UX: The Key Ingredient for a Customer-Centric Organisation

It’s become a common refrain for CEOs to say they want their companies to be “customer-centric.” Amazon even goes so far as to put an empty chair in the boardroom (back when people used to gather in person) to represent their customer.

This sounds like an excellent goal. So what’s the problem?

For too many companies, “customer-centricity” is a soundbite that doesn’t really mean anything. Most of the people at the executive table are too far removed from the customer to actually understand their needs and desires. 

But it’s not all doom and gloom. Many organisations already have the tools they need to be customer-centric. It’s just a matter of shining the spotlight on them.

What am I referring to here? Your Head of UX or Design (I’ll use both of these terms interchangeably throughout this post). 

“But my Head of Design isn’t hidden,” you might be saying. “I see them in meetings all the time.” Sure, you might see them, but are you giving them an opportunity to really share their expertise? Chances are high that you aren’t. 

A recent study by McKinsey found that two-thirds of CEOs don’t know what their Chief Design Officer is responsible for and six out of ten design leaders don’t feel they are able to bring their full value to the organisation. So clearly there’s a disconnect here.

To me, this is a fundamental mindset mismatch at the top of the organisation. You can’t strive to be customer-centric while excluding user experience design from executive discourse and decision-making. 

Let’s explore why this is the case—and what you can do about it.

Why is design so underutilised? 

As the statistics from McKinsey show us, many people misunderstand the role of design. 

They believe it’s just to “make things look pretty.” It’s seen as a pixel-pushing, tactical, delivery function. Design is simply there to execute on what everyone else has decided is the right thing for the customer.

But it shouldn’t be this way.

What design brings to the table

In fact, UX brings a unique skill set that is ideal for promoting customer-centricity. It all starts with a deep understanding of the customer. As the foundation of modern product innovation and development, UX relies on regular check-ins with customers to ensure 1) they understand the customer’s needs and problems and 2) they define how to best serve those needs within the context of organizational goals and constraints.

Using this deep customer insight, the UX function helps discover and evaluate opportunities and solutions while constantly learning and iterating. This approach drives innovation and continuous improvement of existing products and services.

I believe these insights should play into organisational strategy decisions, to help define what priorities and opportunity spaces to go after, though that’s not always the case. And this is often where a disconnect between organisational direction and customer goals emerges, wasting tremendous amounts of resources creating the wrong, or sub-optimal, customer experience, and ultimately not achieving desired business or customer outcomes. In the next section, we’ll consider how to make this happen.

How to give design a more strategic role 

First, make sure you have elevated design to a senior position. Do you currently have a Head of Design, Chief Design Officer, or similar role? Make sure this person is invited to participate in strategic conversations. When you’re reviewing your strategy or considering your plans for the future, give this person an opportunity to share their deep customer expertise.

It’s always best when you can hear from this perspective directly rather than through another lead like the CPO or CTO. 

This can work best when you have a collaborative leadership team of peers from product, technology, and UX. To promote this type of strong collaboration, it helps to set incentives and goals that are complementary.

If you currently have a UX/design function but no one at the executive level, consider how you’ll create a path for this to occur. Can you develop a career ladder for existing design or UX leaders? Can you invite the current leader to participate in key discussions? Can you create a requisition and prioritise hiring for this role?

And if you don’t currently have a dedicated UX or design function, I’d ask you to consider who is acting as the voice of the customer today. Who does the research with your customers? How are they taking insights from their conversations with customers to identify and solve problems? If no one is doing these things, don’t forget that your product is still being designed somehow.

And if that’s the case, wouldn’t it be better to take a more intentional and thoughtful approach rather than just letting it happen? Especially if you’re striving to be a customer-centric organisation.

I hope I’ve given you some food for thought. UX has a lot to offer, especially when it comes to defining your strategy, discovering and evaluating opportunities and solutions, bringing a continuous learning, iterative mindset to product innovation and development, and, of course, putting your customers first. So it’s only fair to give UX a seat at the table if customer-centricity is truly one of your goals.

Are you looking to bring more of a UX and design perspective to your company but don’t know where to start? Let’s talk! You can get in touch with me here.