everyone is a customer a proven method for measuring the value of every relationship in the era of collaborati phần 2 ppsx

This shift in the balance of power in business relationships to customers has led us to a new business paradigm that is oping across industries, embracing both customers and businesspart

The Era of

Collaborative Business

❚ Tuesday, September 11, 2001, started out like any other

summer day But by day’s end, the world as we knew it hadchanged Forever

We are living in volatile times Uncertainty reigns

Busi-ness patterns are changing as the result of social, litical, economic, and technological developments.Most tragically, recent global events have complicated the busi-ness landscape in ways we have yet to fully understand

po-Even before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, theglobal economy was undergoing a transformation felt throughconsolidations and downsizings Now we are in a phase, at leastfor the foreseeable future, in which conservation of resources isthe order of the day It seems that everything that was true aboutbusiness no longer holds

Why? Because of two fundamental truths of the networkedeconomy:

3

The Collaboration

Imperative

1 The power in business relationships has shifted to customers.

As a result

2 Traditional business and industry structures are dying.

Not all businesspeople have equated these two major opments with declining sales, plummeting valuations, and soar-ing layoffs Others have a sense of the association and are trying

devel-to see their way clear Not all of the economic malaise of the years

2000 to 2002 is due to these two developments, or factors; some of

it is certainly due to the uncertainty elevated by the attacks of tember 11 However, it would be a mistake to disregard the pro-found impact these two factors have had Think about it Whyshould the business and industry structures that worked duringthe business-centric era be expected to work now that we are inthe customer-centric era? They shouldn’t and they don’t

Sep-But all is not bleak The economic transformation caused bythe ongoing shift from product-centric to customer-centric busi-ness models resulting from rapid changes in communication andinformation technologies may, in fact, turn out to be our trumpcard This shift in the balance of power in business relationships

to customers has led us to a new business paradigm that is oping across industries, embracing both customers and businesspartners It is the era of collaborative business, where commerce isdone in trading communities (what we call Collaborative Com-munities) built by creating win-win relationships with customersand business partners through a continuous stream of valuepropositions that help each party achieve its respective goals

devel-❚ In the era of collaborative business, commerce is conducted

in trading communities built by creating win-win relationshipswith customers and business partners

When business is practiced in trading communities, itchanges everything about how business gets done Every aspect

of business is impacted—from what constitutes a business entityand the products and services it offers to the jobs we performeach day and how we produce value and improve company per-formance And most assuredly, the attacks of September 11 crys-tallized the complex interdependencies that exist betweencompanies and nations and further demonstrated the necessity

to work with like-minded people to achieve shared goals and thebenefit from doing so

THE NEED TO COLLABORATE

It is the new business mantra—collaborate, collaborate, orate But what is collaboration and why is everyone talking

collab-about it?

Collaboration has many meanings, depending with whomyou speak Some call collaboration the ability to work with oth-ers in distant locations just as you would if they were physicallyacross the table in the same room For others, collaboration isabout the free flow of information across boundaries And forstill others, it is the sharing of resources and goals

More precisely, Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (10th

ed.) defines collaboration as “(1) working jointly with otherswith whom one is not immediately connected and (2) cooperat-ing with, or willingly assisting, an enemy of one’s country.“What’s interesting is that during World War I and World War II,

the word collaboration took on a sinister meaning It was used

al-most exclusively as cooperating with the enemy, and no onewanted to be accused of being a collaborator But that was then.Today, collaboration is used more positively Both in businessand in war, collaboration is viewed as essential for success.Collaboration is considered vital because companies and na-tions realize that they can no longer go it alone To survive in thenetworked economy where the balance of power has shifted to

the customer, companies are learning that they must collaborate

with their customers and other businesses in the design, ment, and delivery of the market basket of goods and services ifthey expect to profitably satisfy their customers’ personal needs.

develop-Listen to how Bob Evans, editor-in-chief of InformationWeek,

a trade publication that made collaborative business an editorialfocus, describes the importance of collaboration in business:

The 21st century will force companies of all stripes tocollaborate aggressively and religiously, both inside thecompany and outwardly with its partners Morethan ever before, the intertwined worlds of businessand technology will wrap into one unified thread: busi-ness goals and objectives outlined and defined by allparties, metrics and milestones determined in partner-ship, stewardship of various projects taken up by theappropriate leaders The issue—the reality—is col-

laboration (Reprinted with permission of Week, CMP Media, Manhasset, NY)

Information-Likewise, nations now realize that they must collaborate

with the people of other nations to survive and prosper BritishPrime Minister Tony Blair’s speech to the Labour Party confer-ence following the September 11 attacks couldn’t have arguedmore eloquently for collaboration: “Our self-interest and ourmutual interests are today inextricably woven together.”

