International Process and Performance Institute

In the next series of blog articles I will be looking at the importance of the “processes” that are created by every organization as experienced by that organization’s customers.

These “customer processes” are rarely documented, designed, managed or controlled as “end-to-end” processes even though they represent our entire relationship with our customers. Lead by the insights of Richard Normann, there has evolved a way to “look” at these processes, design them, manage them, control them and innovate on them to dramatically increase perceived customer value and to move the organization “up” into a higher level customer value chain.

At the heart of every customer experience are Moments of Truth. Richard Normann first articulated them; Jan Carlzon turned SAS around with them and subsequently wrote the book “Moments of Truth.” Innovation on Moments of Truth is fertile ground for building customer loyalty, expanding market share, and remaking entire market places.

Sir Richard Branson of Virgin uses this type of innovation on a regular basis. The largest Tire Retailer in the US built their $1.5 billion business using it. State Farm lives and breathes it every day. What’s stopping us from doing the same? Nothing but ourselves...

The innovation I am talking about is how some businesses are able to look at the experience the customer has when interacting with the business and challenge it. They challenge the shape of that interaction at a fundamental level, seeking a way to make the interaction simpler, easier and more successful in the eyes of their customers. They do it by challenging the Moments of Truth in the process and eliminating as many as they possibly can.