Respondents rank the top five constraints their companies are facing in achieving strategic business objectives as:

• Cost of doing business 71%
• Lack of relevant skills / talent 63%
• Rising competition 61%
• Currency volatility 53%
• Labour unrest 45%

The top five strategic supply chain objectives ranked by respondents are:

• Improving services levels to customers 78%
• Lowering procurement costs and reducing order lead times 59%
• Improving the flow of business intelligence 64%
• Integration of technology 57%
• Improving visibility in the supply chain 53%

The top five constraints to achieving strategic supply chain objectives as viewed by respondents are:

• Reactive versus proactive approach 69%
• Internal and external silo-based mentality 61%
• Cost of transport 55%
• Availability of supply chain skills 53%
• Labour unrest 38%

The shift from customer service to customer centricity that is evident from survey responses clearly shows that the understanding of customer centricity as a concept in South Africa goes far deeper than simply offering good service. However, although companies agree that customer centricity has huge financial gains for any business, there is a perception that it is costly and time consuming to perfect.

In this regard, the percentage of respondents that agreed with the following statements are:

• Customer centric companies enjoy better returns than those which are not 90%
• The human relationship with the customer is far more important than processes and systems - 71%
• Customer centricity requires lengthy time and investment 66%
• It is customers who dictate the pace of change, not organisations 61%
• The gains from being more customer centric are too marginal in competitive industries 15%
• Most South African companies are very customer centric 11%

Respondents’ views on what they believed to be the top three key aspects driving companies to become more customer-centric are:

• Greater customer expectations 63%
• Increase in competition 59%
• Improved communication technologies and use of social media 52%
• Increase in technology/internet usage 52%
• Speed of change/innovation 52%
• Belief that customer centricity drives growth 48%

While respondents show a deep understanding of customer centricity and the value that it can create for a company, survey responses show a big disconnect between theory and reality.

The five top ranked constraints to South African companies achieving customer centricity in the businesses as seen by respondents are:

• The lack of appropriate skills 49%
• Lack of alignment within business functions 48%
• No structure or plan to innovate or embrace continuous change 44%
• The perceived cost of being customer-centric 29%
• Inability to deal with increasing complexity 23%

The majority of respondents indicated the importance of supply chains in achieving customer centricity, which shows a high-level understanding of the strategic role supply chains play in driving business strategy.

• High impact 40%
• Very high impact 34%
• Medium impact 22%
• Very low impact 3%

When it comes to respondents perception towards the supply chain and customer centricity, the level of agreement with the points below is reflected in the percentages below:

• Customer Centricity cannot be achieved without a supply chain strategy focused on delivering customer value 92%

• The supply chain function is seen too often as a way of managing logistics rather than being core to customer strategy 88%

• Supply chains are enhancing customer Centricity 77%

 

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