1. Customer Centricity
The New Axis of
High Performance

2. Customer
Centricity

3. Customer Centricity
The New Axis of
High Performance
Focusing on the new has shown, in fact, that designing the customer to her destination on time at a
right customer experience and delivering competitive price, but if it loses the bag
consumer it the right way leads to better financial she needs for a critical meeting, it still
performance, stronger brand value and stands to lose her business permanently.
Today’s customers seem to think the
improved customer loyalty.1
world revolves around them—and To weather the economic and cultural
they are right. Make no mistake, however: achieving transformations now underway and
and sustaining customer centricity is achieve high performance, organizations
The global economy has entered a new
a challenging proposition which grows must refocus the entire experience
and complex phase, as the contours
more challenging every day. Around the they provide around the desires and
of the commercial landscape are
world, consumer expectations are rising intentions of their target customers—
reshaped by unprecedented levels of
quickly, and their perceptions are defined from the first impressions created by
competition, eroding customer loyalty
through an increasingly complex set of marketing and sales to the day-to-day
and the quickened pace of innovation.
interactions. Moreover, new consumer experience of using a product from
Together, these forces have triggered
populations are emerging with distinct its initial purchase until it is upgraded
a seismic shift in the balance of power
needs and preferences of their own. or replaced. They must also achieve
between providers and their customers.
this level of customer-centricity with
With so much changing, few
This is good news for organizations that the speed, flexibility and certainty
organizations are fortunate enough
see the opportunity amid the change demanded by their market. To make
to maintain a deep understanding of
and align themselves quickly and this change, they will need insight,
what customers want and a clear view
effectively around a new focal point: leadership and commitment to
of what they really experience—or the
delivering a customer-centric expe- excellence—a challenging journey, to be
ability to keep experience aligned with
rience—profitably and consistently— sure, but one that must be made.
expectation. An airline, for example,
designed end-to-end around customer
may claim success when it gets a
perspectives and intentions. Accenture’s
High Performance Business research
The Customer Service Dilemma: Balancing Cost
1
and Quality. Accenture White Paper. 2006.
Customer Relationship Management 3

4. Drivers of Change
1. Consumerism
Product-centric Customer-centric
2. Commoditization
competition differentiation
• More options, lower prices
• Customer portability
• Product ubiquity
• Shorter lifecycles for innovation
3. Convergence
• Industry and channel blurring
• (Retailization)
• Category expansion/bundling
• Extended industry networks
4. Saturation
Seller-drive Buyer-driven
• Over-stored/overcapacity
market market
• Liberalization (Europe and
Free Trade)
• Virtualization (Internet)
Organizations must respond to the forces
reshaping the global economy—or risk
becoming irrelevant and, ultimately, obsolete.
Why customers are product information and the opinions markets will require new insights and
of other buyers are easily available, new approaches to marketing, sales
the new focus courtesy of the networked world. and customer service.
Accelerating product life cycles pose Another factor helping to tip
For most enterprises, growth comes
another challenge. The rapid pace the balance of power away from
from developing new customer or market
of innovation means competitive companies is their own success. While
segments, bringing new products and
advantage is increasingly short-lived, learning to satisfy latent customer
services to market, or driving more value
forcing providers to improve the demand—for speed, efficiency,
from current customer relationships.
impact and velocity of innovation and convenience—organizations also taught
The challenge at the center of all these increasing the damage they incur when their customers to expect more from
growth strategies is their volatile target: a launch backfires or a product fails. all providers. Consider how overnight
today’s customer—more elusive, more delivery became the new normal in the
Increasingly, enterprises must also
demanding and more diverse than ever. courier business, or how the ubiquity
consider a changing consumer base,
Even with providers working harder of online banking has compelled other
often including entirely new buyer
to win their favor, customers seem providers to offer around-the-clock
segments. The demographics of mature
only to find more to dissatisfy them, service channels. Hotels with check-in
economies are evolving, and companies
from shoddy toys to stale vegetables, lobby kiosks, for example, help late
must respond to changing buyer needs
while finding little dissuade them arrivals reach their rooms faster. They
and values. Also, emerging economies
from defecting to competitors. Buyers also lead guests to expect all hotels to
are becoming important consumer
today tend to categorize providers into offer the same experience.
markets in their own right, expected to
polar extremes—the “distinctive” and
account for more than half of global Customers have even come to expect
“everyone else.” Earning a place in the
consumption by 20252. These “new” every provider to meet the service
distinctive category has become far
consumers have distinct characteristics standards set by other industries. Few
more difficult and costly.
and may regard foreign brands with
For one, consumers know more—and uncertainty or doubt. Understanding
their knowledge is power. Detailed and appealing to buyers in these Estimate adjusted for purchasing power
2
differences.
4 Customer Centricity—The New Axis of High Performance

