Of course that new company will eventually be burdened by call centre and customer service issues but in the meantime they will pick up share, while us old guys debate process.

As you said, there has to be a balance in everything; you can never focus on just one thing and expect to have long-term success.

Thanks for replying.

I agree 100% that BPM can only go so far. But just as BPM has its limits, culture w/o efficient processes isn’t really any better.

So, I’m with you that “a marriage of continually improved business processes with a “customer-centric” culture would go a long way.”

But, I do think that “putting customers first” is a meaningless platitude. What firms wrestle with — to oversimplify it — is efficiency versus effectiveness. For certain processes/interactions/transactions, designing a process that takes the least time/cost may be the best thing for the firm, but not the customer (example: Call time). Sometimes it’s right for both the firm and customers. You won’t be in business long if you ignore profitability for the sake of “putting customers first.”

By design or by accident, Zappos has determined which processes (you might call them experiences) they’re willing to execute less than “efficiently optimal” (where “efficiently optimal” means lowest cost). The result — for them — has been higher effectiveness (i.e., loyalty).

Other firms can’t get to where Zappos is simply by focusing on “self-sustaining customer-centric experiences in their CXP journey.”

And I’d be willing to bet that you agree w/ me on that.

What I believe is just as (maybe more) important is a culture that fosters a great CX. Improved business processes will not make up for a culture that doesn’t put the customer first. Processes are only as good as the people who manage and perform them.

There’s definitely a fog around the concept and practice of customer experience management. Something that broad makes it hard to wrap your head around and even harder to try and “manage.”

A marriage of continually improved business processes with a “customer-centric” (had to throw that in, for laughs) culture would go a long way in creating remarkable customer experiences. I beat this drum a lot, but Zappos is a perfect example of that marriage working to create loyal customers and financial success.

I can talk to some dramatic turnarounds I’ve seen/experienced by simply fixing a broken journey or customer experience, which have been extremely profitable for the banks and service organizations that were the focus of the improvement.

However, despite the success of such initiatives, the fact that most organizations don’t have someone ultimately responsible for the customer experience, the fact is that such organizational learning basically gets lost because it’s not a key metric.

The fact is mobilizing changing across the organization to improve CX is really hard work, thus it needs to start with the CEO.

Great post Ron!.

BK

And btw, as much as I’ve been a user of Apple products since 1984, I don’t think Steve Jobs would be any nicer than Steve Ballmer in throwing you out on your butt if what you delivered were meaningless platitudes. As example, Jobs/Apple seem pretty Orwellian when they hunt down leaks.