November 2018

As it appeared in the Daily Nation on November 27th 2018 Dr. Lucy Kiruthu How clean is your customer data? Do you really have confidence in your data? A certain local bank still sends me text messages on system downtime more than two years after closing an account with them. My insurance company still does not know my location and had no idea that I was not issued with a new card until I produced an outdated one. Why does the bank still have my phone number in their database? Why is the insurance company not aware of my location despite picking up payments for almost a decade? Was my postal address updated after I filled in a form as required? Why does the system not show that I was never issued with an updated membership card? These are just but a few examples showing companies whose data might be in need of cleaning up. If…

As it appeared in the Daily Nation on November 20th 2018 Dr. Lucy Kiruthu When Safaricom created the role of the Chief Customer Officer (CCO) a few days ago, I felt a wave of excitement. My excitement was not because I am a Safaricom customer but because I am a firm believer and an advocate of the need to have the voice of the customer loud and clear in the C-Suite. Anyone who has followed through the evolution of the C-suite knows too well that the CCO is a rare position in most organizations. The CCO role is possibly the newest entrant into the C-suite. I expect that in the next decade, this role will become widespread globally and even here in Kenya. Globally, the first CCOs were appointed in the late 1990s. The role started spreading slowly within the fortune 500 companies. By 2014, a CCO council study reported that 22% of Fortune 100 companies…

As it appeared in the Daily Nation on November 13th 2018 Dr. Lucy Kiruthu Throughout my career life, I have been keen on innovation. Having started off in the field of product research and development I believed in the need for creativity in the development of new products and improvement of existing ones. I thereafter headed customer experience in a number of corporates and once again, there was room for innovation. I had to identify creative ways to drive the customer experience excellence organizational wide. I recall one specific innovative campaign where every staff appreciated that “our customers pay our salaries”. Further, I have witnessed many organizations drive innovation without necessarilyy having to invest in a new technology. As I reflect on these personal experiences, I am convinced that innovation goes beyond technology. In the last two decades, it is true to say that technology has been at the centre of innovation in business. Enterprise Resource…

As it appeared in the Daily Nation on November 6th 2018 Dr. Lucy Kiruthu The year 2018 is almost ending. Have you started thinking about 2019? Have you thought about what your business should accomplish in 2019? Have you decided what your top priorities for 2019 should be? Have you determined how you will position your business in the marketplace? Planning is critical for every business. Without a clear plan, a business is likely to meander through its life without any sense of direction. Planning brings the much-needed clarity into the direction that a business should follow in order to stay alive. Like many with a background in strategy, I believe that business leaders should have strong planning skills. These skills are important in supporting the businesses design its desired path and create its preferred future. Most businesses plan almost half a year in advance. Therefore, those that have not yet planned for 2019 need to…