Customer centricity - Are you still talking about it or are you already acting?

The answer is: for the provider with whom they feel most comfortable all around. However, customer centricity must be more than just a service or a sales channel:

It is a corporate culture in which all areas are challenged - from sales to logistics to accounting. The goal is to anchor the customer's entire journey with the company as a positive memory. In this way, the company stands out from the crowd and overtakes its market competitors. So much for theory - but what does this mean in practice? What do the individual areas in the company have to do to create the perfect customer experience? Take the test to see which disciplines you have already mastered and where you need to take action.

Marketing - Targeting and inspiring prospective customers

Prospects and customers are more informed today than ever before, because research on the Internet before making a purchase has now become a natural part of the buying process. The company must therefore be present at all touchpoints where prospects spend time, both before and after the purchase, in order to send clear and convincing messages.

Are you a relevant supplier in the prospect's decision-making process?

• Uniform image to the outside world: Same brand image and statements at all touchpoints of the prospective customer with the company
• Manage customer journey: measure, evaluate and automate accordingly
• A central database: linking marketing, sales and service to leverage potential across departments

Retail and distribution - Convincing through intuitive and personalized offers

Offering the prospect the right information and opportunities for action at the right time - that is the great challenge in stationary retail, in e-commerce, and in direct contact. To make this possible, sufficient information about the prospective customer must be available, which is used for the personal shopping experience.

Do you offer customers a unique shopping experience?

• The right channels: Offer products and information where the customer prefers to buy or obtain information (stationary trade, online store, marketplaces, personal contact).
• Usability: Intuitive applications, simple ordering and payment processes, and meaningful and easy-to-find service area
• Personalization: Individual services through a 360° view of the customer

Logistics - delivery and returns processes as a competitive advantage

Fast and transparent delivery processes and simple returns - logistics faces major challenges, especially in relation to e-commerce. However, it is precisely these downstream processes with which companies can set themselves apart from the competition. This can be achieved by automating logistics processes.

Do you involve the customer in your logistics processes?

• Customer information: Visibly communicate shipping, delivery, and return information before placing order
• Fast and transparent delivery processes: Short shipping times as well as traceability of the order and delivery status
• Returns management: uncomplicated return of products

Service - advice before, during and after the purchase

Accessibility and a 360° view of the customer - these are the hallmarks of good service. Central data storage plays a particularly important role here. The service employee should be able to view the customer's history with a single click and thus be able to help him competently and quickly.

Do your service employees know the customer?

• Visibility: Whether on the website, in the store or at the point of sale - contact with the company is actively offered
• Good accessibility: Easy contact and quick feedback
• Expertise and overview: Insight into all customer information, providing customers with custom-fit solutions and finding contact persons with the appropriate know-how and assigning inquiries to them

Personnel - Satisfied and competent employees as ambassadors

Good employees are the gold of a modern company. The ongoing shortage of skilled workers is a constant reminder: without good staff, all the customer-centric efforts won't help. Competent and satisfied employees are a main factor for enthusiastic customers, because they are the company's most important ambassadors.

Do you actively take care of the skilled workers in your company?

• Software-supported recruiting: cross-channel search for new employees, modern application processes and objective selection procedures
• Employee retention: coordinated onboarding, active promotion and training, social interaction and early succession planning
• Tomorrow's skilled workers: Active investment in modern training as well as meeting at eye level through digital tools

Accounting - Optimized processes behind the scenes

Accounting and customer centricity? Surely this department has no direct contact with the customer? Correct, yet these processes play a major role in customer centricity. The aim is to reduce waiting times and error rates, because poorly organized bureaucratic processes can also lead to great displeasure on the part of the customer.

Do you also keep an eye on your processes in the background?

• Relief for employees: High-quality master data as a basis for automating manual and time-consuming routine tasks
• Integration: Connecting relevant applications to the ERP system, the control center of the company
• Business Intelligence: Optimize processes through traceable evaluations

Living customer centricity - an end-to-end IT system landscape as the basis

All of the aforementioned optimizations have one thing in common: Behind them are people and data. People have to be convinced, which requires a certain amount of stamina.

However, if you achieve initial successes, it becomes increasingly easier for colleagues to join you on the path to becoming a customer-centric company.

The simpler part is the data: A centering on the customer also requires a centering of all company data. The focus is on knowing and understanding the customer and his needs and acting accordingly.

Integrated IT systems for the above-mentioned areas of the company, which use a common database, form the foundation for accompanying the customer throughout his journey along the value chain through the company.