Into the Future: Evolving Customer Relationships

John Malone, a cable industry leader, once said that in five years, 80 percent of his revenue would come from sources that he hasn't even begun to offer yet. That's a provocative point of view about the pace of change and how to stay ahead of it to continue to provide value to customers.

The equation is not quite as dramatic as that for us, although it certainly does apply; we just need to be devoted to our customers and do the right things for them. If we listen hard enough, we'll wind up creating more opportunities for them, such as developing new applications for them because we have listened. We will be able to take them to a new level, and that will fundamentally change the relationship. It will allow us to work with more senior people and in more departments of our client companies.

Growth belongs to those companies that understand how to add value, and that means transforming data into information and applying it to create customer knowledge and to deliver new value based on that. In the end it also means making it happen for your customer.