5. Differentiated
customer
experience
Differentiation Loyalty Profitable growth
Product and experience define a Competitive moat created around Minimize impact of quot;me—tooquot;
combination that stands out for customers, who become less price and promotions
target customers sensitive to price and focus on
total value and convenience Entry to new markets/segments
profitably
Designing and consistently executing a
customer experience designed around
customer intentions and preferences helps
organizations respond to market changes
in ways that strengthen their brand,
reinforce customer loyalty and support
profitable growth.
Profitable growth. They will minimize
consumers use multiple cell phones experience. Even when customers view
from multiple wireless companies, for the impact of “me-too” price and
their experiences as fair or good, they
example—but they do interact with promotions, and make entry to new,
are quick to leave—as switching costs
airlines, banks and a host of other high-growth markets and customer
decline, even the most revered corporate
providers, and how they are treated by segments more profitable and less risky.
brands are vulnerable. Conversely,
these organizations in these industries consumers identify a differentiated
In short, delivering a differentiated
influences how they expect to be treated experience as the chief reason for
customer experience is the cornerstone
by their wireless phone company—and choosing a new provider. To address
of cost management, customer
their grocer, cable company, government these myriad challenges to growth,
satisfaction and profitable growth. While
institutions and so forth. successful businesses will transform
many organizations already understand
their strategies, workforces and
and even embrace this concept, many
Delivering the operations to be increasingly customer-
also struggle to execute the customer-
centric. By refocusing on delivering
differentiated centric agenda successfully.
an experience designed to satisfy the
intentions and preferences of target
customer experience Translating strategic objectives into
customers—through their marketing,
sustainable results is what separates
sales and customer service functions—
In short, today’s customers demand an the merely interested from the leaders.
they will produce significant, sustainable
exceptional experience in return for Organizations striving to become high-
impact on performance.
their business and loyalty. Being merely performance businesses will replace the
adequate is no longer adequate. traditional focus on customer relationship
Differentiation. They will offer a
management with a focus on customer
combination of product and brand
According to Accenture research,3 a poor experience management. Like star
experience that stands out for target
customer experience is the most-often customers.
cited reason for customer flight. Our
research also indicates that fully half Loyalty. They will create a competitive
Customer Satisfaction in the Changing Global
3
of all consumers leave a product or moat around customer relationships; Economy: Satisfying new requirements for high
service provider at least once every 12 buyers become less sensitive to price and performance. Accenture 2007 Global Customer
months because of an unsatisfactory Satisfaction Survey. 2007.
focus on total value and convenience.
Customer Relationship Management 5

