In today’s customer-driven economy, it's clear that being a customer-centric organization is critical for success. But who's responsible for making sure that actually happens?
Enter the role of a chief insights officer. While my specific title may be unique -- other companies might call similar roles “chief customer officer” or “chief experience officer” -- the bottom line remains the same: it’s an investment in deeply understanding our customers, our market, and the industry at large so we can make customer-centric decisions across the company.
Since taking on the CIO role in 2019, I’ve learned a few key lessons about the realities of becoming a customer-centric company.
1. Being truly customer centric is deceptively difficult
Every company wants to be customer centric, but how many really are? The answer is not many. According to one report, 75% of organizations believe they are customer centric, yet only 30% of consumers agree.
Teams are eager to make customer experience (CX) and customer feedback core tenets of their culture, but most organizations are still in the early stages of making this a reality. Building empathy for the customer -- true empathy that exists beyond analytics and Big Data -- doesn’t come from analyzing dashboards and metrics, but from finding effective ways to get inside customers’ heads to understand their needs and what’s working or not working.
Companies can achieve this by integrating customer perspectives into key processes and workflows within the organization. This could look like a product team getting customer feedback at several points throughout the process of bringing a new product to market, or a marketing team incorporating customer feedback into every step of building a new ad campaign.
2. There’s a disconnect when it comes to executive focus versus employees’ experiences regarding customer experience
Executives understand the importance of customer centricity, no doubt. Many will say that it’s critical and a key investment area for their company. But when you talk to the employees of those same companies, they often rate their team’s focus on customers as relatively low. One study reported that although 95% of executives believe the customer experience is important, only one-third of employees think their organization takes a proactive approach to it.
It’s evident that there’s a discrepancy between what leaders say about CX and what’s actually happening on the ground in their organizations. Filling this gap means empowering employees with the tools and resources they need to facilitate great customer experiences.
Additionally, frontline employees need the autonomy to do right by the customer in real time.
