400 likes | 560 Views
Feedback: The Missing Link in Information Superiority. Open Source Solutions, Inc. Conference 26 May 1999 Chuck Appleby. Overview. Setting the stage Why is feedback so important? What kind of feedback do we need? How do we collect good feedback? Imperatives. Setting the Stage.
E N D
Feedback:The Missing Link in Information Superiority Open Source Solutions, Inc. Conference 26 May 1999 Chuck Appleby
Overview • Setting the stage • Why is feedback so important? • What kind of feedback do we need? • How do we collect good feedback? • Imperatives
The Current State “The Community is starved for feedback from consumers. It has been very difficult to get busy consumers to provide useful comments on a service they regard as a free good not subject to their control.”
The Desired State “…companies honing their competitive edge [must] meet the following real time requirement: Analyze customer feedback constantly--with that feedback in many instances from customers tied closely to a company’s operations.” Regis McKenna, Real Time: Preparing for the Age of the Never Satisfied Customer, 1999
Barriers to Collecting Feedback • Cost of collecting feedback prohibitive • Connectivity lacking • Fear of re-engineering • Security barriers • Cultural bias (no news is good news) • Cynicism about use of data
Importance of Feedback • Differentiation • Adaptation • Fulfillment
Differentiation “How do you distinguish yourself when there is infinite shelf space? Simple: by knowing more customers more intimately than your competitor does and by knowing how to use information about those customers as it becomes available.” FAST COMPANY, June 1999
Adaptation “Rapid and continuous adjustment based on regular sampling is the key to success in any fast-changing environment.” Regis McKenna, Real Time, 1999
Fulfillment “Don’t forget that a person’s greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated…” Brian Dyson, CEO of Coca Cola Enterprises
What Kind of Feedback? • Employee satisfaction • Consumer knowledge and satisfaction • Learning, innovation, and growth • Product/service quality • Supplier performance • Process and operational performance • Financial performance
Setting the Feedback Agenda • Balance between current performance and future direction • Delivery • What capabilities do I need? • How are my capabilities performing? • Direction • Where should I focus my capabilities today? • What capabilities should I build for the future?
Customer Satisfaction Illusion “Too often, measurements of customer satisfaction are like Magellan’s instruments. They tell you very little about where you are, and they can’t show you where you should go.” Fred Wiersema, Customer Intimacy, 1996
Intelligence Function Drives Feedback Agenda • Three basic functions of intelligence • Support to Operations • Planning • Execution • Baseline Intelligence • Current Intelligence • Future Estimates • Target Development • Warning • Tactical • Strategic • Unique set of feedback questions and collection strategies for a given function
Current Intelligence Case Feedback Tasks • Prior to Product/Service Delivery • Establish Baseline Customer Profile • Share of customer, customer loyalty, basic needs • Track Order Fulfillment • Evaluate Product Quality • After Product/Service Delivery • Survey Customer Service Quality • Determine Product Utility • Determine Product Impact
Product + Service = The Offer “The difference between products and services blurs to the point that the the distinction is a trap. Winners provide an offer that is both product and service simultaneously.” Stan Davis and Christopher Meyer, BLUR: The Speed of Change in the Connected Economy, 1998 The Cell Phone Story
Why Do Customers Defect to Competitors? Product differentiation is becoming increasingly difficult, therefore service is now the standard by which customers are measuring performance. 15% 15% 20% 45% Better Product Cheaper Product Lack of Personal Attention Service, Rude, Unhelpful Source: Forum
Information ImpactEye of the Beholder “The place where information dwells, the holy moment where transmission becomes reception, is a region which has many shifting characteristics and flavors depending on the relationship of sender and receiver [and] the depth of their interactivity.” John Perry Barlow, Electronic Frontier Foundation
Information ImpactIntermediate Good “Information has economic value if it leads to the satisfaction of human desires. A small portion is final goods, which derive their value from supply and demand. By far the larger portion is intermediate goods that derive their value substantially from the value of goods and services to which they lead.” Michael Dertouzos, Director, MIT Lab for Computer Science
Collection Strategy • Passive capture (in the intelligence) • Active solicitation in surveys • Face-to-face • On-line • Dialog • On-line Communities of Interest • Focus Groups (GroupWare enabled) • Liaison officers and Information brokers • Customer Service Centers
Passive Capture in On-line Intelligence • Profile • Track • Learn • Anticipate
Profile • Vignette Corporation • Decision support services help you gage how effectively your content attracts and retains visitors. • You can generate reports based on customer criteria to determine what content is accessed, how often and by what types of visitors.
Track • COSMOS is the database where tracking information is entered and is visited by customer service agents and anyone in FedEx ops.
Learn • Citibank Provides private virtual community on the web for its customers, it enables them to get closer to each other and to the bank. They get advice on such topics as investing in real estate… and Citicorp learns a lot about customer likes and dislikes.
Anticipate • Web-site software such as NetPerceptions is used by Amazon.com to look at a user’s past purchases, compare them to those of a broader population, and make recommendations to users
Information Utility • In gauging information utility through passive collection we might collection: • Dwell time • Revisit frequency • Forwarding to another consumer • Printing the document
Direct On-Line Questions • Hewlett Packard Web Page • Do you feel you were able to accomplish what you wanted during your visit to this site visit? • If you did not resolve your issue/problem/inquiry--what other means of support will you seek? • Has your visit to this Web Site prevented the need to make another call to HP for additional info?
Customer Feedback:Key Success Factors • It should minimize the inconvenience to the customer • The outcome should be of some real benefit for the customer • It should influence your behavior toward the customer • It is tied to both product/service and delivery of the product and service • It drives out what is truly important to the customer • It is immediate • It goes to the person/organization performing the task or job • Results are synthesized and easily visualized
It drives out what is truly important to the customer
Results are synthesized and easily visualized High Opportunity Areas Continuous Improvement Importance Sleeping Dogs Overkill Product attribute Low Low High Performance
Exit Survey Not Useful Useful
Connectivity “The winners will be the ones who develop a world-class digital nervous system so that information can easily flow through the companies for maximum and constant learning.” Bill Gates, Business at the Speed of Thought, 1999
Dialog • Creation and support of communities of interest • Continuous dialog between collectors, producers, brokers, and consumers • Each party in the dialog is constantly educating the other members on needs, capabilities, and resources
Selected References • Stan Davis and Christopher Meyer, BLUR: The Speed of Change in the Connected Economy, 1999 • Mark Graham Brown, Keeping Score: Using the Right Metrics to Drive World-Class Performance, 1996 • Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, The One to One Fieldbook, 1999 • Michael Dertouzos, What Will Be: How the New World of Information Will Change Our Lives, 1997 • J. Philip Kirby and David Hughes, Thoughtware: Change the Thinking and the Organization Will Change Itself, 1997 • Shona Brown and Kathleen Eisenhardt, Competing on the Edge: Strategy as Structured Chaos, 1998
Contact Information Chuck Appleby Scitor Corporation 2411 Dulles Corner Park Herndon, Va 22071 703 713-1829 (Office) 703 713-1801 (FAX) cappleby@scitor.com