Excellent article in AdAge (via Response Media) about the importance of being customer-centric across the business, not just in the marketing department. By focusing on customers (as opposed to erecting barriers to switching, for example) companies can be better positioned to withstand inevitable disruptions in their industries. The customer-centric orientation should drive operations, sales, marketing, technology. It shouldn't be a downstream layer of activity, but rather woven into the fabric and DNA of the company.
This is not easy for most companies, and those that resist will pay a steep price. Most companies have an intensely internal industry/company perspective. They focus on making and selling products, and on what the competition is doing. They confine themselves to established industry structures. Very few have the kind of laser focus on customers that allow them to break through conventional approaches and stay attuned to emerging customer needs. At a time where innovation and disruption can come from anywhere at any time, being customer centric is mission critical.
