As a consumer’s forum, this blog often discusses and compares the products on the market today. We’ve gone into detail about innovative gadgets and brand new consumer technologies. We very rarely discuss services.

However, these two areas need to go hand in hand. As technologies and products develop, new services also crop up. The New York Times reported on an interesting example this week. Related Companies is the developer for MiMA, a new rental development in Manhattan where combination jacks are installed in all of the apartments. They also installed wireless distributed antenna systems throughout the building to make sure that cell phones get reception on every floor. But that was just the beginning.

Once the technological systems were in place, the next logical step was to provide additional service to help manage them. The development now has a technological concierge who can supervise installations and wiring for new residents and help to set up home theaters and gaming systems. The concierge’s team can also help residents who want to integrate remote controls and mobile devices with other technologies in their apartments and have even helped to install parental controls.

As informed consumers, we spend a lot of time making sure we have the best possible products. We research, test and get recommendations.  Often though, we forget that sometimes it will come down to the people behind the products. Depending on the item, researching the user support available may end up being just as important as looking into the specs and features that come with our technology.

I’ll take it one step further. Even for our gadgets, community is important. If you’re getting a smartphone primarily to socialize on-the-go, then getting a smartphone that doesn’t support your friends favorite social platforms may not be a good idea, even if it’s a better phone. It may be worth picking your video game console based on what other family members and friends have bought, so that you can share games.

We tend to think of technology as a way to cut out human interaction and automate our lives. But in the long run, I think we’ll still need each other as much as ever.