HR FOR the customers


CUSTOMER-CENTRIC HR IS THE NEXT FOCUSOF THE INDUSTRY

With rapidly changing dynamics of modern day businesses, the way organisations interact with customers is fast transforming. This trend brings to fore a pertinent industry concern of whether HR professionals can build organisations that are receptive to the reality of what customers want.

To elucidate this better, let's take the example of an ecommerce enterprise. When prospective buyers log in to a shopping portal, whether their visits are converted into purchase depends on several factors. The obvious ones include the inventory available, competitive pricing, and the variety offered.However, equally important are experiential factors such as the ease of performing a transaction and settlement of after-sales customer concerns. The latter set of factors will largely determine if the customer will return to the portal and recommend it to others.It has, thus, become imperative for organisations to enhance customer experience and use customer feedback to form the t basis of how businesses are run.The key is to adopt a customercentric approach to just about t everything an organisation does.For HR, this translates into creating and fostering a culture i that is outward facing and f customer-oriented.

Going by the definition, while t customers may actually be outsiders, in reality, they act as the single most significant stakeholders.

The shift from an inward-facing approach to a customer-centric one has been largely driven by the innovative nature of services that are being directed to consumers these days. Startups and e-retailer chains are re-writing the rules of the trade which is also re-defining workplace policies and culture.

Increasingly, job descriptions and KRAs are being aligned to the customer experience organisations intend to offer. This makes everyone, ranging from the CEO to the front staff, responsible for the value proposition they deliver to the customer. There's also a trend of reaching out to customers to understand their needs and fulfill the same through tailored offerings. Avenues are being created that allow customers to rate their experience and share feedback. Insights generated are being leveraged to improve customer satisfaction policies.Organisations are going all out to the extent of even aligning their talent management and acquisition strategies around the impact they want to make on their customers. Performance metrics and reward and recognition frameworks are also being redrawn to have an element of customer focus. On the forefront of this dynamic shift are enterprises that have emerged over the past decade. Cognizant of the competitive advantage it offers, telecom companies, banks, ecommerce businesses and airlines have emerged as trendsetters in this space.

Driving the focus on customers while addressing core employee issues may seem to be a tall ask from HR professionals.

However, a balance between the two agendas can help employees succeed and keep the customers smiling.