Having just come from speaking at 5 conferences in 5 countries I would like to share some observations that come as a surprise to me - and bode well for all of us in the future. The first observation is the most pronounced - and that is the shifting focus onto the customer.

In many of the sessions I sat in during this conference tour I heard the word “customer” more than I have in the past five years COMBINED. That is an amazing transformation, and one that is now at the heart of every progressive company seeking to grow business success and build or sustain market leadership.

Albeit many of the references to the customer are still inside-out, talking about the customer in flat land language like “voice of the customer” and “focus on the customer” there were a significant number of references to the customer as an integral part of everything we do - highlighting the fact that organizations are indeed making the Outside-in shift to true customer alignment. The results from practitioners in this regard were more than compelling, they were down right astonishing.

To give you a taste of what is happening for those “Outside-in companies,” results are no longer tabulated in the single digits for Increased Revenues, Decreased Costs and Improvement in Customer Satisfaction. The stories are talking about 20%, 30% and even 40% gains on these key measures. Read the writing on the wall folks, this is THE GAME IN TOWN. With results like these how can any organization turn a blind eye to the necessity of making the Outside-in shift? The simple answer is that they can’t, at least they can’t AND remain in business. That’s the size of the prize. Grow and prosper or wither and die. It’s that big of a deal.

The second observation - one that also caught me by surprise - was the message from some of the leaders of the “Six Sigma” and “Lean” camps. We all know that Six Sigma and Lean are under fire from every direction as they have been trumped-up to be methods/techniques that are all you need to drive business growth and success though the reality is that they fall far short of this high water mark. So if you are a Six Sigma/ Lean disciple what do you do? Keep the name while transforming the practice to what we (Steve Towers and myself) have created and championed - the Outside-in process practice that eliminates causes rather than fixing affects and drives everything into alignment with the customer (those good old Successful Customer Outcomes you know).

Examples? Sure. How about GE? GE Money Bank gave a “Lean” presentation that showed how their version of Lean is now an adaptation of our CEM Methodology (granted, they stopped short of really getting alignment with the customer so far but the shift to eliminate causes rather than fixing affects was there in spades). Certainly an unnecessarily complex approach to eliminating causes but enough of the core elements were there to produce results that the majority of those watching the presentation were eying with envy.

Then how about Mr. Lean (John Seddon - Professor Cardiff University, translated the Toyota method for service organisations)? Bingo, Outside-in focus on the customer is now taking the front and center position in his version of Lean for service organizations.

It’s exciting to see these changes, to see that people and organizations like GE and John Seddon are zeroing in on the real business success message. In other conversation I noted that McKinsey is working their way through their own flat lands as they get more of the Outside-in message in their growing emphasis on things like the Customer and Moments of Truth.

In some ways it almost seems like a dream when I think back over the years as Steve and I have lead the thinking in this new era of business by customer, of the many sessions where we presented these concepts as the lone voices (yes, there were a few others but they weren’t at the events we were at!) of the change that has now been picked by the business (practitioners/pundits) at large. More and more I find that we are clarifying and extending on a basic understanding of these essential characteristics of business success as opposed to introducing them to people for the first time. That is a very welcome change indeed!

But don’t think we have tapped the bottom of the barrel folks. 2008 is going to be the “Year of the Customer” and the work we (Bennu Group) are currently immersed in will take us all to a far more powerful and effective place where the understanding, overarching practice, methods, techniques, and tools we use to take our business destiny into our own hands sets the stage for global competitiveness.

We have a clear line of sight on the future and there is one thing I can assure you of, the Bennu Group is the only place you will be able to get that insight. We have lead the transformation to the place we are in now but that is only the stepping-stone to the place we really want to be. 2008 is the year we go to that new place.

So make sure you come back often, get out to hear us speaking and get registered for our newsletter. This is the place and trust me - you don’t want to miss what is coming up in the oh so near future!

Terry Schurter
Director - International Process and Performance Institute
www.ipapi.org