Daniel Rabbitt blogged on Competitive Strategy in A Digital Age over on our Oracle Blog. He makes a lot of great points so it’s worth a read and that’s not just because he mentions my much more famous namesake, Harvard Professor Michael Porter. Here’s a couple thought provoking quotes
Can leading players (in this case, market-leading companies) expect customer loyalty based on past results?
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When a major shift occurred in an industry, such as the decline of a former market leader, often the pundits looked to the five forces for perspective. But in an age when digital transformation impacts every aspect of our economy,
My first thought is that Daniel has it right. You cannot rely on past results for customer loyalty. You also will find it difficult to react at the speed of digital without putting in place your own plans to be agile and customer focused in todays marketplace.
Case in point, one client of ours is going through some significant disruption. When analyzing that disruption and what they should be doing, one quote came to fore, “But our customers love us. I speak on the phone to them all the time.” What that misses is the fact that while many existing customers may love them, those that do not are already exiting without leaving a postcard. New customers may not even find them because they do their research digitally before picking up the phone…… an area where this company has room for improvement. My point is that without a digital baseline and a go to strategy, major shifts will impact you and they will impact you faster than you expect.