Customer Care – the Key to Differentiation

In the past, companies differentiated themselves through delivering innovative products or unique services. First to market advantage made a real difference, as it would take time for the competition to deliver a comparable solution.

Today, fierce competition and rapid commoditization of new products and services have made it increasingly difficult for companies to achieve enduring market differentiation. In many cases, customers can obtain the same product or service from multiple organizations. Their choice of supplier is increasingly influenced by the quality of service they experience. Furthermore, the growth of social media such as blogs and chat rooms means that consumers can communicate easily and widely their likes and needs, providing ready access to information for competitors.

Customer care – as opposed to product features – has therefore emerged as a critical factor in achieving differentiation and gaining competitive advantage. Nuance, the leading provider of speech and imaging solutions, has called this opportunity “experience-based differentiation”.

In order to capitalize on this development, organizations should consider the customer experience as central to the product or service they evolve and deliver. The care operation lies at the heart of delivering that experience and, therefore, becomes the key to differentiation.