Most organisations have been designed ‘inside-out’... here's the $BN opp you are missing
Businesses only really care about themselves.
They focus on what they can build and offer. Their strengths. Their most profitable processes. Their USPs.
And you can tell by looking at how businesses design their customer relationships.
Customers are forced to enter the same data over and over again. Another username. Another one-time PIN or code. And this happens at each different company... even at different business units within the same company.
Customers are bounced from business to business, system to system.
You'll hear “I’m sorry madam, unfortunately that’s not something that I can help you with. Please contact a colleague in another department."
It's sometimes due to legacy IT systems. Or out-dated org structures and service design.
But at the core it's about a lack of focus on the customer.
They can’t see the real customer journey. Real needs. They are blind to everything that happens before people show up at the shop, branch, or on the website.
These businesses are all designed inside-out.
The Flip: Starting on the customer side
Only when you start from the customer point of view can you see the entire customer journey.
Businesses today hear
"I need some running shoes..."
And then 'engage' the customer until
"...I have some running shoes."
But it's really
"I'm raising $1500 for the charity that looked after my brother who died recently. I want to get fit so I can enter the charity fun run, but I have no idea what I need..."
Until
"I now run 20km a week, and it's changed my life."
Real customer journeys are about inspiration and decisions. Planning, budgeting, selecting. Changing criteria. Re-selecting. Ordering. Receiving. Resolving. Renewing. Recommending.
When we stand on the customer side can we organise information around the individual, rather than the business.
The real customer journey is littered with opportunity
With this new perspective we can see much, more more
Supporting decisions - customer needs, scope and timing, advice, recommendations
Sharing information - personal and volunteered information, contexts, documents, intent
Managing information - the processes and admin, who needs what, when and how, proof of all these things, changes to the personal information
These are all valuable services. And together form a new, unseen $BN market.
It's why a new breed of *digital customer tools* are emerging... let’s call them 'CustomerTech'. Products and services that stand on the side of the individual.
Individuals can map out their own needs, their own journey, rather than dance around every different business process.
But here's the kicker: by connecting to CustomerTech tools, businesses themselves will be able to interact all the way across the real customer journey.
Spot new opportunities. To add value. To interact. To help.
And grow revenues and customer engagement like never before.
They can finally design themselves outside-in.
And it’s going to change everything.
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