Critically evaluate the strengths and limitations of using customer Essay

Critically evaluate the strengths and limitations of using customer focused interactions as a basis to standardise and improve business operations - Essay Example Focusing on precision and customer service accelerates the transformation process. British Telecom chose not to rely on such systems to solve its immediate problem. British Telecom saw a dramatic expansion in the number of services offered to its customers. Additional revenues from these services and related ventures have been sufficient to justify further investments of more than five billion dollars in second-generation packet switching, terminal technology, and support systems. (Johnson and Clark, 2001, 115-120) While new business units may become the principal vehicles for growth, the existing core business can also be redefined from within. New capabilities cannot only alter how the original business is conducted, but can alter the nature of the business itself. British Telecoms business focus a decade ago was voice transmission (Fraser, Shobrys & Kruse, 2003, 10-13); today it has a much broader scope of activities and services. Not all companies choose to spawn new businesses (Johnson and Clark, 2001, 115-120). New information processing capabilities can be viewed as central to the success of a traditional business and treated as a proprietary asset to be kept closely guarded in the inner sanctum of the enterprise. Yet even in such cases, those new core competencies will drive redefinition and transformation of the traditional business from within. In this way, successful customer interaction efforts ultimately lead to business transformation. (Slack, 2001, 1100-1121) â€Å"Quality management approaches can be categorized broadly into three stages according to the evolution of management control. Management can implement control before an activity commences, while the activity occurs, or after the activity has been completed.† (Hsieh, Chang & Lu, 2000, 191–201) For example, British Telecom might have chosen to address its directory services crisis with a limited solution that automated operator database access and audio response--the type