From our point of view, we see that building the coalition tofight terrorism resembles the new business paradigm As U.S.President George Bush stated in an October 11, 2001, press con-ference: “The attack took place on American soil, but it was anattack on the heart and soul of the civilized world And theworld has come together to fight a new and different war.”From this global perspective, the United States assumes therole of what we call the “choreographer,” the entity that sees thevision and works to bring order and direction to the movements

of the community members, in this case the people and nations

of the world who stand opposed to terrorism

Whether in business or in geopolitics, the choreographer’srole is to build relationships by identifying value propositionsthat could exist between and among the parties based on whateach party brings to the relationship In building this collabora-tion, the U.S has structured value propositions with countriessuch as Pakistan that previously supported the Taliban Fearinginstability, Pakistan offered information about, and access to, theTaliban and Afghanistan to the United States In return, theUnited States offered to lift previously ordered economic sanc-tions (imposed because of the testing of nuclear weapons), andPakistan’s leaders hope that the lifting of sanctions will promoteprosperity and political stability by easing the hardships of thePakistani people

❚ The choreographer’s role is to build relationships by

identi-fying value propositions that could exist between and amongthe parties

Certainly, value propositions between nations are fluidand have always iterated as each nation learns more about howthe other can help it achieve its goals In essence, what this Col-laborative Community of nations is doing is trading cash andnon-cash currencies so that each country moves closer towardmeeting its individual goals At the same time, the Collabora-tive Community moves closer to meeting its shared goal of root-ing out terrorism

How do we even begin to comprehend what these eventswill mean for us as individuals and in the way we go aboutdoing our jobs? What will it mean for our families, our compa-nies, our customers, and our business partners? Where it will alllead, we must confess we do not know But we do know thatwhatever bright future is possible, the way to work toward that

goal is through collaboration Whether we are looking at ness or geopolitics, the benefits of, and the necessity for, work-ing across traditional boundaries with like-minded people toachieve shared goals is undeniable.

busi-BUSINESS TRADING COMMUNITIES

In the era of collaborative business, commerce is done intrading communities that embrace both customers and businesspartners in trusting, purposeful, win-win relationships Orstated differently, a Collaborative Community is a seamless al-liance of trading partners and customers where everyone bene-fits by focusing on profitably satisfying the set of needs andwants of the customers who define the community It is impor-tant to understand that regardless of whether these trading part-ners and the competencies they bring to the community arefound in a division of General Electric or in an individual freeagent, each entity has to gain value from its participation in theoverall business structure, that is, in the community In otherwords, each of these entities must believe that the benefits of col-laboration exceed the cost of membership Each entity must see

a clear value proposition, just as each customer sees a clear valueproposition in a traditional customer–business relationship Inthe era of collaborative business, every relationship must bethought of as a customer relationship

A Collaborative Community focuses on satisfying theneeds and wants of each customer on an increasingly personal-ized basis Thus it requires the entity that builds the community

to have as its core competency the ability to develop a ship with, and understand the needs of, the customer This mem-ber must also build the alliance of business partners that providethe additional competencies required to profitably satisfy thecustomer This member is the choreographer, as noted before inthe example of the United States–led coalition against terrorism;the choreographer is the entity that sees the vision for the com-

relation-munity and works to bring order and direction to the ments of the members in pursuit of their shared goals And just

move-as we call this role player the choreographer, we call the give andtake of information, access, goods, services, and money betweenand among the trading partners and the customers the “dance.”