6. Enterprise agility
Companies foster the
organizational agility
required to effectively
execute customer relevance.
Customer relevance Execution excellence
Market leaders convert High performers implement
advanced customer insight people and business
into value through products, processes and technology
services, experience and capabilities to deliver
marketing. a tailored customer
experience.
Accenture believes that true customer
centricity is founded on three core
principles: customer relevance, enterprise
agility and excellence in execution.
athletes who change the momentum capability development and execution— All three tenets must have the
of the game with a curve ball, a bit to improve business performance and wholehearted support of the senior
of backspin or a sudden pivot on the build customer loyalty. Organizations management team, and they must be
playing field, they will shift away from may transform at different speeds, but combined in a concerted and holistic
the old transactional view of customer transformation is the ultimate goal. approach that revolves around the
interactions, concentrating instead on entire customer experience and which
To center on today’s customer—
the accumulative impact of every experi- crosses many functional areas.
more knowledgeable, demanding
ence—across channels and over time.
and empowered—high-performance Accenture has identified five imperatives
businesses embrace three principles. for achieving customer-centric benefits—
Becoming customer an integrated set of new and adapted
centric Customer relevance. High performers business capabilities designed and
convert advanced customer insight executed to provide differentiated value
into value through products, services, for target customer segments.
Becoming truly customer centric requires
experience and marketing.
something other than more investment
Becoming customer relevant.
in sales training, advertising campaigns
Execution excellence. High performers Customer-centric organizations rely on
or call center technologies. Indeed,
organize and enable their people and segmentation strategies that replace
companies that have embarked solely
create processes and technological the academic with the actionable:
on implementing CRM solutions have
capabilities that enable them to predictive, recognizable and executable
seldom become customer centric because
deliver a tailored and consistent customer insight.
the other dimensions of their customers’
customer experience.
experiences have not changed.
Delivering the differentiated
Enterprise agility. High performers customer experience. Customer
Accenture defines customer centricity
foster the organizational agility centricity depends on a new level
as incorporating the customer’s
required to effectively value, execute of alignment and integration across
perspectives, values and actions into
and sustain customer relevance. customer-facing operations, including
the business and operations strategy,
marketing, sales, customer service and
supply chain operations.
6 Customer Centricity—The New Axis of High Performance

7. Where Does Your Organization
Stand on the High-Performance
Axis?
Organizations can approach customer centricity in different
ways and move at different speeds across the transformation
spectrum—ranging from tactical improvements in individual
business units to cross-enterprise initiatives. Every path
toward customer centricity, however, should be mapped
according to the issues that matter most.
• How are you responding to the buyer-driven market?
• How well do you know your customers?
• Just how loyal are your customers?
• Is your customer experience differentiating or diluting?
• How are your brand and your experience (stores, products,
metrics) tailored around the world?
• Who in your organization has accountability for the
customer experience across fragmented organizations?
• Do you simply offer multiple channels, or is your customer
experience truly multichannel?
• How do your customers participate in and own the
innovation process?
• Do you know where to place your bet on customer
centricity: on important projects or on a strategic program?
Customer Relationship Management 7

