I have a problem (with an image)

Anyone recognise this image?

I found the image below in my downloads this morning, only to wonder where the hell it came from. I know I am getting old, but surely at the grand old age of 54 I am not that senile. It was obviously downloaded for a reason. So, on looking at it, I know that it strikes me as a good representation of how data excellence sits at the core of an organisation, and how a great deal of important factors in a business’s success link to this central principle. 

But then I got thinking. You know what I am like. I never accept the first thing I see as gospel unless I can really get my head around it. With this image, there was something doing my head in. It’s a great example of showing how important data is, of which we know this to be true. But still, I kept thinking.

Now, I am not saying this image is wrong, and the company, or the article I read is wrong. No! Far from it. I just have a different take.

Hold on. I remember. I remember why I found it challenging. Why I thought there was something else.

It’s the central circle. My take on it is that it should not be data at the centre. It should be the customer. But this goes against my gut that data is at the heart of everything. 

So, if I promote the customer to the centre, what does that do to my beloved data. 

Nothing in all reality. 

All I am doing is suggesting that the customer needs to be at the centre but surrounding this is data and the role it plays. Data is gathered from customers and fed back to customers from many different sources. The customer may never see the data, but it could have an impact on them. Customers may not even realise they are generating data when they call, when they email, pay rent, complain, request a repair. Almost everything they touch generates data. Take 5 minutes as an exercise and try and work out what if anything a tenant does when interacting with a landlord does not generate data. 

The important thing here is that this data gathering produces information that can help a landlord identify, remedy, fix, help. Then, before you know it its back with the tenant somehow, again maybe not directly, but perhaps some service improvement plans, strategies that are formed from the information. So, you see, the tenant is surrounded by data.

In my eyes everything then fits around this.

You have the customer at the heart, you have the data, and then this data feeds the company. But what about all the other things in that first diagram. Well, now look at the diagram, below. Unlike the first diagram, where the spokes are separate, all other functions of a business are related to data, and still, we have the customer at the centre. 

It's this model that ensures you achieve customer excellence at the same time ensuring it is fed with data and with all other areas of the business also feeding from the data.

Be careful however, with all this feeding, you can get fat. Treat data carefully, and it will look after you. 

So, what’s the point of this story.

You could say it is to treat data as a carefully balanced diet. No, that would be daft! Or would it?

What I am saying is that if you treat data well, it will look after you, and when you put the customer at the core of everything, you get results, you get excellence in delivering your customer experience.