses underestimate how much complexity they create for themselves—especially as they scale. “More people means more complexity,” he says. “Every additional worker can get in somebody else’s way.” He likens it to building Switzerland’s Gotthard Tunnel in the 19th century: doubling the workforce would not have cut the timeline in half, because coordination and safety challenges rise with each added layer.
He recently helped a client untangle overlapping responsibilities in data projects. By clarifying who was in charge of infrastructure, who built dashboards, and who handled reporting, the company unlocked speed and autonomy. “Now everyone has a lot of autonomy in their area, can hone their skills, and is no longer frustrated because of duplicated work.”
Policies, too, can strangle efficiency. “You can see this by asking: how hard is it for somebody to get something done?” Meyer says. He points to the absurdity of senior executives being asked for itemized dinner receipts when they routinely manage budgets worth tens of millions. “It’s far better if you can establish a high-trust culture and have a policy like Netflix—famously, their entire expense policy is: ‘Act in Netflix’s best interest.’”
Human, Simple, Effective
Whether discussing AI, software, or organizational design, Meyer comes back to the same principle: clarity matters more than complexity.
“The best systems are the ones people can understand and trust,” he says. “Technology and processes should free people up to do their best work, not weigh them down.”