8. The new physics of
Managing the workforce ecosystem. Accenture helps senior marketing
executives quickly gather the insights,
Customer-centric organizations
marketing, sales and tools and processes they need to create
recognize that the workforce influencing
competitive advantage in both mature
the customer experience is wider in
customer service and emerging markets. We focus on
today’s networked world and is actually
building highly differentiated value propo-
an ecosystem of channel partners and
Transforming marketing sitions for each target customer segment,
other third parties.
on executing these strategies at speed
With account-based marketing now
Customer-centric performance and on continuously refining marketing
an established practice and concepts
management. Organizations that put strategies and messages. The result: more
such as “one-to-one marketing” part of
the customer at the center of business relevant and more consistent customer
the marketing lexicon, marketers could
strategy and operations also manage experiences that drive profitable growth
be forgiven for thinking they have
their business in a customer-centric by helping to ensure more effective
mastered customer centricity.
way, realigning metrics, scorecards and customer acquisition and retention.
management practices to deliver new
In reality, however, the complexities
customer outcomes. Accelerating growth
of customer-centric marketing have
confounded most efforts to understand
Customer-engaged innovation. In a recent study, 23 percent of orga-
deeply what customers want today—let
A truly customer-centric organization nizations reported that the numbers
alone anticipate what they may want
involves the customer in shaping the of products and services they offer
tomorrow. Moreover, the average
customer experience. have more than doubled in the last
tenure of the chief marketing officer
five years.5 Clearly, the intricacies of
(CMO) at a leading company is only 1.9
the marketing mix can make it seem
years—leaving a very narrow window for
Russell 3000 Index analysis. Stuart. May 2003.
4
impossible for customer centricity to
achieving growth and innovation targets.4
Unravelling Complexity in Products and Services.
5
be a reality for more than a handful of
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
premium customers.
and The George Group. March 2006.
Accenture Marketing Accenture Sales
Transformation Transformation
Societe Nationale des Chemins de In a globalized marketplace where
Fer Francais (SNCF)—the French consumer electronic goods are rapidly
state-owned railway company— is becoming commoditized, Canon
one of the key players in Europe's vast needed to differentiate itself, and
and sophisticated land transporta- the value it provides, in the eyes
tion network. With Accenture's help, of consumers and retailers. With
SNCF has developed a dedicated Accenture's help the electronics
capability to build loyalty and create company transformed its sales
marketing campaigns for its most function by identifying the core
valued customers. According to roles required within the sales force,
CRMServices' CEO, Sylvie Latour: and then devising a curriculum to
quot;Our new subsidiary, CRMServices, train employees for those roles. The
provides a critical link between loyalty training is now carried out within a
and marketing, and it is on track not newly established Sales Academy and
only to help SNCF generate significant has been responsible for improved
savings, but also to reach three to five skills and behaviors amongst the sales
million customers through targeted staff, as well as higher-than-average
promotions. The support of the customer satisfaction levels. The
Accenture team enabled us to focus company is now well on its way to
on customer marketing and strategy achieving high performance in sales.
and better target our key clients while
optimizing pricing.quot;
8 Customer Centricity—The New Axis of High Performance

9. Consider Samsung Electronics: With Nevertheless, leading marketers enabling them to quickly develop,
14 product categories across 200 are making progress with customer implement and manage fact-based
countries, Samsung’s marketing centricity. A few years ago, Best Buy marketing strategies. Specifically,
executives manage a complex matrix segmented its customers and crafted we leverage customer centricity by
of customer-centricity options. At specific value propositions for each generating a consistent branded
companies such as Johnson & Johnson, segment, achieving strong economic customer experience across new and
marketers must optimize marketing results that have been widely acknowl- existing target customer touchpoints.
investments across 180 categories edged in the business press. Campbell We further accelerate growth by
in 250 countries: 45,000 category- Soup—which has long dominated the pinpointing the new market, product
country combinations. Then, factor condensed soup market—has also used and services propositions required to
in other dimensions such as product smart customer segmentation to drive win new customers and develop new
proliferation, market segment, channel growth.7 By systematically investi- market spaces.
and media and the complexity of the gating the articulated and unarticu-
challenge becomes staggering. lated needs of its consumer base, the
company has been able to reinvent
Executives understand the magnitude itself—and its market—by introducing a
of the task facing them. Accenture has new generation of product categories
found that more than 60 percent of designed for the needs of a new
cheif marketing officers believe their generation of consumers.
companies are good at developing
growth initiatives; 41 percent say To match these results, companies
they have a strong ability to plan must first understand where and how Innovation and Profitable Growth. Accenture
6
end-to-end implementation of these to invest their marketing resources and the Economist Intelligence Unit. March 2006.
Carl Johnson and Henry Rak, “Reframing the
initiatives; and just 30 percent feel for the best return. Accenture helps 7
Market to Achieve Transformation Growth,”
they have the ability to execute quickly organizations accelerate growth by Grocery Manufacturers of America Forum,
and stay ahead of the competition.6 Winter 2005.
Precedents and Questions
1543: Nicolaus Copernicus 1687: Isaac Newton formulates 1920s: Edwin Hubble uses
overturns the prevailing three laws governing the Einstein's theory of general
conception of the universe by movement of objects, including relativity to prove that the edges
identifying the quot;truequot; center of the rule that for every action of the universe are expanding.
the solar system. there is an equal and opposite In the year 2000, astronomers
reaction. discover that the universe
is, in addition to expanding,
Does your business accelerating.
Can you execute
have the flexibility
new customer
to stay centered on Does your organiza-
strategies with
what matters most tion have the ability
certainty of
to customers, as to adapt to changing
the results?
their expectations economic forces, at
change? the pace the market
demands?
Customer Relationship Management 9

