Page 18 - AeM_April_2019

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

Customer-centricity puts the customer first

Every two years, Bain & Company publishes a ranking of accept cumbersome formalities and tick to the beat of
the most widely used management methods worldwide their decrepit software. Not to mention that customers’
to find the ones that are currently being used most. problems are usually happening cross-functionally:
According to their research, future-oriented companies communication and voting problems in the scramble
structure themselves cross-functionally and those between responsibilities, area egoisms and efficiency.
companies that are playing a leading role in the business But from the customer's point of view, processes must
world are aware of the fact that the customers only function across departments and dovetail smoothly.
decide who survives - and who doesn’t. Who optimizes processes, but does not tailor to
customer needs, is just getting better in doing the
"We have to start with a customer experience and then wrong thing.
work our way back to technology," Steve Jobs once
emphasized. What he meant is that it is important to Some companies are really good in making things
radically stand on the side of the customer and to more complicated, stealing time, and spreading bad
consistently reduce anything that does not serve a feelings, but people don’t endure such behavior
customer’s direct benefit. anymore. The power has long been with the customers.
With their actions, in which they connect to virtual
That’s easier said than done, considering that customer swarms, they can decide on the life and death of a
centricity is still the number one challenge for companies provider – in the blink of an eye.
today. They no longer reach a primacy with what they
do, but with how the customer perceives it - and what he Customer comes first, then the internal
tells others about it. Hence, the customer is the most efficiency
important person in the company.

Even in companies that place great emphasis on Only those are really customer-oriented who move all
customer orientation, customer centricity is often just sorts of annoyances from the customer to the provider,
praised but not lived. so that only positive experiences remain. And that's
more than a subtle difference, because every single
But while old-fashioned managers think of competition, customer-related inconvenience is a gateway for
their quarterly goals, and costs, the elite of young disruptors. So, first the customer, then the internal
entrepreneurs has long understood that it is all about efficiency.
earning the customers' favor. They are constantly and
very specifically searching for their customers problems A customer-centered organizational development is
to provide a suitable solution and improve the customer essential. After all, today’s companies are driven by
experience All products, processes and technologies are customer wishes. What annoys the customers or is
strictly orchestrated by all participants around the needs irrelevant to them, fails immediately. Only if they are
of the customers. And to ensure that everything fits in feeling good, is the company doing well, too. People
perfectly, solutions are developed iteratively and in willing to pay, top talents and society, expect that a
constant exchange with the targeted customers. company pursues more ambitious goals than market
leadership and maximum returns. They want to know
Cross-functional and never self-focused what value of benefit a provider offers to people.
Ultimately, customer concerns cannot be delegated to This value, the sense of being and higher purpose,
service, sales and marketing. Everyone in the company determines the identity of a company, generates
must take care of the goodwill of the customers whose qualitative growth and makes competitive advantages
expectations are rising daily. And they carry their very likely. ◊
smartphones, the almighty device, always around with By Daniela La Marca
them. It means, if they don’t like something, they simply
swipe it away.
Still, many companies are self-involved, and efficiency
driven, which means they expect their customers to
submit to the processes envisioned by the providers,
18 April 2019 - Personalized & Customer-Centric Content Marketing