Perhaps it’s because we’re working night and day on the beta version of “Project Jack Bauer” (stay tuned for information on that!) or perhaps it’s because we’ve always been in a client service business and I think a lot about ways to make our process even better, but I’ve been thinking a lot lately about customer-centric and customer-centered organizations.

Beth Harte and Anna Barcelos describe the difference best during their #IMCChat a few weeks ago: “In a ‘customer-focused’ organization, they provide products and/or services that customers want but do not drive ALL operations around the customer. For example, Apple.  They build products that customers love, but the customers don’t get a say in the functionality of those products. A customer-centric organization puts the customer at the center of the organization (think of a circle with the customer in the middle, then the next circle surrounding the customer circle is the company. It’s not the top-down management chart we are used to).” (more…)