Breaking out of the silo mentality

The structural crisis many companies are faced with requires a structural response. Individual measures are not enough. In addition to a vertical organizational structure, a horizontal, process-oriented approach that focuses on the customer experience and interactions between customers and the company is also needed.

It is generally agreed today that customer centricity is important. Properly incorporating CX management into a company’s organizational structure does pose challenges though. Why is that, and what’s the best approach?

Customer experience essentially comes down to striking the perfect balance between product and customer centricity. But the credibility gap is often wider than expected. Companies think they have a clear picture of their customers. Customers, on the other hand, have the impression that companies don’t really understand them. Because the customer journey is so fluid and dynamic, a lot of companies don’t even know how customers come to them.

This is where CX management comes into play as a company’s public image and self-perception is where the future of customer centricity lies. CX management helps us better understand the complexity of all these touchpoints, customer journeys and business processes. But the customer experience is about establishing a culture, and not just a tool that you introduce overnight. This is something everyone needs to be aware of and conveyed appropriately. It is a change process.

Breaking out of the silo mentality

One of the main reasons companies don’t really understand their clientele is their silo mentality. Each individual department – whether marketing, sales, customer service or logistics – is inward-looking in its approach. Customers want simple, fast and reliable services. To change this behaviour permanently, companies need to put themselves in the shoes of their customers. This requires adopting a top-down approach.

In other words, companies need to establish a customer-centric mindset – and across every department. The only way to break out of this deep-rooted silo mentality is by involving interdisciplinary teams in product development.

Establishing a customer-centred mindset and approach.

This requires companies to align themselves with their customers in their structure, behaviour and processes. Generally speaking, there are four key points to bear in mind:

Develop a common understanding of customers

Every department with either direct or indirect customer contact should be able to share their own insights to create a realistic image of the company’s clientele.

Establish interdisciplinary customer centricity

The project committees are backed by CX specialists who contribute methods, manage the development process and chair cross-functional discussions.

Set out roles and responsibilities

The understanding of the customer experience and performance pledge that have been decided on as a team are used to come up with design measures and responsibilities.

Delegate responsibility and empower staff

In addition to this customer understanding and the customer experience defined, it is important to empower staff to actually implement customer centricity in their day-to-day tasks.

The way different departments interact means that staff become customers in their own right. This in-house cooperation is the key to solving complex problems, whilst also being the biggest challenge.

Even though its implementation is down to everyone, CX management still has to be initiated at the highest level. It needs to be exemplified at managerial level, translated into employee targets and enshrined in the company’s culture.

A company can only undergo a permanent change if the core mindset and behaviour of every single employee also changes.