Reflections on Customer Centricity from Colombo

“Customer centricity. Has our understanding of the concept evolved ?”

Satya Nadella ?often challenges us “what gives us the permission to exist and do what we do?”? For me, this continuous work to remain relevant to our customers provides me purpose and permission for my work. ?

“At the core of this concept lies an attempt to deeply understand the needs, pains and desired outcomes of our customers”. For any organization to remain relevant in a long corporate lifespan, it must continuously innovate and adapt. And often the real source of that innovation lies with our customers. Hence if we really listen to our customers with intentionality, there lies our ability to continuously innovate.

As we strive to achieve customer relevance, we should evolve across every lever of the customer journey – from deeply understanding customers' needs, evolving our customer engagement strategies through ambidextrous approaches and levering high tech to achieve high touch at scale, designing customer experiences that aim to elevate the relationship, and continuously adapting based on feedback- ?aiming to build and maintain trust by listening to customers with intentionality.

A quick recap:

-????????? Customer Satisfaction: aims at understanding and meeting the articulated wants of the customers.

-????????? Customer Loyalty: aims? to create long-term relationships and loyalty among customers.

-????????? Customer Relevance: focus is on striving to be relevant to our customers. This involves not just understanding their articulated wants but also their unarticulated needs and pains and desired outcomes.

?“What are some of the biggest challenges or roadblocks organizations face when trying to implement customer centricity strategies ??

?Inculcating customer centricity as a core strategy needs work across the organization. While some challenges may seem obvious, it can be an iceberg situation.

?-????????? Culture: Establishing a customer-centric culture in an already existing alternate culture which was developed to suit an existing business model will mean an organization wide culture change project. Starting with a mindset shift and then breaking through leadership stagnation will be necessary.

-????????? Business model: If the existing business model in your industry was built not on explicitly supporting customer centricity, realization for change may come too late when your business is already getting disrupted.

-????????? Employees: To sound contradictory, employees are at the heart of executing customer centricity. A comprehensive HR strategy with this embedded philosophy is necessary which starts with what skills you hire for, what skills you develop and what skills get incentivized so that any KPIs for measurement which comes later sits on a solid foundation.

-????????? Customer engagement methodologies: While we aim to engage with every customer equally, truth is that resource constraints force us to prioritize. Leveraging high tech as an enabler for high touch can help us scale coverage, adapt and pivot to changing customer natures.

-????????? KPIs and measurements: Beyond defining KPIs, its essential to be sure that we measure the metrics that matter. The technology channels necessary to enable KPI measurements must be robust and should evolve with times.

?“Being in the technology industry, what challenges your ability to remain customer centric ?”

Ironically being in a fast-paced, emerging technology industry poses its own challenges when trying to be customer centric; even though we are providing solutions which enables our customers to be more customer centric. ??

?-????????? Pace of Transformation: The rapid pace of technological advancements often outstrips the cultural and skill adaptation needed; not just for our teams but for our customers too.

-????????? Blurring Industry Lines: The convergence of different industry segments enabled by the very technological innovations we provide keep us on our toes as we continually refresh our understanding of evolving customer business models in a quest to provide value.

-????????? Responsibility for Transformation: there is a substantial responsibility to drive change and deliver outcomes that customers may not yet envision or articulate. Driving change responsibly, especially when the potential of emerging technologies is still ‘emerging’ is a true test on building relevancy and customer centricity.

-????????? Balancing Innovation with Customer Need & Readiness: Striking a balance between pushing the envelope with innovative solutions and ensuring customer readiness is crucial.

?“Is customer centricity an absolute necessity?”

This made me think about companies that have succeeded without explicitly focusing on customer centricity as a driver for success. The factors which have driven success in these industries are often excellent product or category innovation ( eg : Tesla ), new scientific breakthrough (? space exploration, pharmaceutical companies ), ?brand prestige & scarcity ( eg: ultra luxury goods) , traditional industries that are built on trust ( eg: traditional banks).

However, if we analyze each of these industries/organizations they do fulfil unarticulated needs, unsolved pains, silent & unmet desires, or basic necessities of customers which brings us back to relevancy. Hence even if their focus may not seem overtly customer centric, they remain deeply relevant.?

?“Examples where Microsoft showed up with Customer centricity”

?I reflected on a few of the corporate decisions made by Microsoft with customer centricity in mind. These came to mind:

-????????? Commitment to Linux: By joining the Linux Foundation in 2016, Microsoft shifted from opposing to supporting open source. This was exemplified through Azure and Linux integrations, enhancing interoperability and demonstrating responsiveness to customer needs.

-????????? Acquisition of GitHub: Understanding deep seated concerns from developers, Microsoft maintained GitHub's operational autonomy and open-source nature, addressing developer apprehensions and investing in platform improvements.

-????????? Partnership with Oracle: The 2023 expanded partnership between Microsoft and Oracle showcased co-opetition to better serve customers while competing in other business areas.

(Disclosure : Thoughts and point of views are entirely mine and if they do seem incomplete that’s because I am only human. Microsoft Copilot AI assistant helped me clean up my writing though. ?? )

Are you driving an AI & Digital Transformation journey in your organization? Talk to us at Microsoft.

I am Kavya Kanchana, I engage with and advise customers on AI and Digital Transformation journeys, often interacting with Strategy offices and CXOs. As a “Business Translator,” I help bridge your business needs with our technology solutions, grounded in customer centricity.? Count on us to actively listen to you. And expect curiosity filled questioning that push the envelope to help you realize your vision.