About

The Client Centric Index is the world’s first diagnostic test to enable an organisation to transform its performance and profitability by aligning what it does more closely to its clients.

On this page you can read about the methodology used to create the Client Centric approach and about the team that designed and develop the Index and deliver its programmes.

In each of our assignments for our clients, we follow the following 5 principles which we have developed over the last 17 years working in the sectors which we support.

  1. Our starting point for analyzing any issue facing one of our clients, is almost always from the outside-in. From a deeper understanding of the dynamics of markets and clients, we believe our clients and organizations like them become more successful. All the evidence on performance supports this.
  2. We have a unique focus on three service industries which gives us understanding of best practice in areas across the service sectors. We have taken years to develop our tailored approaches to working in services.
  3. We always aim to strike the appropriate balance between suggesting constructive alternatives to our clients and acknowledging of the legacy and the status quo which exists in every business. Knowing what to change, what to add, when to challenge constructively, is a skill we aim to exercise wisely every day.
  4. We enjoy working with all levels of any client that we work with. It’s important to respect the input from all levels of an organization. Useful insights come from all quarters in a business. Often the role of a consultant is to help to communicate to the top what others are unable or reluctant to say and to frame appropriate recommendations.
  5. We bring a valuable perspective from having seen what works and what doesn’t in many similar situations over 16 years of advising businesses in the services sectors.

The Client Centric Index – at a glance


The Client Centric Index is a self-completion diagnostic test. It helps you take the first step towards the transformation of the performance and profitability of your firm by aligning its capabilities, structure and culture more closely to its clients and markets.

• It comprises 12 questions.
• It takes 5 minutes to complete online.
• It enables you to analyse 6 drivers of Client Centric Profitability for your organisation.
• It compares your business against a benchmark of similar Services businesses.
• It is designed to help executives in the Financial Services, Professional Services and Business Services sectors.

The Client Centric Index has additional benefits:
 
• It links your CCI score to a detailed diagnosis of the Client Centric strengths and weakness of your organisation.
• It suggests practical steps and gives you a routemap to transform your business with a Client Centric approach.
• It automatically generates a pdf document of your CCI results for you to export and share with colleagues.
• It is smart phone and tablet compatible. You and your colleagues can complete it anytime, anywhere.
• It has an Interactive Benchmarking feature which compares your CCI score in real-time against your competitor set.
• You can revisit your CCI scores any time and re-take the test to track your firm's progress towards client centricity.


The Research behind the Client Centric Index

In 2009, at the height of the global banking crisis, a team of analysts began the first phase of a ground-breaking research project. It led to the creation of a new approach to strategy in Services sectors.

In a series of unattributed interviews the C-suite and senior executives of leading Financial, Professional and Business Services firms, were asked how they formulated and executed strategy before and during the Banking Crisis and the economic turbulence which followed.

The conclusion of the research was clear. Many leading businesses had failed to put their clients at the heart of their business. Their management teams identified this as the single most important strategic mistake – and the root cause of almost all subsequent failures in their business and across their sector.

More importantly, executives identified ‘client focus’ as the path to recovery for their business. The alignment of the business to address the needs of its customers and clients, is seen by many as the way to repair the business model, to re-establish growth and to restore confidence and trust. This conclusion is now universally shared by regulators, political leaders and other stakeholders.

It’s an approach which we began to call ‘Client Centric’ strategy.

Subsequent analysis by our team established the link between the performance and profitability of leading players and the degree of their client focus - or Client Centricity - over the last 5 years.

And we went on to identify that high-performing Services businesses align six elements: (1) their Strategy (2) Structure & Operations (3) Client Relationship Management (4) their Service and Product offerings (5) the Remuneration and Culture of their people, and (6) their Brand and Communications.  We call these, the ‘6 drivers of Client Centric Profitability’ for an organisation.

Many businesses are convinced of the need to follow a Client Centric approach to Strategy. What they are looking for is a realistic plan with the clear steps required to transform their organization to become Client Centric.

The Client Centric Index was developed to help firms identify which aspects of their business they should address first.

The Client Centric Index is the methodology used during the first assessment stage of a typical Client Centric programme. It is designed to assess the current level of Client Centricity in an organisation, to benchmark that against a database of the leading advisory companies and to identify what is holding the organisation back from re-engaging with clients.

About Gulland Padfield and the Client Centric approach

The analysis to pilot and create the Client Centric approach and to design the Client Centric Index was conducted by the Client Strategies team at specialist services consultancy, Gulland Padfield.

Gulland Padfield provides strategic advice, interim management and consulting services to organisations in three service industries - Financial Services, Business Services and Professional Services.

The team at Gulland Padfield share three core beliefs on which we build our Client Centric approach.

1. Successful business are different because of their determination and ability to align their firm’s capabilities with a reliable understanding of the needs of its key clients. Our research shows that for many Service business, their clients’ interests are sometimes relegated behind one of other priorities including (i) the interests and remuneration of staff (ii) the misguided need to develop and sell ‘products’ rather then build client relationships. Our success has been to help our clients look outwards for the answers to what needs to change inside their business and to re-establish the priority of their clients as the driving force in their business.

2. Business strategy must be more rigorous now than in the past. The period of growth which many Services businesses experienced over the last 20 years is behind us. From now on, firms that under-plan will under-perform.

3. It is clear to us from speaking to many management teams in the Service sector over the last 15 years, that many of the widely-accepted mantras in the sector are tired and ineffective. To take one example, some firms have spent years chasing the elusive goal of being a ‘trusted advisor’ without knowing if they have achieved it or made significant progress – and most important of all, whether their efforts have any positive impact on profits. There’s an alternative approach. The Client Centric approach.

Gulland Padfield works with organisations in Financial Services (retail banking, private banking, wealth management, market infrastructure and trading platforms), Professional Services (law firms, accountancy practices, property consultancies) and Business Services (outsourcing, engineering, support services).

To find out more about the team behind The Client Centric approach to strategy click here to visit the Gulland Padfield website, or contact us with your questions on contact@gullandpadfield.com

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