10. Transforming sales flexibility and adaptability, they find Accenture helps sales organizations
themselves severely handicapped when identify customer preferences at every
they attempt to reach new buyers, stage of the relationship, and match
Sales force performance is a major
expand into new markets or in any way those preferences to the sales talent
challenge in most companies—a
attempt to refocus the sales force on best suited to each stage. We help
consistent concern for chief sales
different goals or methods. them identify critical selling skills
officers who know that the overall
and develop stronger approaches to
profitability of their enterprise depends
Enhancing sales performance acquiring, retaining and compensating
on either reducing the cost of sales or
and productivity talented people. We also work with
boosting the revenue their organization
sales organizations to determine the
generates. Yet, according to Accenture
Given the growing complexity of the technologies they need to support their
research on high-performance
sales environment, it’s no surprise professional talent and optimize the
workforces, as few as 25 percent of
that many organizations have seen latest tools for capturing, analyzing
senior sales executives believe their
a decline in sales force productivity. and sharing business intelligence.
workforce performs at a high level.
With growth now a focus of the
executive suite, sales executives are As a result, we help the sales organiza-
The chief sales officer is compelled
under extreme pressure. tion boost revenues, increase sales pro-
to drive sales revenue further and
ductivity and reduce the cost of sales.
faster—for example, by entering
Experienced salespeople know how We have helped improve our clients’
new geographic markets or by
to sell existing offerings to existing sales conversions, boosted sales quota
increasing sales to small and mid-sized
clients, yet even the most experienced attainment and developed systems
businesses. Tapping these oppor-
may struggle to adopt new sales that enable new sales hires to become
tunities may call for strategies and
strategies designed to spur growth: proficient very quickly. By working with
approaches that are significantly
cross-selling, up-selling, capturing new Accenture, sales organizations acquire
different from those the sales workforce
business and reaching new customers. and use deeper customer insights,
understands—for example, driving sales
In fact, Accenture has found that improve selling behaviors, closely align
through indirect channel partnerships.
while more than half of companies sales initiatives with sales strategy and
believe they are capable of expanding
With product lines growing more implement stronger sales capabilities.
sales with existing customers, only 23
complex, as new products and service
Transforming customer service
percent feel equally confident about
bundles are introduced to meet
their ability to acquire new accounts.
changing customer expectations, an
Over the last decade, companies
unprepared or poorly equipped sales
In addition, sales performance tends have implemented more and more
force poses a major impediment to
to be managed using metrics based on varied interaction channels and the
improving sales productivity and
the lowest costs of sales. Shifting to customer experience now typically
increasing revenue.
new metrics that reward salespeople spans multiple touchpoints. With so
for performance across the sales
A recent Accenture study illustrated many points of contact to manage, the
spectrum—from pre-sales through to
the magnitude of these challenges cost of customer contact is exploding—
post-sales interactions—requires a level
by discovering that more than 30 globally, corporations invest billions
of boldness and innovation relatively
percent of chief sales officers annually in managing customer
rare in the typical salesforce culture.
believed they needed to improve the contact. Yet despite their investment,
alignment between their companies’ customer satisfaction remains low: in a
Accenture believes that companies can
solutions and their customers’ needs. recent Accenture survey, for instance,
simultaneously reduce their cost of
Nearly 40 percent also conceded that nearly half (47%) of the respondents
sales and boost revenues by focusing
they needed to improve the way they said that companies meet their expec-
on selling behavior and sales intel-
communicate with customers. tations only sometimes, rarely or never.8
ligence. Giving this key workforce
access to the information they need
Most sales organizations, however, Customer service has also grown more
to perform higher, and helping both
are hard wired to focus on just one complex. Customers behave the way
new and existing sales representatives
element: the sales transaction. In that they want to behave, and will
embody the personalities, competencies
addition, few have conquered the contact providers for reasons and in
and behaviors exhibited by the most
challenge of making a more customer- ways that can be hard to predict—
successful salespeople, will help the
centric approach repeatable across using different channels, for example,
enterprise take major strides toward
multiple sales opportunities with a even changing channels in the course
new goals for revenue and productivity.
wide range of customers. Lacking both of a single transaction—and their
intentions are not always clear.
Customer Satisfaction in the Changing Global
8
Economy, Accenture 2007.
10 Customer Centricity—The New Axis of High Performance

