Customer-Centric and Customer-Driven

It is one thing placing the customer at the centre of an organisation’s planning and execution of business plans, and another having customers driving the direction of a business. Many new, web-based businesses rely on the latter for their business to succeed, and actively encourage customers to take the lead and add value to the business. Services such as Flickr (www.flickr.com), Delicious (www.delicious.com) and Twitter (www.twitter.com) are examples of services that are user-driven rather than user-centric. They provide tools that enable users to make the service their own, often by allowing outside developers access in order to create supplementary services.

Savvy organisations can also provide tools to customers to drive their business, passing on tasks to customers that might ordinarily have been performed by the organisation. For example, many airlines now allow travellers to check-in online prior to arriving at the airport. Although they are giving travellers convenient tools and increased options when it comes to checking in, the airlines are also outsourcing the check-in process to their travellers. As more travellers select to check themselves in, staff costs for airlines can be reduced. The travellers are doing the job for free.