A new perspective on search
03.05.2023
You’re not as customer focussed as you think you are
Why changing to become a customer-led organisation is the only option for long-term survival
Global Digital transformation will be worth c.$250bn by 2030. BUT, it will be concentrated in mature, established organisations, who are trying to compete with market leaders and disruptors, driven to deliver better end-to-end customer experiences and propositions, as a way to stay relevant, differentiate, gain market advantage and drive operational efficiency.
Here are just three big reasons why:
- Your brand isn’t as powerful as you think — 75% of brands could disappear and customers wouldn’t care [Source: Meaningful-Brands]
- Technology is moving faster than ever — Low-code, low-cost digital is enabling challengers in most markets For example; Iterate Interplay is a drag-and-drop, low-code AI environment where innovation apps can be rapidly developed, tested and commercialised through modularised, pre-built components — then pushed into production environments at a fraction of the cost and time
- Artificial Intelligence is right here, right now — And AI will further accelerate disruptionFor example; ChatGPT gives precise, contextual responses to user inquiries that mimic natural conversation allowing the automation of support, sales, content creation and other customer facing tasks in a way that purely human powered organisations won’t be able to compete with.
The Organisation Challenge
Change can be perceived as big, scary and costly. To go from organisation led to customer led — whilst meeting organisation objectives — requires a “North Star” Vision
The vision needs a clear narrative and compelling case for change, ensuring everyone knows and understands the vision and their role in achieving success:
- How to remain relevant for customers in rapidly changing markets
- How to organise and transform to be successful and make a tangible difference to customers AND colleagues
- How to maximise opportunity for customers, colleagues and the organisation, whilst driving operational efficiency
- How to ensure big strategic investments (e.g. digital transformation) are founded on what delivers best outcomes for customer, colleague and organisation
Customer Driven Organisations
Most Organisations are NOT customer led despite what they say. They are organisation led, driven by operational and financial considerations first, and customer second.
A customer driven organisation is one that grounds its strategy in the experience it wants to deliver for its customers AND colleagues. The experience design is anchored to the organisation’s core purpose. It structures itself to deliver the best possible outcomes for customer, colleague AND the organisation.
Everything the organisation does is intrinsically linked to it’s purpose;
This approach creates an holistic vision, where every part of the organisation knows it’s part in achieving success, and is coordinated to do so.
Holistic Approach
If you truly understand customers, their journey and the context of the World they live in, and you can design the best way of delivering products & services that meet their needs, gain competitive advantage AND achieve the organisation’s objectives.
To do this you need to understand these Seven Foundation questions:
- Why are we here? What human problems do we exist to solve?
- How do we understand and solve customer problems?
- What do we do & how do we do it?
- Who are we?
- What is our voice?
- How do we win?
- What needs to change?
The Change Framework
A Systematic & Holistic approach to becoming a customer led organisation
There are Seven Foundations that make up the Change Framework, based on the questions we just posed:
- PURPOSE – Why are we here
- EXPERIENCE – How we understand and solve problems
- VALUE PROPOSITION – What we do and how we do it
- BRAND – Who we are
- COMMUNICATION – Our voice
- SUCCESS – How we win
- TRANSFORMATION – What needs to change
All organisations have a purpose, a fundamental reason for being, human problems they exist to solve. Over time, these purpose can become less clear as organisations evolve and change, but no organisation is successful unless all its component parts are.
Success in any change journey is rooted in clarity of purpose; the vision for the organisation and subsequent objectives that need to be met for this vision to be achieved.
Clearly and accurately communicated and with a common language that is repeated, telling compelling stories which are credible & relevant; visual & visceral, Purpose answers the questions:
- What human problems does the organmisation exist to solve
- What product and/ or services does it provide to solve these problems
- What are the strategic objectives for the organisation
- What is it’s social and environmental purpose
- What do the organisations owners (shareholders/ investors/ institutions) expect of it
Every organisation creates something — physical products, digital products and/ or services — AND every organisation has people that consume that product or service — a “customer”
If you truly understand your customers (and indeed your customer’s customer, if you have them) you can design the best way of delivering those products or services that meet their needs, whilst achieving the organisation’s objectives.
Ask:
- What are the customer & colleague experience journeys from “Need/ Trigger” to “Use” of the Products & Services?
- What are customers & colleagues doing/ thinking/ feeling throughout their journeys?
- What problems/ barriers/ pain points do they face?
- What is the North Star experience vision?
The value proposition defines exactly what you will do for customers & colleagues (and what you won’t), so that you can design the future customer & colleague experience.