11. Accenture Service
Transformation
Mortgage and savings provider HBOS
changed the way its contact center
agents handled calls and selling
opportunities by implementing,
with Accenture, a set of operational
interventions called Perfect Call. As
a result, customer satisfaction, call
handling times, sales conversion and
call consistency have all improved.
HBOS is the United Kingdom's largest
mortgage and savings provider, with
over 22 million customers and 60,000
employees. It employs 6,000 people in
its Retail Contact Centers which are
based at nine locations across the UK.
What is clear, however, is the critical Any company not working to tailor they are doing it in the context of
impact that poor customer service has the customer experience to customer relationship development—protecting
on business performance. Accenture preferences—or any company that still the customer relationships while
research suggests that the majority serves customers the same way it did trimming operating expenses.
of consumers worldwide left at least five years ago—is extremely vulnerable
Accenture has found that achieving
one provider in the past year because to competition. In our increasingly
widespread, consistent performance
of a bad service experience. However, multi-polar world, competition can
is the result of focusing on three
consumers also reward good service: come from virtually any geography,
key areas: knowing the customer,
in our research, consumers identified including emerging economies such as
exceeding customer expectations and
service quality as their foremost consid- India, China, Latin America and Eastern
fulfilling promises to the customer.
eration when choosing a new provider, Europe. In this environment, the ability
and 77 percent reported being much to deliver a satisfying service experience
Customers want to be recognized for
more inclined to continue doing business may be a company’s best source of
who they are as soon as they contact
with a company that delivers a positive sustainable competitive advantage.
you: their history, their preferences,
service experience. Yet few companies are distinguishing
their intentions. Leaders, therefore,
themselves for service quality.
build a blueprint for handling customer
Even when customers don’t take the
interactions based on detailed
Creating advantage through
ultimate step of switching providers,
knowledge of the customer, and they
customer service
most do not simply accept bad service.
execute this blueprint consistently
When it happens by phone, many
regardless of how the customer
Leading organizations, however, drive
will ask to speak to a supervisor or
contacts them—whether they call, come
growth by delivering a differentiated
call back in the hope of getting a
on line on the web; walk into a branch
experience—designed around customer
more helpful representative, thereby
office. This can be tough; at many
intentions and preferences—that is
increasing call volume and operating
companies, this information tends to
both satisfying and profitable. These
costs. Many customers will also tell
be scattered throughout the orga-
leaders have mastered the new market
others about their experience—and, in
nization or distributed between the
dynamics that compel them to focus on
today’s networked world companies are
customer, you and third parties.
becoming customer-centric. They are
well-advised to remember the ability
still working to reduce costs but now
that consumers now possess to use the
Internet to broadcast their criticisms.
Customer Relationship Management 11

