Customer-Centricity as a Competitive Advantage

Getting Prepared 

As the new basis of competition pivots to customer-centricity, companies will need to re-think their strategic portfolios to incorporate a more holistic view of how each critical initiative that a company undertakes in turn delivers a capability that moves them closer to their customers. It also requires a companies’ suppliers and partners to not just understand and speak the language of customer-centricity like “customer journeys” and “user experience”, but to deliver the broad set of services and capabilities that help them make that shift. For example, traditional consulting service lines break down at a level below customer experience, but its increased importance should fundamentally change how they view service lines and create a bigger conversation about customer experience.  

Consulting Service Lines That Support Improving “The Customer Experience” 

In order to support customers, consultants will also need to re-orient their capabilities to incorporate the “big-picture” view of improving customer-centricity. For example, it may not make sense to implement new CRM technology without considering how departments are organized or measured and may choose to re-organize departments which are traditionally at cross-purposes, like manufacturing vs. supplying after sale parts. Ultimately, all manufacturers, their suppliers and after sale partners will recognize that they too have an opportunity to become closer with their customers. 

Never have we, the customers, been so impressed with what is possible in how companies can delight us and make our lives easier. In the next decade, we can only imagine how fast the bar will rise and how far the gap between the best and worst companies will become. It is truly exciting to think about the innovations that will emerge as companies fight for the right to delight.

Forum Solutions is a management consulting company dedicated to crafting and delivering transformational outcomes for our clients, our colleagues, and our community. With our help, clients become more agile, resilient, and connected, bringing great ideas to fruition with brilliant results. From start-ups to the Fortune 50, business leaders rely on Forum Solutions to help them form and realize their strategies. Our company is a certified Woman Owned Business that believes in developing and growing our colleagues, company, and region in a socially conscious way.