It is for everyone. It provides the whole organisation with a clear understanding and vision for what they offer, and sets expectations.
In setting a clear North Star Vision across digital, physical & human channels we provide a basis for the accountable organisation functions to plan & scope the changes required to deliver these propositions.
Ask:
- What products and services will the organisation offer its consumers [to solve their problems]?
- How are those products and services defined?
- What role does the colleague play in the delivery of these products & services?
- How will this gain market advantage?
A Value Proposition Canvas is a great way of codifying each product or service to ensure it maximises opportunity for the customer and the organisation
Brand strategy must be based on the customer value proposition, which is, in turn, based on a deep understanding of the customer, their problems and the journey they are going on.
This means that the brand and subsequent ‘go to market’ strategies stand a much better chance of resonating with the customer, because it is the embodiment of how the organisation is going to solve customer problems.
Ask:
- How does the brand embody the value propositions?
- What are the brand values based on the proposition & experience north stars?
- How does the brand look, feel and behave?
Communication, be it internal or external (Marketing and PR), is integral for everyone to understand what this company is going to do and how it is going to do it.
It represents the brand and the customer value proposition. Internally it aligns everyone to the North Star vision for the organisation and builds belief. Externally it tells customers who we are and what we do.
Ask:
- What will the organisation say about it’s offer?
- How will it say it?
- Where will it say it?
By understanding the critical success factors (which drive strategies) of all functional areas, there is a far greater chance of aligning the entire organisation behind the change journey
Success factors are a critical part of the design process. Knowing the variety of outcomes the organisation needs to achieve informs how the products and services are designed and delivered
Ask:
- What does success look like?
- What is measured?
- How is it measured?
Some examples of Critical Success Factors across an organisation’s myriad functions:
No organisation is successful unless all its component parts are.
Success in any change journey is rooted in clarity of purpose, the vision for the organisation and subsequent objectives that need to be met for this vision to be achieved. Clearly and accurately communicated and with a common language that is repeated, telling compelling stories which are credible & relevant; visual & visceral.
Transformation begins with designing holistically to deliver The Value Propositions across:
- Physical & Human Assets
- Digital Estate
- Organisation Structure
But, everything needs to be grounded in reality. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a lofty/ audacious vision for the organisation, but progress towards it should be incremental — evolution not revolution — and each incremental step achievable and measurable. If it’s going well, just take quicker steps!
And successful Transformation Design solves problems in the most effective way. It…
- Prioritises what to do first based on clearly defined cost/ benefit
- Collaborates & co-creates
- Delivers solutions quickly
- Adapts to change
Digital Transformation will be a critical factor for the majority of organisations, but also potentially the greatest barrier and biggest cost as new and old technology meet.
There are always “no regrets” actions, but beyond these each change must be prototyped, learnt from and iterated against it’s original hypothesis with clear stage gates for investment/ significant change and prototyping, testing & learning MUST be lean and fast.
Physical & Human Assets
To deliver the products and services defined by The Value Proposition, define how the organisation will:
- Maximise current human & physical assets
- Develop relevant new assets
Digital
Ask the question how does the “as is” technology infrastructure support the delivery of The Value Proposition? And then Identify new technology opportunities to develop it; enhance the customer & colleague experience and; optimise operational efficiency.
Technology opportunities must be RAPIDLY tested to prove/ disprove hypotheses and define how “new” technology meshes with “current” technology.
Organisation Structure
Ask what needs to “be true” across the organisation for the Value Proposition to be delivered?
- Are functional roles and responsibilities are clear and well defined
Dependencies are mapped? - Are risks & mitigations identified?
- Is there a common narrative that is widely communicated, in language that is clear with a compelling case for change?
Challenges
Understanding what could go wrong, before it does
Successful change understands what it is trying to do — and why — for it’s customers, it’s colleagues and it’s strategic goals. It has the right organisational structure and processes to deliver the best outcome, in the shortest possible time, at the lowest cost and is able to understand and measure the value of what it is doing — and iterate from that.
But change fails, unless key challenges are addressed BEFORE a change programme commences.
- Advocacy
- Cost/ Benefit
- Change Averse
- Organisational Structure
Advocacy
C-Suite. It all begins at the top. Are they all believers?
What’s in it for me? Change must contribute to functional critical success factors to achieve broad and deep buy-in across the organisation.
Strategic Priority of the change is clear and widely communicated.
Reality. The change is grounded in the reality of what the organisation does daily.
Cost Benefit
Is it worth it?
Ruthless Prioritisation. Do the thing with the greatest impact, for the lowest cost, in the shortest time FIRST. Then the next, and the next.
