****  Customer Management and Customization Process  ****

Due to the on-going wave of rationalization and de-layering, most companies are reporting a shortage of people, who are able to innovate, develop and launch new products, services and associated process that will meet the needs of the customers.

While companies may lose knowledge when they “let their employees go” hopefully they manage to retain most of their customers. These customers know what their needs and aspirations are, to what extent these are met by the company’s products and services and how easy it is to interact with the company.

Finally what are the problems in coping with life’s pressures The last factor deals with the provision of process that assist customers in particular circumstances, or throughout their life process of helping people to question, interpret, simulate and adapt to all that life throws at them.
 

Although companies have process in place to capture and exploit such customer knowledge, Companies need to have process for capturing knowledge that extends beyond the organizational boundary. Process extends to suppliers and distributors as well as customers. More recently, retailer’s loyalty cards are capturing “softer” information such as buying behaviors and preferences. Even the Internet is embracing product requests, needs assessments, purchases, credit assessments, service calls and the like. Besides the Internet, there are other mediums that may well prove to be a mass-market medium. Web TV and Interactive TV public kiosk systems, mobile and fixed smart phones, with e-mail and fax facilities built-in, could well proliferate. In the future, customers will be able to respond to “click here “buttons on the TV ads in order to place a request for product details or to have an agent call them back. As these mediums are interactive, they provide an opportunity for a regular dialogue with customers that provide a steady stream of quantitative and qualitative consumer data. Research and development departments in companies could monitor pre-sales and service inquiries.

They could fire back more probing questions to identify lead customers, seeking to embrace them into virtual panels and encouraging them so participate is interactive focus groups.
 

Some companies are using advanced systems. For example, Broad Vision’s One-to-One applications system can monitor and record each visit made by a customer to a company’s website. If a customer repeatedly looks at a particular product but makes no purchase, it can offer an instant discount. Similarly, to avoid customers being overwhelmed by thousands of products, the One-to-One application system can provide each customer with a personalized product list based on their individual profiles. The system determines an appropriate response through rules that are defined and changed by marketers. It will also be possible for customers to switch from one interactive medium to another, as well as to customer service clerks, without ever having to repeat any facts. One of the most exciting developments is that of mass customization- a concept first created by Stan Davis in Future perfect, and then developed by B. Joseph Pine II in his book Mass customization in 1993. With mass customization, companies are building unique custom-made products and services for the same cost as their competitors. For example, a credit card with a choice of interest rated; pay-back periods, minimum amounts, cash withdrawals, reward schemes, charit5able donations, insurance protection, geographical use, fixed fee or no fee, and so on. The availability of these new interactive mediums now provides an opportunity to put Pine’s ideas into practice.

But besides technology, mass customization requires other organizational changes. A key process change needed is to consolidate research, design and sales into a step prior to production. Customers then interact with a company’s design system to build their4 own unique product, and even perhaps subject them to simulation under varying circumstances. They may do this directly by selecting product components, or through questions-and-answers dialogues. This interaction may be in one sitting or over an extended period of time. Driving mass customization systems are business rules that ensure the assembly of only valid combinations of components. The assembly process will need support by the now established techniques life zero inventories, just in time delivers, logistic management, real-time credit approval and so on. Short product development cycles are an instant by-product of mass customization. Once the customer has purchased his or her product or service, then a company needs to keep an exact record of the product so as to support servicing at a later stage, either by the head office or by field staff. Where a customer could at later date sell such a product to another person, it might make sense to embed the build specification into the product itself. Further, if the product contained diagnostic and communications software, the service engineer can arrive with the right replacement parts.

		To start with, only some customers may have the inclination to undertake the mass customization process. Nevertheless, this small group will form an important source of ideas that will be applicable to other customers and prospects. Undoubtedly, in the coming years we shall read much more about knowledge management. I look forward to learning about organizations that are taking a holistic approach-one that involves individual suppliers, distributors and customers all working together for their mutual benefit. I also expect to see more examples of mass customization that exploit the flexibility, intimate dialogue and immediacy of new interactive mediums.

Besides the Internet, there are other mediums that may well prove to be a mass-market medium. Web TV and Interactive TV public kiosk systems, mobile and fixed smart phones, with e-mail and fax facilities built-in, could well proliferate.

Once the customer has purchased his or her product or service, then a company needs to keep an exact record of the product so as to support servicing at a later stage, either by the head office or by field staff.