The actual position of a customer is right at the top of the organization and it surrounds the organization too.

This all-encompassing customer in the organizations hierarchy is the very essence of a customer driven organization. Everything in the organization is driven by the needs and requirements of the organization. The main focus point of the organization is to satisfy the needs of the customer. This viewpoint or philosophy drives a customer driven organization. The change in the approach of the organization is radical and this change in attitude of the organization has to be pervasive. Customer is the most important part of an organization not matter whether it is driven by customer or not. Customer is the individual or organization who pays for the products and or services the organization delivers. To become a customer driven organization, the most important part of the organization is the identification of the importance of the customer to the organization and the various roles the organizations departments play in serving the customers and the interactions the departments and the workmen and the customers play in business. This dynamic environment is best captured by a daily life experience we all have in a grocery store. Here the customers are in dynamic interaction with the environment and they interact with the environment and within themselves also. This dynamicity of interaction is found in any organization too. Now the main Questions that arise are: Who is our customer? Nature of customer What drives the customer How customer drives us

To answer these questions a radical change in the outlook and philosophy of the organization is to be taken place. This radical change is not easy; it is tough but, is far from impossible. Any organization that produces goods or services or both produces so to sell in the market to the customer. Whether you own a topnotch consultancy or a restaurant you have your own set of customers whom you cater to. It is these customers who should drive your organization. According to Edosomwan, a customer- and market-driven enterprise as one that is committed to providing excellent quality and competitive products and services to satisfy the needs and wants of a well-defined market segment. We at least have a definition about the customer driven organization by now although it lacks in many respects but have many common features too. In the definition Edosomwan asks the organization to provide excellent quality products and also competitive at the same time this is somewhat vague a definition as quality is not defined and also the competitiveness with respect to what is also not defined. This is exactly where Edodomwan definition lacks in perspective and is not a definition that can be applied anywhere. To have a practical approach to customer driven organization is, the organization that is driven by customer and every actions of the organization is directly or indirectly leads to satisfying the customers. What does a transformed organization look like is our focus now. The main features of such organizations are: 1. Flattened hierarchies

2. Risk taking 3. Leaderships role Now we go to our first point flattened hierarchies. The main issue in flattening the hierarchies is to take everyone in the organization as also as possible to the customer. This process involves radical outlook change and change in the attitude. The process of flattened hierarchies also means that the organization also makes a change in the focus of the people working in the organization from boss of the organization to the customers of the organization. The Second point is Risk taking. Here the organization response to the market according to the changing demands of the customers is underlined by the risk taking ability of the management and the workmen of the organization. One important aspect of risk taking is betting on right horse to drive uncertain and wild customer to your favor. The third point is communication. Communicating the whys and whats and hows of the vision of the company is very important for aligning the organization to the customers of the organization. When the workforce of the organization which includes managers, labor force, etc. of the organization are totally aware of the policy and vision of the company and where they fit in that policy or vision will then the top brass of the company will successfully align the organization into a customer driven organization. One of the strategies in achieving great communication with the workforce of the organization is by internal marketing. Internal Marketing is getting your word across to a very well defined market segment your own workforce. The communication is a top down approach. The leaders of the company must communicate their philosophies visions and strategies of the organization to the work force and must act consistent with the communicated behavior. Inconsistencies give rise to negative effect in the behavior of the work force and the company as a whole. Our final point of discussion is leadership, this is the point where the leaders need to be very cautious about their moves and judgment as the actions of leaders if is irrational or deviant of the behavior of expected would result in a catastrophic failure to the transition of the organization from traditional approach to customer driven approach. There is supreme importance of the leaders on their action as not only one pitfall may lead to a catastrophe as mentioned earlier but also may seriously compromise the transition management of the organization. The leadership of the company plays a pivotal role in transition as they are the ones who initiate, direct and implement the transformed organization. Finally the leadership should devote fifty percent of their time in communication of the new strategy the company is going to take and the changes that are about to occur in everybodys engagement in the organization. Here the words, organization and company is used interchangeably only to signify that an organization that makes profit is a company. The leadership of the company must remember the vital points in transition management. Boards of Directors It is a mandatory requirement that the management of the company gets an approval from the board of directors about the transition of the company of such sort. It is essential that the companys management briefs the board about the various features of the organization and other tit bits of the

transition process and the future state of the company that will be achieved through this transition and not only gets the approval but also receives the enthusiastic backing from them too. If not received so it will be like a pilotless aircraft without any controls in anybodys hands, chances are high of getting crashed. Unions In a transformed organization the responsibility of the union is enhanced to a large degree. In case of companies that have unionized labor force the transformed organization puts a responsibility on the shoulders of the union in the area of planning and strategy development for the companys future so that at the time of collective bargaining the labor force presumably will not try to sabotage the plans of the companys plan to transform. By harnessing the power of the unions the company can be assured of greater acceptability of the transformed organization and the transformation it is going through. Measuring results Measurement of the performance is an important aspect of the activity that needs to be taken care of. Measurement of performance not only is necessary for appraisal but also to calculate how much away we are from target. When we talk about measurement it is absolutely necessary that we measure the right things and by right things we mean those activities and performances that actually delivers value to customers and stakeholders of the company and the employees. It is somewhat like say for example a tub which is getting filled by water from the tap. You have to keep track of how much water is filled up in the tank so that no water is spilled. Towards this end we need to measure the amount of water filled. This is exactly what I mean to say by measuring the right things. It will be appreciated then when you measure the right things you keep yourself on the track of improvement and also reward the employees who actually deliver for the company. It acts as a boost for the morale of the employees of the company and results are much more apparent. Rewarding the employees Rewarding the employees with financial bonuses may actually backfire and the employees may actually do their job only for the financial bonuses.