Customer centricity

Principles of customer centricity

Companies develop customer centricity in two directions: external, focused on the consumers of products and services, and internal, focused on the organization's employees and departments. 

Internal customer centricity relies on the service approach, in which each department acts as a service provider for other departments. For example, the IT department provides services to other business units, HR serves employees, and facilities ensures comfortable working conditions. Methodologies, practices and frameworks are used to organize the interaction between service providers and consumers. For example, ITIL offers a set of principles for applying the service approach that make it possible to introduce customer centricity internally:

• a single service catalog — departments write clear descriptions of their services. For example, IT provides workstation setup, HR handles recruitment, and accounting arranges business travel;
• service level agreements (SLA) — service providers and consumers agree on timeframes, quality and ways of working, and the agreements are captured in measurable targets;

• service request management — all requests are logged and handled according to agreed rules; employees see the status of their requests and receive notifications about changes;
• continual improvement — service providers collect feedback, analyze metrics and improve service processes; the knowledge base grows with new solutions to common problems;
• transparent communication — everyone involved follows shared rules of engagement, and employees know which services are available and how to request them.

ITIL 4 focuses on value co-creation; value streams describe how work turns demand into value. The framework helps organize service practices around internal customers so that they, in turn, serve external customers better. As a result, overall business performance can improve.

Benefits of a customer-centric approach

The benefits of a customer-centric approach show up across the business, from internal processes to financial results. Everyone wins: the company, its employees and its customers.

Internal customer centricity can raise service quality: loyal employees understand customer needs more deeply and resolve their issues faster. Well-defined working standards make it possible to provide the right solution the first time, without repeat contacts.

Costs also go down thanks to automation of routine operations, which frees employees' time for complex tasks. Internal customer satisfaction grows: people see the status of their requests and get quick feedback from the departments providing the services. Applying customer-centric principles to employees helps develop corporate culture. Barriers between departments disappear because everyone works toward a common goal, and departments treat each other as internal customers, which makes collaboration easier.

The result of a customer-centric approach is higher loyalty among all customers. Internal customers serve external customers better, which ensures the long-term success of the business.

Tools of the customer-centric model

Customer centricity requires automation tools that help standardize processes, speed up request handling and improve service quality. Well-chosen tools not only make work easier for employees and departments but also create a positive user experience. 

The technology components of a customer-centric model include:

1. Self-service portal

A single portal lets employees handle routine tasks on their own, such as requesting an employment verification letter or booking leave. A knowledge base with clear instructions helps them quickly find answers to common questions, such as resetting a password or ordering equipment.

2. Value chain

Processes are designed so that every stage of work delivers value to the customer. For example, when handling a request for new equipment, every step from approval to installation is aimed at resolving the user's need as quickly as possible.

3. Virtual assistants

Chatbots and virtual assistants handle standard requests automatically. They answer employees' questions instantly and route complex requests to the right specialists.

4. Omnichannel request management

A customer-centric model provides a single point of service for all types of requests. Employees can submit requests through the channel that suits them: the self-service portal, email, corporate messenger or phone. All requests — questions, incidents, service requests — go into a single system and are distributed among the relevant teams.

5. Knowledge management

A structured knowledge base contains process descriptions, instructions and ready-made solutions to common problems. Accumulated experience helps handle similar requests faster and onboard new employees.

How to adopt customer centricity

Adopting a customer-centric approach requires four core ITIL practices that form the foundation of the company's service model. Service catalog management, service request management, knowledge management and continual improvement are interconnected elements of a single service system. Each practice has its own job, but together they create an environment where employees get good support and the organization builds a culture of continual improvement. Let us look at how these practices help build a customer-centric approach.

1. Service catalog management 

The service catalog becomes the single entry point for services from all departments. It describes the available services, the terms on which they are provided and the quality requirements.

What the practice delivers: visibility of available services for employees, standardized service processes, measurable service quality indicators and service level control through SLAs.

2. Service request management 

A single request handling system makes it possible to route and track all employee requests efficiently, from simple questions to complex incidents.

What the practice delivers: fast resolution of user issues, control over request handling times, transparent request statuses and a growing base of standard solutions.

3. Knowledge management 

A knowledge base helps employees resolve common questions on their own and captures the organization's experience in a structured way.

What the practice delivers: fewer repeat requests, quick access to ready-made solutions, retention of company expertise and onboarding of new employees.

4. Continual improvement 

Ongoing analysis of feedback and quality metrics makes it possible to improve service processes.

What the practice delivers: identification of problem areas in services, data-driven process optimization, higher customer satisfaction and a culture of continual improvement.

All these practices are interconnected and work as a single system. Organizing them well creates an environment where every employee gets the service they need to do their job.

How to measure customer centricity

Implementing processes and tools is not enough; you need to understand how well they help achieve the goals. To do this, regularly track a set of metrics that reflect service quality and customer satisfaction.

Metrics for assessing customer centricity include:

• internal service satisfaction (CSAT) — surveys on service quality and analysis of score trends by department and service type;
• speed of service (response time to requests and resolution times);
• service availability (uptime of IT systems and services, the number of outages and service interruptions, specialist workload);
• employee engagement (self-service portal usage, the number of process improvement suggestions).