I was asked the other day to review a process improvement program. Starting with a simple question I posed “So what are you promising your customers”. The response I received was stunned silence. He/She was faced with the process-experience paradigm we all are faced with at some point. Why are we doing this?

To my colleague/client this question had never even entered their minds. “Customer Promise?? Why do we need that in order to drive an internal program. To be honest we’re not really promising anything. These processes will help us cut costs but the customer won’t even know it”

So why do it? If it is not improving your customer experiences why do it? Even more philosophically why, if these processes don’t impact your customers’, do they even exist. Surely everything we do is designed to deliver on customer experience? If not then get rid of it.

Thinking of implementing new processes? First ask, “why are we doing this”. I’ve seen way too many rules, processes, policies implemented that serve to entrench the reason for existence of something that has long passes its sell-by date. Every area in a business can argue their importance, but i pose to you: If it is not to improve, enhance, alter or drive your customers experiences, then it is a waste of time and money. Let’s ensure that when faced with the process-experience paradigm we are highly aware of the customer promise or outcome we are driving toward.