Dealing with the ‘Alignment Problem’

Abstract

Abstract

When companies try to become more customer-centric, one of the biggest problems has to do with aligning their internal systems, accountabilities and responsibilities with the needs and interests of individual customers. This ‘alignment problem’ comes in three different forms. ‘Alignment 1.0’ involves coordinating individual business units and divisions to ensure an enterprise-wide view of individual customers. ‘Alignment 2.0’ requires integrating the performance metrics at individual business units with customer-specific tactical goals. And ‘Alignment 3.0’, the most difficult issue, requires a company to reconcile customer-centric metrics, such as satisfaction scores, or the financial asset value of customers, to more traditional financial metrics of success, such as quarterly sales and profits, and shareholder value.