The results of 2008 Black Book Survey are out and its overwhelming theme is that "customer" is back again. News flash to Indian IT service companies – Customer Service IS still a strategic differentiator.
A big so-called surprise in the survey results? The free fall of Infosys. The wheels seem to have come off at Infosys which has been pounded by customers– it slipped from a top ten placing last year to an ignominious 59th position this year. It goes to show that past achievements can carry your marketing message only so far.
No one can dispute the fact that Infosys has worked very hard to create a global Indian brand. Unfortunately, they may be the victims of their own success. My personal opinion, although unsubstantiated, is that Infosys has been focusing more on “marketing a message” than on “creating the right message”. They have squeezed every last ounce of life from the “World is Flat” phrase. If I had a penny for every time a top Infosys executive used this phrase so far, I would have given Warren Buffet a run for his money :)
What Customer Service?
However, I think this malaise is not limited to just Infosys. Some other Indian IT companies may have been placed near the top in this survey but they are still a long way from being classified as truly customer-oriented. Being services companies, you would imagine customer service would be at the forefront of their growth strategy. Yet, it is surprising that for companies with revenues $3B or $4B, “customer service” is an after-thought for the most part. Sure, there are customer satisfaction surveys that are sent out periodically. Sure, the executives meet with customers on a regular basis. Sure, the sales/marketing teams reach out and treat the prospective customers royally. However, this responsibility is peanut-buttered across multiple units making it difficult to have a holistic and strategic focus. At fault is the this new culture of quarter-to-quarter focus that blinds them to what is good for customer and nickel-and-diming that encourages shortcuts.
Customer service is strategic.
The past decade has been very forgiving for Indian IT companies because of the availability of cheap labor and an early-mover advantage. I once heard somebody say that Indian IT companies are successful “despite themselves” - they have been riding the outsourcing wave at its peak and competition at its weakest. Now that outsourcing process has been commoditized wth fierce competition, most of the companies are ending up with similar service offerings. While moving up the value chain, building new revenue streams etc are critical to organizations survival so is customer service. A unique and top-class customer service could be the key to breaking this homogeneity and differentiate from the crowd.
Indian IT companies could start addressing the problem of fragmented customer service responsibility by making customer service, a strategic business unit, to own the overall responsibility of customer experience.
They also have to “engage” the customers as opposed just communicating with them. While the rest of the world is moving to next level of service through various web 2.0 tools, most of the Indian IT companies are still stuck in the old way of doing things.
Should there be a Chief Customer Officer in Indian IT companies any time soon?
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