A dialogue to reflect and share insights
Sofia Lindholm shares how Voice of Our Clients (VOC) conversations are an opportunity for clients to reflect on their challenges and progress, while also validating their strategies to address new market realities.
Fostering dialogue to help clients reflect on their business
Voice of Our Clients (VOC) conversations are an opportunity to sit down with senior leadership at client organizations to discuss topics they are most impacted by, the challenges they face and the potential opportunities they see.?
They are open and frank discussions during which our clients share their views on industry trends as well as their own business, IT and investment priorities.?
The VOC discussions are very different from the other interactions we have with our clients throughout the year. These strategic conversations are independent of CGI.
There isn’t a cookie-cutter approach to these conversations. Each conversation is tailored to the organization and the CXO I am speaking with to ensure relevancy. In fact, sometimes, we spend as much as 30 minutes discussing a single topic that resonates strongly with the particular client.?
These conversations give us a lot of insight, but they also give our clients an opportunity to reflect on their business. Our clients see value in the time they spend on VOC discussions because they offer time for reflection. In fact, several clients have told me at the end of our VOC conversations: “Thank you, Sofia, for taking the time to help me reflect on this important topic.”?
The VOC discussions are very different from the other interactions we have with our clients throughout the year. These strategic conversations are independent of CGI. They are not about our solutions, offerings or capabilities. These conversations are about fostering a dialogue to share insights.
Turning data into actionable insights
In 2022, we analyzed the findings from one-on-one interviews with 1,675 business and IT executives across industries and geographies. Taking aggregated, anonymous data, we then developed customized readouts for our clients to present our insights.
Our clients see a lot of value in these follow-up conversations as it helps them validate that their peers are also facing the same challenges, and it also validates their strategies for overcoming them. These readouts also help our clients gauge their progress in relation to digital leaders within their industry and other industries, as well as organizations in different geographies.?
I work in the Swedish market, and my clients are global manufacturing companies. The breadth of our VOC findings enables us to highlight the notable differences between European and North American organizations on several key topics, including sustainability. For instance, 48% of European executives said sustainability is highly core to creating value for stakeholders, compared to 21% of North American executives.
Many of the organizations I work with are proud of the insights I share from the VOC because they are ahead of the competition. It validates that they’re on the right path.
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Following macro trends and their impacts
VOC conversations also provide a unique view into how macro trends are impacting our clients’ priorities and investment plans. (To learn more, read our white paper: The trends shaping our future: A prelude to strategic planning.)?
The pandemic and the world events following it have altered the reality for manufacturers. It has affected their supply chains, creating new challenges in acquiring raw materials and components.
Discussing these macro trends and their impacts is extremely valuable for our clients. For instance, the pandemic and the world events following it have altered the reality for manufacturers. It has affected their supply chains, creating new challenges in acquiring raw materials and components. At the same time, there is a growing focus on sustainability. As the 2022 VOC insights demonstrated, sustainability emerged as the most impactful industry trend.?
All of these shifts require manufacturers to rethink how they work, their approach to change management and their control over their supply chain. Becoming data-driven organizations to address these new market realities is a core topic in my conversations with manufacturing clients.??
Our research reflects our clients’ realities, and it’s because we truly understand their challenges that our clients trust us to be their partner of choice.
Learn more about how the VOC program can help you gain insights you can act on
Every year, CGI leaders meet with business and IT executives to gather their perspectives on the trends affecting their enterprises. These industry insights - including the attributes of digital leaders - lead to actions to best satisfy the needs of your customers and citizens.
Voice of Our Clients gathers our clients’ perspectives on the trends affecting their enterprises. Learn more about the?VOC program.
More insights from leaders around the world
Several CGI leaders and experts around the world share the value the VOC program brings to their clients in this article series: