Businesses that switched to a customer-obsessed tech strategy report a 2.5x greater revenue growth than those that have not – according to recent Forrester research.
Its study – entitled: "The Customer-Obsessed Growth Engine" – defines such a customer-obsessed strategy as one that "makes customer value the North Star of technology planning."
In doing so, these businesses fixate on delivering change at the speed their digital customer preferences evolve.
Of course, this is much easier said than done. Yet, it requires business directors and department leaders to collaborate with IT, aligning their efforts with the priorities of customer-facing teams.
Sharyn Leaver, Chief Research Officer at Forrester, believes that such internal alignment is much more achievable when a common goal drives the business forward.
"A customer-obsessed growth engine aligns functions that have an outsized impact on customers and growth to set the course and pace," she said.
When customer-facing and technology functions are in lockstep with each other, organizations can establish a collective understanding of customers, create new ways to deliver value, and lean on each other’s strengths to move faster and more efficiently.
Brands that achieve such alignment with these customer-facing departments will achieve 2x higher growth in profitability than those without alignment.
In B2B firms, this alignment is most critical across sales, marketing, and product departments – Forrester reports. Whereas, for B2C businesses, the analyst suggests it is most vital across marketing, CX, and digital teams.
With these teams in "lockstep", Forrester suggests businesses can power a customer-obsessed growth engine, address changing customer needs, and adjust to market realities.
Achieving the Necessary Operational Alignment
As the statistics above suggest, when business and function leaders fly in formation, the business’s profitability and growth accelerate.
However, Forrester warns that not all alignment initiatives inspire such results.
Indeed, it suggests those that center on "internally focused constructs" often result in process inefficiencies, excessive team meetings, and distracting KPIs.
Instead, Forrester recommends bringing everything back to the customer journey. Doing so helps enable alignment, set metrics that drive customer and business value, and power that customer-obsessed growth engine.