“There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else”. Sam Walton, founder Walmart.
And never has there been a time when this is more true.
Competition, globalization, conformance, complexity are all things forcing us to look at how work gets done. To do it better, faster, cheaper.
And boy are we trying. We are looking at efficiency, effectiveness and waste. We monitor the numbers; put them into dashboards and scorecards and….wait.
The language of business seems to be about the battle between companies and customers. What about the phrase ‘front line’ or ‘customer engagement’? Even ‘the customer is always right’. They are all confrontational.
Think about how we organize ourselves. If I asked you to sketch your organization chart what it would look like? Yes a hierarchical pyramid with the ‘big jobs’ at the top. Why is that so? It is a mindset that was created in command and control times and relates to effective warfare strategy c. 1850.
Effective warfare strategy??!
So why organize ourselves and work that way?
Because we always have. Now changing times, new and volatile demands are meaning that those ways of doing stuff are just no longer as effective.
Organizations who understand that have already transformed to newer more vitalized model.
Examples. Zara 10 Days, sense and respond. South West – process start and end. Citibank – money in, move it around, give it out. Free money? The latter is especially relevant. Toshiba – order to use. Easyjet – bums on seats. Many fine examples of organizations who have delivered the BPM promise and are now going further.
So what is the secret, the magic sauce, Colonel Saunders recipe?
The good news – it isn’t rocket science. We mere mortals can grasp the fundamentals and make them our own.
It is about organizing ourselves around the person who pays our salary and keeps the shareholders happy – the customer.
Organizing ourselves around the customer reduces cost, improves revenue and enhances service. The triple crown. Now – this moment, and what’s more it is sustainable. In fact it is a new business model. Writers, business gurus and leading practitioners are calling this the dawning of the customer age.
Those folks who don’t understand this will be like marooned penguins on a melting iceberg drifting out to sea.
The contrast between the old ways and the new is stark. Ever diminishing returns and a downward spiral for those still looking inside for improvement.
The promise and immediate return in reduced costs, savings and increased revenue for those who understand and apply the new rules of the game.
So how do we do that? Well for one thing we start where we are – now, today.
We rid ourselves of artificial pictures and boundaries e.g. the pyramidal organization structure.
We challenge our thinking and ask how does the work I do contribute to achieving our Successful Customer Outcome (SCO)?
Systematically we..
1. Work out the needs of those customers you are trying to meet, and understand those needs well.
2. Organize in a clear and simple way around those needs.
3. Articulate those needs as SCOs and align the organization through its people, processes, systems and strategy
The benefits are immediate and sustainable. Ask yourself the question – what is my unit’s Successful Customer Outcome?
How many of our current measures of success are inside-out (old way) and how many outside-in (new way)?
A true test of current customer alignment – does everybody know (a) the cost of customer acquisition (b) the annual value of a customer (c) the cost of a customer complaint.
It isn’t good enough anymore to say it doesn’t matter to me, I am in XYZ department and don’t need to care. Oh yes you do – and before it is too late!
Final example… $1,000 if you get the answer right.
Conclusion:
So organize everything around achieving SCOs and meeting Customer expectations. Progressively review the processes in this light and you will take out cost, improve revenues and enhance service simultaneously.
It is quick, it is simple and it is now.
“High expectations are the key to everything” - Sam Walton
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” - Leonardo Da Vinci
About the Author
Steve Towers, Co-founder and Chair of BP Group (www.bpgroup.org), is an expert on process and performance transformation. Steve founded the first community focused on business process management in 1992.
Steve has bases in Europe (UK), New York and Colorado.
