Why Customer Experience (CX) is the key to a well-run organization

In a recent episode of the First Person podcast we met Dr Francis Goh. Francis told us us about how he really wanted to be an engineer rather than an IT professional, but fell into the industry as a strategist after completing an MBA. He described his subsequent career as a serious of pivots that lead him to where he needs to be – solving problems with a mixture of technical and business skills, creating an innovation pathway that elevates organizations. Francis spoke of his pride in the book he wrote to distil these ideas – Innovate to Elevate – and advised those just starting out to accept change as a constant.

The main point he wanted to get across was the importance of customer experience. As Francis told us: “Customers provide the revenue. Customers tell you everything you need to know about your internal and external products and processes.”

You can view our interview here, listen to it here, or watch in the box below:

Building a career, finding CX

So how did Francis get to this point? It’s been a long road with many pivots. He started out in mechanical engineering, and slid into technology as a strategy consultant after he pursued an MBA.

“I love to be in a very uncomfortable situation,” Francis told us. “One of today’s key skills is to be comfortable with discomfort because the world is changing so much. You need to be very agile in mindset as well as perspective.”

He liked consulting and strategy because it required technical and business skills, but also the ability to think around a problem.

“No one can be absolutely good at something,” Francis said. “In every thing that we do or every role that we play, solving a problem or helping a client, there’s so much intertwined. The synergies and the dynamism. It’s difficult to call yourself an absolute expert. Whatever’s published, you and I are looking and reading the same thing.”

Francis moved through the corporate ranks from consulting through sales to senior leadership. Then took the plunge to starting his own boutique consulting firm. “I had tech, engineering, HR and leadership,” he said. “It is a combination customers like. I’m a strategist. We focus on solutions around human capital, digital transformation, innovation and customer experience.” (See also: Customer experience: 10 tips for a successful CX strategy.)

The importance of Customer Experience

It was in this scenario that Francis found CX, AKA: ‘Customer Experience’.

“I discovered customer experience about 10 years ago,” he said. “I began to think deeply about all the KPIs that we all been focused on, such as revenue, bottom line, efficiencies.” His conclusion? These all skirt around the most important thing of all.

“Customer experience captures the whole flavour,” Francis told us. “Customers provide the revenue. Customers tell you everything you need to know about your internal and external products and processes. Customers give you the margins because they are willing to pay more for what they really need.”

But what does that mean in practice? Pretty much everything according to Francis.

“I went deeper into it. What is CX? What does customer experience really mean?” Francis explained. “I discovered a lot of deep insights about CX: it includes strategy, innovation, metrics of measurement, culture, design. There are many, many pillars.” (See also: Customer-centric IT: Strategies for delivering winning customer experiences.)Why Customer Experience (CX) is the key to a well-run organization – ComputerworldRead More