Customer expectations will not be met by organisations that are organised and managed the way many are today

A new report from the Economist Intelligence Unit (sponsored by Salesforce.com) explains "How rising customer expectations are turning companies outside-in". Based on, "a global survey of 550 senior business executives at companies across eight industries. Its aim is to explore how businesses around the world are tackling the challenge of reorganising their operations around the customer as expectations grow". Key findings are:

• Survey respondents overwhelmingly agree that their business has been impacted in the past five years by a greater need for customer-centricity.
• Becoming more customer-centric demands time, effort and investment—and will continue to do so. Three-quarters (75%) agree that their organisation will need to make significant changes to keep up with customer expectations.
• Executives expect a range of rewards from the pursuit of greater customer-centricity (increased market share and competitiveness (30%); increased customer lifetime value (29%); and even greater profits (23%)).
• A significant number of organisations are putting customer feedback and opinions at the heart of decision-making in many areas of the business.
• The stakes are high, as most see customer-centricity as vital to future competitiveness.
• Technological leaders tend to be customer-centric leaders. The survey shows a strong correlation between how well an organisation believes it has adapted to various recent technology trends and its preparedness for customer-centricity.

The report concludes, executives at a customer-centric organisation:

• See their organisation through the customer’s eyes.
• Keep careful watch over what customers say and do.
• Empower employees.
• Enact high-level, strategic change - because customer experience efforts confined to front line staff or left to disparate and siloed departmental initiatives are not sufficient, and risk undermining the larger objective.

In my opinion, the report is interesting for what it says, the issues it ignores and the conclusions which tell us little new, except that "high-level strategic change" is needed if business is ever to become customer-centric. It is also right to suggest that rising customer expectations should lead to "turning companies outside-in" in one respect, but in another respect being customer-centric is only possible through an inside-out focus on employee satisfaction and an appropriate corporate culture. The changes needed also go even further, to governance and leadership styles for example.

The report says little or nothing about the impact of the gig economy on corporate cultures, the impact of job insecurity on employee motivation, the pathetically low levels of employee engagement and job satisfaction on customer service quality etc.

In short, customer expectations will not be met by organisations that are organised and managed the way many are today. Inside-out change needs to start with a recognition that employee experience and satisfaction matter just as much as customer experience and satisfaction. In fact, employees need to love their jobs if they are to be expected to deliver exceptional customer experience, which is what customers now demand, not just expect.

This thinking lies at the heart of The Business Case for Love, a case made by Marc Cox, who has been working with businesses that want their employees, and customers, to love them. Employees are proud to work for businesses they love. Customers are proud to be patrons of the brands they love. And businesses that are loved earn the right to be bragged about by both employees and customers. Such businesses are hard to find, but we know then when we experience them.

Who Kills the Company Spirit: The Business Case For Love is the title of Marc's future book. In it he will explain how to create, maintain and restore the passion. Understanding this is going to be an increasingly important core skill and the greatest source of competitive advantage. It is not only customers that increasingly demand it. In the war for talent employers will find growing numbers of employees demand it of their employers. Employees and customers seek meaning, self-respect, identity and dignity, they demand it, and why shouldn't they if they can?

In advance of the publication of his book Marc is running a series of free taster events on The Business Case For Love for small groups of managers, executives and directors. The next events are on July 4th and 14th and will take place in London. Email Marc for details: [email protected]