Is your organisation customer-centric? Do the quick Galbraith test!

Jay Galbraith is undoubtedly the premier authority on organizational design. He found that many organizations believe they are customer-centric but are – in reality – product-centric. In their minds they were customer centric because they had been been working long and hard to understand and please their customers… According to Galbraith to be customer-centric an organisation has to do a lot more than “placing the customer prominently on the company radar screen.”

Is your organisation customer-centric?  Here’s a test (I adapted it slightly to make it easier to apply):

STEP 1: Score your company on the Scale and Scope dimension (the number of products and the number of different kinds of products that are combined into a solution):

• 1 point: My company has two to five similar products or services to sell to the same customer.
• 2 points: We offer five to ten mostly products and services.
• 3 points: We have ten to fifteen products or services of different types to sell to the same customer.
• 4 points: We have fifteen to twenty variegated products or services to sell to the same customer.
• 5 points: We have more than twenty products or services of various different types to sell to the same customer.

STEP 2: Score your company on the Integration dimension (the degree of integration between the components that comprise a solution):

• 1 point: My company provides stand-lone products to the same customer with common invoice and billing (“one-stop shopping”).
• 2 points: We have a set of minimally connected stand-alone products (like a common brand, common experience, combined shipment).
• 3 points: We have minimally packaged (themed) components that need to work together for customer segments.
• 4 points: We have modular components of products and services that need to work tightly together as a system.
• 5 points: We have very tightly integrated packages/bundles/full solutions of products and services to offer the customer.

STEP 3: Add your score from step 1 and 2 and plot this in the customer-centric strategy locator below. On the right of the graph you’ll find the most appropriate organisation structure.

And, how customer-centric are you?