'Key to success lies in finding right mix of human creativity & technological efficiency'

In a world dominated by technology and automation, the delicate balance between human and digital collaboration has never been more crucial. Sudish Balan, Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer at Tonic Worldwide, took the audience at e4m’s Independent Digital Agency Connect (IDAC) on a flavourful journey, explaining the intricate relationship between humans and technology. In his presentation, titled ‘Recipe for a Successful Human & Digital Collaboration’, Balan drew a vivid parallel between collaboration and food. While staying true to the Indian spirit, Balan likened this collaboration to a recipe—one that’s akin to the art of making Biryani, where the right mix of ingredients and techniques is key to success.

“If we are not talking about what we ate, we're talking about what we are going to eat or what we plan to cook,” Balan humorously began, capturing the Indian obsession with food. Using biryani as the perfect metaphor for human and digital collaboration, he explained that just like biryani is a complex mix of spices and ingredients, the collaboration between humans and technology also requires the right balance and the right “jugaad” (an Indian term for making do with what you have).

“It's a biryani, right? It's a mix of ingredients. The masalas have to be right, and you have to take your time to cook it,” Balan said. He emphasised that the process, like a well-made biryani, needs patience, the right ingredients, and of course, a touch of ingenuity.

According to Balan, the first and most essential ingredient in this collaborative recipe is humans. "We are like a masala daba (spice box)," he said, describing humans as a mix of emotions—sweet, spicy, and sometimes expired, but still used because "you won't tell anyone." This analogy highlights the unpredictability and complexity of human behaviour, something often overlooked when designing digital solutions.

“When brands forget to factor in human behaviour, things go south," Balan cautioned, recounting a famous example where Microsoft’s AI chatbot, designed to engage users on Twitter, quickly became a “racist troll” because it learned from the negative and toxic conversations happening on the platform. "What happened is, you got a racist troll," Balan recounted, stressing the importance of understanding the emotional and behavioural dynamics of users when deploying technology.

Moving on to technology, Balan described it as a pressure cooker—fast and efficient, but dangerous if mishandled. He recounted how Amazon attempted to use artificial intelligence to improve their recruitment process, hoping for unbiased results. However, the AI, fed with 20 years of data that skewed toward male candidates, ended up recommending only men for key positions. “It decided that it had to be a male candidate,” Balan noted, illustrating how technology, when based on flawed data, can reinforce biases instead of eliminating them.

Technology, he suggested, is like that relative who visits your home and boasts about having "100 Mbps speed or 1 Gbps in every room." While it may sound impressive, it can sometimes push you to do things you weren’t initially prepared for, such as making tech-driven decisions without fully understanding the consequences.

When humans and technology come together, the result can be unpredictable. “It’s like making chai with soy milk—sounds fancy, but nobody knows what they’re doing or how it will turn out,” Balan quipped. He noted that while the intention is often good, the execution can falter if there’s no clear understanding of how both elements—humans and machines—will interact in real-world scenarios.

Using online meetings as an example, Balan humorously painted a picture familiar to many in the post-COVID world. “Most of the time, it’s like a wildlife documentary—someone’s screen frozen like a deer caught in headlights, audio echoing like a peacock meeting, and someone snoring while making pakodas,” he said, laughing at how technology can often fail us at the most crucial moments.

For Balan, the key to success lies in finding the right mix of human creativity and technological efficiency. “It has to be a collaboration, like a thali,” he explained, likening the collaboration to the traditional Indian platter where different dishes are served together. “In a thali, you have curd, which is reliable but boring—that’s technology. And then you have achar (pickle), which is spicy but unpredictable—that’s humans.”

Balan highlighted the Indian concept of “jugaad,” or innovative problem-solving, as crucial in navigating this collaboration. Whether it’s using a spoon when you’ve lost the remote or borrowing your neighbour’s Wi-Fi because you know their son’s name, jugaad is a skill that Indians excel at. He recalled how global companies, too, have used their version of jugaad to solve problems, citing Burger King’s clever use of voice-triggered TV commercials that activated Google Homes—until humans tampered with the Wikipedia page, changing the key ingredient to “rat meat.”

In closing, Balan compared human and digital collaboration to making chai, a process that requires the right balance of ingredients and patience. “You use the right ingredients—sugar, tea leaves, ginger—and if you’re patient, the result is magical,” he said. Rushing the process or ignoring key elements can lead to a bitter outcome.

In Balan’s view, it’s not about man versus machine but about a harmonious collaboration, like a conversation over chai with your laptop plugged in.

As digital transformation continues to shape industries worldwide, Sudish Balan’s “recipe” for successful collaboration serves as a reminder that humans and technology must work together, blending their strengths to create something greater than the sum of their parts—just like a well-made biryani or a perfectly brewed cup of chai.