Published September 23, 2015
By Tompkins International Staff
Many people regard choices as a good thing. However, one must realize that few choices can beget discomfort or unhappiness and too many choices leads to confusion, regret of alternatives not taken, and second guessing. Today, the business world is more complex than it has ever been. Adaptation to the marketplace is required in order to be successful, and therefore, choices must be made.
Choices must be made with respect to Crossborder, Omnichannel, Customer Centricity, and Final Delivery. Without making these choices supply chains will flounder and fail. Steps must be taken right away or risk falling behind your competition.
Jim Tompkins addressed these four topics during his keynote speech at the 2015 Tompkins Supply Chain Leadership Forum. Attendees had great follow-up questions that required detailed answers from Jim.
We have selected two questions from each of the following topics for Jim to answer:
- Crossborder
- Omnnichannel
- Customer Centricity
- Final Delivery
Over the next few days, we will release these questions and answers in four separate blog posts. Parts one & two have already been released. Here is part three which is based on the Customer Centricity section of Jim’s keynote.
Forum Attendee:The discussion of Customer Satisfaction, Customer Service, and Customer Experience has been taking place for years. Why now is this a Mega-Choice?
Jim Tompkins: Two reasons:
- The evolution of Personalization and delivering not one view of the customer, but rather treating each customer as unique and providing these customers with what they want and not what we decide the customer wants.
- The question of “At What Price?” is “Are we willing to be Customer Centric?” Are we willing to do it all for our Customers while neglecting our Suppliers and our Employees, or is there some balance here?
Forum Attendee: You touched on the topic of Culture when discussing: “Customer Centric: At What Cost?” What should be the culture we pursue?
Jim Tompkins: There are 3 types of culture:
- Static consistency: Do not rock the boat. Keep doing what we have always done.
- Dynamically Inconsistent: No clear strategy of where you are headed, so your dynamic behavior goes from “Continuous Improvement” to “Continuous Change”. This culture begets an environment of “Fad of the Month”.
- Dynamic Consistency: A culture of continuous improvement while marching in step with the organization’s strategy.
You should be pursuing Dynamic Consistency while treating customers, suppliers, and employees with dignity and respect.
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