It is critical for organisations to adopt a scientific approach

It is critical for organisations to adopt a scientific approach to understanding how they can meet customer needs, and to firmly ingrain a customer-focused culture throughout the organisation

1. Make a list of the values you’d like your company to exemplify. Then, examine your current culture, and ask yourself if those values are apparent in your company and driving your everyday efforts. 2. Before you can convince your company’s end customers of your focus on satisfaction and service, you need to convince an even more important customer audience – your internal customers – the employees who represent your company to the world. Talk with all your employees about corporate values and ask for input and suggestions. 3. Customer focused companies constantly seek and document feedback. They have a system to analyze and feed this information back into the loop so that response is immediate and not an annual feat 4. A strong customer orientation also demands that the company treats customer complaints positively. They not only make toll-free numbers and helpdesks available, but also staff it with knowledgeable people to work on them. 5. This means that they get back to these customers within an acceptable time frame So how does one tell if the customer is truly on your side? Most companies survey their customers in some way, shape or form – formally or informally. After decades of forms, interviews and focus groups, studies have shown that in gauging a particular customer’s overall satisfaction, a single question is needed to provide a fairly accurate answer: “Would you recommend us to your family, friends and colleagues?” If the answer is “Yes,” you are meeting or exceeding that customer’s expectations; if it’s “No”, it’s time to get to work.

It’s important to have carefully defined, written standards for a customer service-centric culture. Don’t be afraid to keep raising the bar; after all, that’s exactly what your competition will be doing. By visibly measuring – and rewarding – superior customer service, you’ll establish it as a top priority in employees’ mindsets. By holding associates accountable for the agreed-upon standards, you’ll build a high level of trust—one from which your customers will ultimately benefit. At the same time, it’s important to take advantage of “coachable moments” when employees occasionally fail to meet established standards. Don’t “blame”, but just analyze the situation and offer encouraging, constructive feedback. In time, your employees may actually welcome the occasional complaint as an opportunity to improve service.

Globally, companies like Apple and IBM have reaped rich rewards by being customer focused. In India, Microsoft aims to become relevant to the country’s one billion population; it made a start by introducing the Windows 2000 and Office 2000 range, which supports Hindi/ Devanagari and Tamil scripts. In 2001, it launched the Office XP and Windows XP, which supported 11 Indian languages. It also launched Project Bhasha to promote local language computing in 2003.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

 

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Finally, a wrong move?

You can look at it as an advantage or as a drawback, but when Apple makes any kind of play, it is bound to invite numerous discussions, debates and scrutiny. The same is true for its latest acquisition of Intrinsity. Is Steve Job’s new penchant for semi-conductors the ‘wrong move’ that experts had been waiting for so long? by Amir Moin

It’s hard to discount the ability of Apple Computers to offer differentiated, futuristic and well designed products that enthrall customers across the globe, a fact that the iPod and iPhone have proved beyond doubt. But Steve Jobs also realises the perils of not watching his back. In what comes out as the latest edition of Apple’s endeavours towards becoming a fully integrated consumer electronics company, Apple has acquired Intrinsity, a small Austin-based firm for $121 million, that makes embedded processor cores, circuit design tools, design services and intellectual property based on their proprietary Domino Logic.

The reason why this acquisition is ringing alarm bells in the industry is because Apple had acquired another fabless semiconductor company, P.A. Semiconductors in April 2008; subsequently, in April 2009, Apple hired two former ATI/AMD chip designers. One was Raja Koduri, the former Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at AMD’s graphics group and the other was Bob Drebin, who held the same position at AMD before Koduri.

The induction of these highly skilled hires also coincided with Mark Papermaster’s official return to work at Apple. Papermaster was instrumental in developing the PowerPC architecture with IBM. His return at Apple was delayed owing to the legal settlement between them and his former employer, IBM. These developments have led the industry to believe that Apple plans to have the chips custom made in its own backyard. Tom R. Halfhill, Senior Analyst, The Linley Group, US, tells B&E, “By developing custom SoCs and embedded-processor cores, Apple is assuming more risk, but the potential payoffs are great: less dependence on third-party suppliers, greater differentiation, higher retail prices and richer profit margins.” Given the super secretive nature of the company, this revelation shouldn’t come as a surprise.

But there is more to this than meets the eye. By acquiring Intrinsity, Apple buys four things: Intrinsity’s Fast 14 technology, exclusive access to Intrinsity’s processor cores, a skilled processor design team and a multi-gigahertz Fast 14 implementation of ARM’s Cortex A9 Dual core processor. The last item has been in development for the past one year and could figure in Apple’s plans for future iPhones, iPads, and other gadgets.

With the acquisition of Intrinsity, Apple is poised to do what IBM did in the 1980s. It will be ‘legitimizing’ tablet computers, just as IBM had legitimized personal computers with its first PC in 1981. IBM was late in the market, but set a standard that soon dominated the market. In order to make tablets practical, five technologies have to mature – lightweight rechargeable batteries with high energy density; low-power microprocessors with enough performance to run complex software; flat, lightweight screens with pen or touch sensitivity; sophisticated graphical user interfaces; and smartly incorporated broadband wireless networking. These technologies are now on the verge of a boom. “With iPad, Apple is adding its usual extra elements: superlative user interface, trendy industrial design, cultural caché & unmatched marketing hype,” says Halfhill.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri 
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles. 

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