Know Your Client

Revisiting An Old Truth In A New Technology Renaissance

Jon Tyson on Unsplash

I want everyone to wear what they want and mix it in their own way. That, to me, is what is modern — Karl Lagerfeld

Thinking about the bottom line first is not a good long term strategy. In fact, it is not a strategy at all. A good strategy begins with how well a business knows its clients. To a large extent, it is about looking around and finding out how a business can make people’s lives easier and better. For example, great economists not only talk to influential people but also to crowds of ordinary people on the ground to form an opinion on an economy. Similarly, a business that stops listening to the voices on the ground soon loses its grip on reality.

Secondly, a business is about creating a fundamentally beautiful experience for clients even if the experience involves something as mundane as using a phone. The iPhone is fundamentally a phone which has morphed into a computer. A phone call using Siri is just a simple and natural way of ‘making a call’. Another example is that of the furniture giant IKEA. IKEA is easily associated with economy and function. However, it also has a partnership with a prominent designer — Ilse Crawford, the designer of the SINNERLIG collection. That’s because even simple pieces of furniture can be made really aesthetic. A product or service needs to be wrapped in a dream.

Thirdly, technology has changed our lives but it is a medium through which a product or service is delivered to a customer. We use Google to search, Facebook to connect and Amazon to order. These things were more physical before now they are ‘phygital’. Even though we use Facebook to connect, it is not a substitute for meeting over a dinner. It just enhances our ability to connect further. Many of us search for good restaurants on Yelp!. However, given a choice, we love to consult our friends who have a similar taste in food. Even then, there is no guarantee that the restaurant turns out to be of our liking.

Technology doesn’t change the fundamental nature of business. It only changes the last mile experience for a client. The key to designing this experience is how well a business knows its clients. This story explains…