Brand extension or extension of trust?
August 19, 2011Social Media Marketing and Monitoring #SMM11 – Will you be there?
August 30, 2011
I was lucky enough to recently come across a report written by The Economist Intelligence Unit, a research, analysis and publishing sister business of The Economist and BDO (UK), an audit, accounting and business services firm, called SERVICE 2020: MEGATRENDS FOR THE DECADE AHEAD.
BDO commissioned the EIU as they see service as key part of their offering, with 96% of their customers willing to recommend them to their colleagues. They also see that the world around is changing, that business is more competitive and connected than ever before and wanted to understand what would be the key trends/drivers of success in the decade to come.
Thus, the report surveyed a wide range (479) of business leaders in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific across all industries and sizes. The report was also supplemented by interviews with a number of experts.
The report, like a crystal ball or fortune teller, highlights eight trends that their research tells them will underpin business success in the decade to come. They are:
- Global competition will drive up service standards
- Companies must maintain service standards in the face of “the need for speed”
- Firms must learn to use the increased transparency brought by social media to their advantage
- Companies must use new sources and types of data to rethink the way they track and personalise their service
- Good employees will remain fundamental to good service but with technology as an enabler
- More firms will outsource aspects of customer service to new kinds of specialists
- The rise of the mass affluent and other customer segments will force companies to find new product or service niches
- Customer expectations, including the purpose of the store, are evolving with new technology
If you want to read more and dig into each trend, you can get a complete copy of the report at the EIU’s website here or you can download different chapters according to each trend from the BDO website here.
First of all, I’d like to say that I like the report. I don’t agree with all of its findings. But, I do like many of the areas that it highlights. What I really like is:
- That its focused on the UK, Europe and MENA
- That it looks into the future and highlights that service will be a key differentiator
- That its not all about social media, although it is part of the mix
- That customer experience is a big part of it
- That technology will play a big part
But
- The main element that comes through that will power future differentiation, through service, is people
That’s great.
However, when I dug more deeply into the report and looked at the questions asked and the answers I found something that concerned me about the answers.
Let me explain.
Q14a, 14b and 15 imply people are and will be the biggest elements in delivering service now and in 2020 and that technology and process will play a growing role.
What troubled me was that the results to Q15 focus on a lot of things but most of them tend towards process and technology and not the people that are highlighted in Q14a and Q14b.
Or, am I wrong?
Or, is it that people are implicit in all of these things?
What concerns me is the impact that this research could have when when used and communicated to people, people that are essential to delivering the great service that a company may aspire to.
I think it’s a huge assumption to make that everyone will see and get how important people are in the mix of delivering market beating service. That mistake has been made all too often before.
After all, we are only human and only need to look to our own experience to understand how assuming that people know that they are included or loved or liked or respected or will be helped or develop or nurtured or lead or properly managed or…….can be a big mistake.
If make this assumption, it can be dangerous and threaten to create situations where investments are made in new process and technology that fail to deliver because we failed to bring our people along with us or have them involved in the process.
Perception and understanding and assumption are great at destroying plans and hindering delivery on much that is promised.
So for me:
- Let’s be explicit about people
- Let’s be explicit about how you want them to develop
- Let’s be explicit about getting them involved
- Let’s not assume that they know that they are important
Some people just like to be told once in a while.
What do you think?
10 Comments
Service 2020: Megatrends for the Decade Ahead – Report and Some Reflections http://t.co/wzXD6hx #custserv #CustExp
Service 2020: Megatrends for the Decade Ahead – Report and Some Reflections http://t.co/wzXD6hx #custserv #CustExp
Service 2020: Megatrends for the Decade Ahead β Report and Some Reflections http://t.co/ULRi19C
I couldn’t agree more, people, attitudes and behaviours come first and processes and technology can then help (or hinder) as their tools.
In particular, there’s a widespread (and false) assumption that social media will finally deliver a solution to poor service. Last decade it was Net Promoter. In the ’90s it was six sigma. In the ’80s it was Total Quality Management (TQM).
They’re all good things (great, even) when they’re used by good people, but of themselves they solve nothing. In fact it’s worse than that – mis-guided projects can consume vast sums of money while customers still defect in volume.
Hi Guy,
Thanks for swinging by and adding your voice to the conversation.
As you rightly point out, and the research attests to, that people will always be there and there will always be a ‘shiny new object’. We forget to invest in people, culture, attitudes and behaviour at our peril.
Adrian
Service 2020: Megatrends for the Decade Ahead β Report and Some Reflections http://t.co/07vtzlH via @adrianswinscoe
One of my good friends once said “People are more important than things!”. Yet, within the business world (and remember that many public organisations are run on the business mindset and organisational model) “Things are more important than people!”
And the thing that we are most in love with in the Western world is technology. No matter how many times a pure technology focus fails to deliver the desired outcome we continue with our madness: one technology fix fails and we automatically go for the next one. CRM should have been about cultivating meaningful, two way, mutually beneficial relationships. Yet it soon became buy a CRM system and poof you have customer loyalty, revenue growth and higher profits. I fear that customer experience is headed in that direction. If there is God in business it is in technology.
Closely following technology is “process”. What is process? It is simply the sequence of actions you take to attain a desired outcome. Now specifying and standarding on a set of processes within a factory that manufactures stuff is a great idea. After all you are acting on inanimate matter that if you source it properly is the same and so if you act on it then you will get the same result each time. Use the same logic when working with people and you have put in place an architecture (organisational design) that comes across as arrogant, insensitive, uncaring, inhuman. Yet what do organistions do they focus on specifying processes and ensuring adherence to these processes.
Look underneath this and what you might arrive at is the conclusion that those who are in charge do not trust the employees within the organisation. In fact they actively distrust them and so they replace them with technoloy when they can (as technology is predictable) and make then follow top down prescribed processes. And the result is that many, if not most employees, turn up and do the minimum they have to do to get through the day. Does this remind you of the education system?
The leaders and managers who truly get that the source of greatness is people and who act on the motto “people are more important than things” are the ones that liberate the human spirit and inspire their people to do great stuff. Yet these kinds of leaders/managers are few – at least that has been my experience.
Wow Maz!
What a comment. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your own reflections and experiences.
I believe that by writing and talking about what is takes to become more customer and human centric in our approach to business I hope that we go some way to growing the ‘few’ that you mention into the many. Thanks for lending your voice to the cause π
Adrian
Let’s add one more thing to be explicit about: the link between employee engagement and customer engagement. If you believe it matters, make it known. If you believe it is a causal link, as in higher employee engagement drives higher customer engagement, then start to pay close attention to what drives employee engagement. Who knows, we might even start to ask employees what moderates their engagement, and pay more attention to their behavior as it impacts customers!
Marc
Hi Marc,
Too true too true and well said. There is some great research that shows the link between employee engagement and bottom line results, which include better retention and profitability. The data is there. Just got to get people to care enough and pay more attention.
Adrian