Of course, one can say this dance with customers and nesses has always gone on And certainly this is true However,what is different today are the profound developments in infor-mation and communication technologies that are transformingthe relationships between and among businesses and their cus-tomers into Collaborative Communities As Peter Drucker said

busi-at the Collaborbusi-ative Commerce Summit in June 2001, “The grebusi-at-est impact of the Internet is the elimination of distance.” Morethan ever, new technologies are allowing people at whatever dis-tance to work closer together And it is these new informationand communication technologies that require us as business-people to adopt new perspectives and master new communica-tion and relationship skills

great-❚ New information and communication technologies require

new perspectives and new communication and relationshipskills

EVERYONE IS A CUSTOMER

As companies today realize that to profitably satisfy theircustomers’ needs, they must focus on what they do best and col-laborate with both their customers and other business entities inorder to provide a complete solution, they are also realizing that

all parties involved must receive something they value for the

col-laboration to work effectively And if every party must receive

something of value, then by definition everyone is a customer.

When you look at business relationships from the tive that each party in a relationship is a customer, the way todevelop these relationships becomes more obvious “If you are

perspec-willing to help me achieve my goals, then I’m perspec-willing to help youachieve your goals.” Of course.

In a business setting, we interact with other entities viduals or businesses) to learn and make better assumptionsabout the set of needs and wants we’re trying to satisfy and how

(indi-to build a profitable business around satisfying that set of needsand wants This is the iterative process of building a business,developing relationships one interaction at a time

In iterative relationships (and all relationships are iterative),each relationship starts with an assumption about the needs andwants the relationship is trying to satisfy and how the relation-ship should go about satisfying them Then, in the actual process

of conducting the relationship, the assumptions are tested againstreality If the relationship is to endure, whatever works must bekept; whatever is found lacking must be adjusted and improved.This pattern is how all relationships are developed, one interac-tion at a time

While everyone experiences this pattern, understanding itallows one to shape it, grow it, feel it, and, in business, profitfrom it! The iterative process of moving a business forward onestep at a time helps you know how to (1) get and keep cus-tomers, (2) develop the products and services that satisfy cus-tomers’ needs, and (3) deliver to, and service, customers Thisorganic, iterative process is in stark contrast to the traditionalwin-lose, zero-sum game that is the conventional thinking abouthow business is transacted Unfortunately, this organic, iterativeprocess, while practiced intuitively by successful entrepreneurs,has largely gone unnoticed by business thinkers, writers, andpractitioners In fact, conventional thinking has so dominatedbusiness that it is fairly common to find companies devoting re-sources to overlapping product lines that compete against oneanother in order to please the same customer, thus dissipatingtheir critical resources without a clear gain

Today’s efficient businesses should use an iterative proach to discovering and satisfying the needs and wants of

ap-their customers And today the term customer not only means the

traditional customer but every entity that interacts with you in asignificant manner

Of course, “The customer is in control,” “Whatever the tomer wants,” or “The customer is king” are slogans that sup-posedly have guided business thinking for years Whenever wehear companies espousing these platitudes, we think of one ofthe favorite expressions of Guy Kawasaki, founder and CEO ofGarage Technology Ventures (formerly called Garage.com) andformer chief evangelist of Apple Computer: “There’s marketingand then there’s the truth.”

cus-Yes, it is true that any progressive company’s marketing sages trumpet its customer focus Some individuals even believetheir company’s propaganda But too few businesses actually in-fuse that sentiment into their culture and operations Despite talk

mes-of making the “demand chain” the driver mes-of value, ple by and large don’t understand how to profitably deliver whattheir customers want Think about all the companies that render

businesspeo-an inconsistent customer experience across different touch points,provide abominable customer service, and waste limited re-sources developing products and services no one wants

Many of the companies we as consumers deal with on adaily basis are the worst offenders in all three areas Considertelecommunications providers, insurance companies, banks, air-lines, and even the local retail establishments we frequent—fromthe dry cleaner who after ten visits still asks us how we want ourshirts to our favorite take-out restaurant that still asks our phonenumber even though the staff recognizes our voice and all-too-predictable order The result: Sales don’t close; hard-won andexpensive-to-acquire customers are lost; and unsold inventoriesmount What it all means is that business assets aren’t providingthe return on investment they should—in other words, money isleft on the table

Yet if we asked the heads of the companies we deal withdaily about their customer focus, they would proclaim with