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Editor's Letter Tough Customer A new threat looms before the human resources services industry. Not the legacy of unsustainable engagements that have been properly pilloried for promising far more than they could deliver. No, the threat that barely existed a decade ago arrives via a new title taking occupancy in the C-suites of Europe, American, and Australia. The title: chief customer officer (CCO). The CCO is typically responsible (in customer-facing companies, of course) for a predictable lineup: the call centre, the sales force, the marketing department, fulfillment or billing, and post-sale support. Scanning the website of the Chief Customer Officer Council yields a logical mission scope. Seeking consistent public experience across all methods of access, the council notes that such dependability is essential to competitive advantage. Customer satisfaction is rightly conceived as driving both loyalty and profitability. The council counts approximately 450 executives worldwide with the CCO title or having comparable authority. That's up from fewer than 30 in 2003. The council limns three concerns of its members: • Driving (more) profitable customer behaviour such as improved loyalty, greater share of wallet, decreased costs to serve, etc. • Creating a customer-centric culture by aligning employees and resources to rapidly and profitably meet customer needs. • Delivering and demonstrating value to the CEO, the Board, peers, and employees. That "the customer is king" has been axiomatic at most companies since the dawn of commerce. And customers today are more powerful than ever. Apps allow instantaneous price and quality comparison of goods and services. And sites running the gamut from Consumer Reports and Angie's List to your hometown message board allow for sharing of commercial horror stories. With apologies to John Donne: No business is an island. Much of this is captured in a new book, Outside In, written by Harley Manning and Kerry Bodine of Forrester Research. And it is not a uni-directional story. The newly empowered customer, the authors point out, is partly counterbalanced by a parallel increase in the data potency of the companies that serve them. Whether it is Marks & Spencer understanding the importance of a green supply chain to its clientele or Target knowing which way a typical pregnant shopper will scan the aisles, the merchant today possesses an unprecedented wealth of knowledge about buyer habits and buyer happiness. But the question is not whether this pursuit makes sense. The question is existential: Why in heaven's name is this not the job of human resources professionals? If HR executives— and those who provide them with services—are not fluent in customer service, and if they fail to instill that via total talent management of their workforces, are they not guilty of malpractice? Not to put too fine a point on it: The CCO should be the CHRO. This might be a passing fad. With an average tenure of just 29 months, according to the council, the chief customer officer has the shortest lifespan among all C-suite executives. But if the provider of human resources services doesn't reclaim this authority, she'll be reporting to a new boss. Dirk Olin, Editor-in-Chief [6] HRO TODAY GLOBAL | FALL 2012 CEO: Elliot H. Clark Elliot.Clark@SharedXpertise.com Managing Director: Faye Holland Faye.Holland@SharedXpertise.com Editor-in-Chief: Dirk Olin Dirk.Olin@SharedXpertise.com Managing Publisher: Gale Tedeschi Gale.Tedeschi@SharedXpertise.com Managing & Online Editor: Debbie Bolla Debbie.Bolla@SharedXpertise.com Vice President of Research: Elizabeth Boudrie Elizabeth.Boudrie@SharedXpertise.com Vice President of Marketing: Bill MacRae Bill.MacRae@SharedXpertise.com Marketing Manager: Carina Tam Carina.Tam@SharedXpertise.com Contributing Writers: Russ Banham, Ethan Kline, Katie Kuehner-Hebert, Brent Skinner Webmaster: Michael Fernandez webmaster@SharedXpertise.com Subscription services: For subscriptions, renewals, changes, and back issues, email subscriptions@SharedXpertise.com. About HRO Today Global magazine HRO Today Global Magazine [ISSN #1541-3551] is published [4x] by SharedXpertise, LLC © 2012. All Rights reserved. URL: www.HROGlobal.com. 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