By Michael Cawte | SECTION6 Engineer, Brisbane
In today’s interconnected world, businesses have a greater role to play than just offering a service. It’s no longer enough to focus solely on meeting functional software requirements. Instead, businesses must strive to truly grasp their customers’ individual situations and requirements and how they fit into the larger picture. This becomes even more critical when it comes to essential services.
By embracing a customer-centric approach, organisations can gain a deeper understanding of their clients and the overall landscape in which they operate. This understanding paves the way for better relationships, improved products, and enhanced services. Adopting this mindset ultimately leads to higher quality and more engaging experiences for businesses and their customers.
Organisations providing vital services, not only for their business but also for the prosperity of our countries, must think beyond their immediate customer context. They should consider the positive impact their organisation can have on the nation as a whole. It’s not just about offering a service; it’s about how that service empowers the lives of people and the productivity of our communities and country. For example, banks that effectively manage money contribute to financial stability, public transport that operates reliably and on time enhances business productivity, and telecom providers that promptly adapt to changing customer demands enable businesses to be more responsive.
This particularly holds true for essential sectors such as banks, transport systems, and telecom providers. Unfortunately, many organisations are losing sight of this mission, and as technology becomes more complex, an increased focus on internal processes is creating a gap between what’s promised and ultimately delivered.
A colleague from our Australian office recently shared some eye-opening experiences with various essential service software systems. These government and private sector systems are necessary in our lives, and we rely on them to run smoothly. However, this wasn’t the case when applying for a driver’s licence. Instead it became a convoluted process, due to a database mismatch – requiring three weeks of waiting. Surprisingly, the issue was swiftly resolved by simply typing the name in all capital letters. Another instance, this time involved becoming locked out of a banking app, simply because the phone orientation wasn’t switched before pressing ‘continue’. These examples illustrate that a clear gap is emerging between the functional software requirements and their customers’ experience, and that companies need to consider the wider implications of experiences like those mentioned above.
To truly empower productivity, scale, and security, we must redefine our measure of success. Rather than just meeting deadlines, staying within budget, or adhering to scope, success should be determined by how well our mission aligns with the customer’s needs and aspirations, and how as a business, we can best assist and meet these needs. By putting the customer at the centre, we ensure that our services effectively contribute to their productivity, scalability, and security. Organisations must embrace their true mission: to facilitate productivity, ensure scalability, and deliver security on a national level. This shift in perspective can lead to transformative changes, improved services, happier customers, and, ultimately, a more successful business and country. By keeping the mission at the forefront, we can create a technology-driven ecosystem that empowers individuals, communities, and the nation.
If you want to learn more about how you build software that is highly reliable, scalable, secure and adaptable at speed — and stay on mission — please contact us here at SECTION6.