12. Service
strategy
Field service Customer-
and support centric
effectiveness service
Sales
strategy
Pace Flexibility
Enterprise Customer
agility relevance
Sales
Service
process
delivery Marketing design
management strategy
Actionable
segmentation
Loyalty and insight
management
Customer- centric
marketing
Billing/ Service
Customer-
Customer
customer performance
centric
Marketing intentions Customer data
credit and management
sales
ROI and management
collections
experience
Category,
Marketing product
operations and brand
optimization management
Campaign Trade
Sales Sales
management promotion
operations channel
optimization management
management
Service Multi-
Pricing
operations channel
management
optimization synchroni-
zation
Sales incentive
High-performance
compensation
sales workforce
Sales and reward
technology
enablement
High- Multi-channel
performance self-service
service workforce
Desktop Telephony
and mobile integration and
solutions management
Enterprise
execution
Certainty
Accenture offers integrated solutions to help
organizations drive business through cus-
tomer centricity, enabling them to respond
to changing customer expectations, keep
pace with changing market dynamics and
execute with high certainty of results.
12 Customer Centricity—The New Axis of High Performance

13. Customers today also expect instant zations must become truly customer Moreover, we have identified the crucial
gratification, and quickly become centric, incorporating the customer’s capabilities characteristic of high per-
frustrated when placed on hold perspective, values and actions into formers—such as the ability to develop
or transferred to another agent or their business and operations strategy, and consistently deliver a differentiated
directed to another store. Frustrated capability development and execution. customer experience. Acquiring these
customers are also difficult to For many organizations, this may prove capabilities—quickly, cost-effectively and
persuade to buy more or buy more to be a hard transition to make. with maximum performance impact—has
often—they are in fact difficult even to long been a challenge for companies.
Accenture will help chart the most
keep as customers. Leaders more than Today, it’s an even greater challenge. The
intelligent and practical course to
meet customer intentions—they exceed technology, for example, that enables
achieve high performance in a world
them. Moreover, they deliver on their the front-office capabilities needed to
that is increasingly “multi-polar,”
promises at the right time and every drive loyalty and growth is undergoing
with economic growth occurring in
time, whether that is a day, a month or dramatic changes. While technology
virtually every geographic region and
even a year after the original sales. providers offer many more options today,
interdependency an essential part of many of these options are unproven
Accenture helps organizations global business. or unfamiliar, and no single solution
transform the way they serve their provides everything organizations need
Our knowledge of customer centricity—
customers by addressing all three of to achieve customer centricity.
gained through extensive market
these dimensions. We begin by helping
research, and our deep experience,
our clients create deep insight into Accenture offers a fully integrated
accumulated through years of client
customer intentions and preferences, set of solutions and services to
work—combine to create a powerful
and translate these insights into address every dimension related to
resource for transformation. Accenture
profitable actions. We also help them creating a satisfying, lasting and
will help quickly develop new growth
leverage the latest technology and profitable customer relationship—
strategies in light of changing consumer
process innovations for optimizing from customer segmentation and
demands and new market opportunities.
the performance of customer service analytics, to market and customer
We help operationalize new approaches
operations. Through this combination strategy development; from
to customer segmentation, producing
of insight, innovation and operational marketing and sales optimization to
more relevant offerings and better dif-
excellence, we help drive growth, service management and contact
ferentiated service experiences. And we
and shareholder value by delivering optimization. We also offer integrated
help execute these models, quickly and
a more satisfying, more profitable services for managing key operational
effectively, across the supply chain.
customer experience—while simultane- elements—such as data management,
ously reducing the cost of delivering campaign management and contact
A legacy of leadership
customer service. center management—on an ongoing
basis, to ensure the effective delivery
For nearly two decades, Accenture has
Accenture: Your guide of an optimal customer experience.
been a trusted advisor to the world’s
to customer centricity largest enterprises on their customer-
focused strategies and operations.
This is a time of tremendous potential Our work is grounded in research-
and enormous challenge. Rapid based insights and unmatched
commoditization and extreme price delivery experience.
pressure are eroding traditional sources
Accenture’s groundbreaking research
of competitive advantage. Increased
into the defining characteristics of
competition is undermining customer
high-performance businesses and
loyalty. While emerging markets offer
governments spans 36 industry
significant growth opportunities, at the
segments and more than 6,000
same time, their very newness presents
companies. Through this research, we
significant challenges.
have determined that the ability to
In this increasingly complex world, the win customer loyalty is the defining
ability to deliver a satisfying service characteristic of high performance in
experience is the most powerful source marketing and customer management.
of sustainable competitive edge—nothing Organizations that enjoy strong
else compares. To deliver the kind of customer loyalty also realize higher
differentiated customer experience margins, revenue growth and
that drives high performance, organi- shareholder value.
Customer Relationship Management 13

