Customer relations principles and practices

Customer Relations

How could the principles used by IDEO in redesigning customer relations be used in other industries? In what respects is the hospital industry similar to other industries? Are any of the principles applicable exclusively to the hospital industry?

The underlying principles of thoroughly understanding the unmet needs of customers including their need for validation of their perceptions and how those affect their levels of satisfaction to loyalty are successfully captured by the IDEO methodology. This is further accentuated by having clients' executives participate in the development of entirely new frameworks for evaluating their companies, brands, channel management and selling strategies, and services. The use of IDEO methodologies have immediate impact in all industries as there are value chains and customers whose expectations drive the development of distribution channels, selling, pricing, and service strategies. When the hospital industry is considered from a customer satisfaction perspective, perception, as is shown in the article (Nussbaum, 2004) is reality. The immediacy and relevance of these perceptions are all critical to the success of any business, regardless of industry. IDEO has found an approach that combines ethnographic analysis with the ability to understand the process by which customers attain high levels of loyalty. Instead of relying on traditional forms of gaining customers' insights and feedback, the IDEO methodology concentrates on getting to the more immediate perceptions and resulting decisions that consumers rely on in choosing their brand loyalties (Nussbaum, 2004). There initially unorthodox approach to understanding the unmet needs of customers through an analysis of their perceptions is actually more attuned to the rapidly changing perceptions and loyalties of customers, and is actually well ahead in accuracy and value to companies who choose to partner with IDEO to attain their marketing, planning and execution strategies.

Advances in technology have led to increased productivity, increased quality of physician's services, more efficient scheduling of patients, and data analysis as seen in the "Record Time" article. Why are other healthcare providers not incorporating this new technology when quality of care and healthcare costs are significant considerations?

The first and most significant factor for other healthcare providers not investing in the data, document and enterprise content management systems as discussed (Fishman, 2006) is the fear of and resistance to change. There are processes engrained in many healthcare providers that also protect the political balance of power and any change of these processes is seen as a demotion of political clout by senior managers. In many healthcare providers the accounting and finance departments are more concerned with managing their invoices and getting the bills out on time and accurate than ensuring a high level of customer service is delivered (Fishman, 2006). A second major factor in healthcare companies not addressing this issue of automating their systems is that there is the perception of new systems being a threat to the data itself; there is fear that once the date is put into the system it will somehow be lost or compromised. This fear of a lack of control over the data is often driven by information systems departments, who also fear their jobs will be taken over by the new system. Third, many patients feel these systems will make their medical histories available to the world if a hacker hits the system and breaks it open. The fact that there have been many security breaches of financial services databases doesn't actually provide the greatest level of assurance and trust in centralized databases as well. In summary, there is the fear of how change will impact an individuals' job and how it will impact the entire organization. All of these factors contribute to healthcare companies staying stuck in their systems from decades ago, denying patients greater service that would be possible if they would just embrace, not run from, change.