Sweat Existing Assets. Use what you already have and maximise it before making further investment.
Change Averse
Scale of Change may be [perceived as] too big and therefore unachievable. An incremental approach where the activities that deliver the greatest benefit for the lowest cost in the fastest time, makes change manageable.
Fear of Change is a fundamental human trait. The case for change must be compelling and relevant.
Evolution not Revolution. Progress should be incremental and each step achievable (and measurable). If it’s going well, just take quicker steps!
Organisation Structure
Is it ready for change? There must be complete clarity on roles & responsibilities.
Dependencies — All parts of the organisation that are affected, directly AND indirectly are ready, at the same time.
Risks — Anything that could stop success is identified and mitigations are in place.
Communication — There is a clear narrative and compelling case for change. Everyone knows and understands the vision
The language to tell these compelling stories is credible & relevant; visual & visceral.
Approach
A systematic approach to change that delivers for Customer, Colleague & Organisation
What to Do
For each of the 7 Foundations and the potential challenges there is a four-step process towards change. A reminder of these Foundations:
- Purpose
- Experience
- Value Proposition
- Brand
- Communication
- Success Factors
- Transformation
AND identifying any Challenges that could undermine the transformation.
Discovery Diagnostic: Where the organisation is “at” today Are the north star visions clear, do they need refining, or writing from scratch? Is there a common view that is widely bought into?
Define the Vision: If the “as is” position needs refining, defining the North Star Vision
Design the Change: For each foundation, based on the North Star Vision, an holistic design of what needs to happen to deliver and meet customer, colleague and organisation objectives
Deliver Incrementally: Doing what delivers the greatest benefit, for the lowest cost, in the fastest time — FIRST
You Know What You Know
Very few organisations are starting from scratch.
An organisation may be a 3 or 5 or 7 out of 10 on the Customer Experience scale, so change may be subtle, or a lot more obvious.
The key is a systematic and holistic approach. Systematic, in that each of the 7 foundations is consciously defined, designed and delivered. Holistic, in that all impacts are considered in context of: customer, colleague and organisation through digital, physical and human channels.
What you know
There will be a great deal of knowledge in an organisation and that must be the basis for the future design. But, assumed knowledge, “it’s always been done this way”, should be robustly challenged, to validate or disprove.
What you need to know
It is unlikely an organisation knows everything about their customers, colleagues, experiences and competitors, so research to gain insight is paramount. As is knowing the right questions to ask.
Who Knows
Everyone. A huge mistake is defining and designing in isolation. By co-creating with a wide community across the organisation, breadth of knowledge will be captured and engagement built.
Approaches
The journey to being a customer driven organisation can be approached in different ways. It does not have to be ‘big bang’ — but it can be. It can start small and grow, it must be incremental and it must deliver for customer, colleague and organisation.
Critical, is a consistent approach and journey through the 7 Foundations of customer led change and facing into the Challenges
Big Bang
Organisations that have a desire to do the full end-to-end holistic customer experience design
Horizontal Slice & Dice
Organisations wanting experience driven change, but not ready for big bang — applying the framework to a horizontal (end-to-end) slice of the organisation/ proposition to test, learn and build from
Vertical Slice & Dice
Organisations wanting to affect a specific pillar e.g.: branding; comms campaigns; digital strategy BUT not yet ready for end-to-end
Author
Andy Rudd
Over the last 10 years, in FTSE 100, Public Sector and global Consulting organisations, I have developed and delivered strategies in Customer & Colleague Experience and Digital Transformation. All with a strong commercial focus, enabling organisations to engage with their customers, through digital, physical and human channels – and meet their goals.
My role has been to define and drive the vision and then create, develop and inspire the teams that deliver customer & colleague centric, digitally focussed, transformations. This means, that by understanding customer and colleague journeys – and the problems and opportunities that these bring – I, and teams I led, have made significant impact to both customer and the organisation – enhancing the customer’s experience AND driving brand performance – sales, profit, efficiency, and culture.
I passionately believe that only by understanding an organisation, its colleagues and customers holistically, can you create a customer driven brand. This has led me to develop my thoughts on how organisations become truly customer- led, where their strategy is grounded in the experience it aspires to deliver for its customers AND colleagues. The experience design is rooted to the brand’s core purpose, and it structures itself to deliver the best possible outcomes for customer, colleague AND the organisation.
Interested in doing any or all of this and need help? Please reach out, I’ve driven this type of change in FTSE 100 and Public Sector organisations and would love to help anyone going on a similar journey.