14. Our solutions and services help orga- management. Our reputation and Based on the scope and depth of
nizations drive business performance success also attracts the market’s our capabilities, Accenture is widely
through customer centricity, by enabling top talent—seasoned professionals recognized as the leading provider
them to keep pace with evolving market from leading technology and service of solutions and services that help
conditions, achieve the flexibility to organizations who have proven their clients achieve high performance. In
respond quickly to changing customer ability to succeed in both consulting recognition of our strengths, CRM
expectations, and execute differenti- and operations management roles. magazine has named Accenture as
ated customer experiences with a high We have organized our professional the CRM consulting market leader for
certainty of results. development programs to ensure several consecutive years.
our people continue to build deep,
Continuous investment in innovation specialized skills in marketing, sales
keeps our offerings on the leading and customer service.
edge, by translating our client work
into repeatable solution components— Our client teams leverage a global
including several patents granted or network of Accenture-operated and
pending—which speed delivery and third-party facilities, as well as—when
accelerate benefits, while reducing the preferred—the client’s own resources.
risk of implementing new capabilities. This hybrid approach enables us to offer
a mix of delivery and sourcing options
Accenture continuously sets new ideally suited to the client’s performance
standards of excellence in managing targets—an innovative alternative
customer relationships, through to acquiring CRM infrastructure and
innovative application of new tech- execution capabilities that optimizes the
nologies and through breakthroughs balance of cost, quality and scalability.
in business process design and
14 Customer Centricity—The New Axis of High Performance

15. About Accenture performance with additional research,
High-Performance Research including an annual survey of
consumer expectations and attitudes
concerning customer service. The most
To examine the impact of customer
recent Accenture Customer Satisfac-
loyalty and how marketing and
tion study surveyed more than 3,500
customer management can help
consumers in Australia, Brazil, Canada,
companies increase margins and
China, France, the United Kingdom and
build shareholder value to become
United States.
high performance, Accenture initially
conducted qualitative and quantitative
research on a sample set of decision
makers at more than 700 business-to-
business and business-to-consumer
companies globally. The research
identified and correlated specific
capabilities with financial performance
while pinpointing how these capabilities
create and enhance customer loyalty
to contribute to margin, growth and
shareholder value. Accenture has
since extended these insights in high
About Accenture
For more information about developing Accenture’s Customer Relationship
and successfully executing customer- Management service line helps
centric strategies that help your organizations achieve high
Accenture is a global management
organization achieve high performance by transforming their
consulting, technology services and
performance, visit our web site marketing, sales and customer service
outsourcing company. Combining
at accenture.com/centricity functions to support accelerated
unparalleled experience, comprehensive
growth, increased profitability and
capabilities across all industries and
greater operating efficiency. Our
business functions, and extensive
research, insight and innovation,
research on the world’s most successful
global reach and delivery experience
companies, Accenture collaborates
have made us a worldwide leader,
with clients to help them become
serving thousands of clients every year,
high-performance businesses and
including most Fortune 100 companies,
governments. With 178,000 people in
across virtually all industries.
49 countries, the company generated
net revenues of US$19.70 billion for
the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2007. Its
home page is www.accenture.com.
Customer Relationship Management 15

16. Copyright © 2008 Accenture
All rights reserved.
Accenture, its logo, and
High Performance Delivered
are trademarks of Accenture.