Customer centricity has recently become a popular term. What does it mean to be customer centric? How is it achieved? And, in some cases, is customer centricity unattainable based on the mindset and behavior of the individuals involved?

Customer centricity means establishing a strong partnership with your customer where the mutual value of the relationship is recognized by both sides. It means meeting and exceeding your customer’s expectations. Customer centricity is listening to your customer to understand their business and responding by aligning resources to support their goals.

These strategies and many more have been analyzed in great detail as information technology (IT) vendors attempt to get closer to their customers to increase their value and expand their services with each customer. The benefits of achieving customer centricity, for both vendor and customer, are endless. Achieving customer centricity creates a partner relationship as opposed to a supplier relationship. The IT partner becomes an extension of the customer’s IT department and jointly develops future technology strategies for the customer. Issue resolution becomes a collaborative effort. The net result is a longstanding partnership that provides an increase in business value (reduced costs, increased revenue and operational efficiency) for the customer and an increase in market presence and revenue for the partner.

However, in many cases, the attempts to implement customer centric strategies by the vendors are for naught. In order to create a successful customer centric environment, there needs to be two willing parties--the IT vendor and the customer. If the IT service provider isn’t delivering value-added services and aligning their resources to match the customer’s commitment, then customer centricity will never happen. Additionally, if the customer does not view the IT vendor as strategic or treat them as a respected partner, then customer centricity will be very difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. It is the vendor’s job to gain the customer’s trust.

Here are a few recommendations for customers and vendors to promote partnerships and long-term success.

Customers
• Communicate – Share detailed information so your partner is working with all the facts. Be proactive in your communication when possible to afford the time for “big picture” and strategic solution discussions. Additionally, be fair to your partner to deliver products and services on time.
• Trust – Trust your IT partner is working in your best interest. Don’t be afraid to share information that will help your vendor be a more strategic partner. For example, introduce and sponsor meetings between your partner and line of business leaders such as customer service, sales and manufacturing.
• Partnership agreement – Enter into a mutually favorable agreement (annual or multi-year) to eliminate price and contract term negotiations for every order. The removal of the time and stress of going through repeated contract negotiations will benefit the long-term partnership immensely.
• Be responsible – Defined in support agreements, statements of work and project plans are both vendor and customer responsibilities. The customer needs to live up to their responsibilities and promote teamwork. Trying to get the vendor to do your work is unfair and an indication that you’re trying to take advantage of your business relationship.
• Respect – There will always be instances of last-minute service requests or implementation projects. If there is flexibility in your schedule, then communicate the options and team with your partner. Respect that unnecessary demands or timeline pressure will not only negatively impact your project but likely projects your vendor is working on with other customers.
• Recognize successes – When you and your partner do a good job in resolving a critical issue or seamlessly integrating a new application don’t hesitate to show your appreciation to your partner just as

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