Comments on: Customer or Client? http://www.dancingmango.com/blog/2008/11/10/customer-or-client/ For more than a decade Marc has been a passionate advocate of placing the customer at the heart of business, working with clients in finance, retail, government and entertainment sectors, helping them craft compelling cross channel customer experiences. Marc champions lean and agile approaches for making customer driven innovation happen. He brings design thinking and creativity to clients, engaging across the organisation with a focus on delivery as well as ideas. He is currently writing a book on Agile Experience Design to be published this Autumn. Sun, 25 Sep 2011 23:33:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: Laughing John http://www.dancingmango.com/blog/2008/11/10/customer-or-client/comment-page-1/#comment-97285 Laughing John Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:19:54 +0000 http://www.dancingmango.com/blog/?p=407#comment-97285 I agree entirely. In a large enterprise the problem is not just in a name however. Accounts departments often internally charge IT out to "the business" which leaves the IT department no time given to proactive development because of the cost structure. Short accounting periods also cause problems - it's very hard to have a 5 or 10 year vision when the accounting drivers and budget are yearly. Far too often I have seen the "them and us" culture. Both the terminology and the separation for accounting purposes (wrongly) promote this. In fact even the physical separation of an "IT department" can often be a bad thing. The best places I've worked there were teams made up of a variety of business and IT staff (i.e. the right people for the job) so the client and the IT were effectively one and the same. We're all "the business", it's just that different people use different tools to develop it ... I agree entirely. In a large enterprise the problem is not just in a name however.

Accounts departments often internally charge IT out to “the business” which leaves the IT department no time given to proactive development because of the cost structure.

Short accounting periods also cause problems – it’s very hard to have a 5 or 10 year vision when the accounting drivers and budget are yearly.

Far too often I have seen the “them and us” culture. Both the terminology and the separation for accounting purposes (wrongly) promote this.

In fact even the physical separation of an “IT department” can often be a bad thing. The best places I’ve worked there were teams made up of a variety of business and IT staff (i.e. the right people for the job) so the client and the IT were effectively one and the same.

We’re all “the business”, it’s just that different people use different tools to develop it …

]]> By: Agile: The Client/User dilemma at Mark Needham http://www.dancingmango.com/blog/2008/11/10/customer-or-client/comment-page-1/#comment-97235 Agile: The Client/User dilemma at Mark Needham Tue, 11 Nov 2008 21:27:35 +0000 http://www.dancingmango.com/blog/?p=407#comment-97235 [...] reading Marc's post about the Customer or Client naming dilemma I was reminded of another situation I have noticed in software development - the [...] [...] reading Marc’s post about the Customer or Client naming dilemma I was reminded of another situation I have noticed in software development – the [...]

]]> By: Peter Gillard-Moss http://www.dancingmango.com/blog/2008/11/10/customer-or-client/comment-page-1/#comment-97048 Peter Gillard-Moss Mon, 10 Nov 2008 10:14:00 +0000 http://www.dancingmango.com/blog/?p=407#comment-97048 I think the use of "customer" comes from a wider epidemic where marketing has saught to reduce everything to a transactional relationship. For example on the trains we are referred to as Customers and no longer Passengers (try googling "passengers not customers" for general reaction to this). Another issue I have though is the phrase "The Business" as if it is some seperate sentient entity which exists beyond the physical world, with a twist of omnipresence and infallability, untouchable by us mere mortals and definately something which should not be questioned. If we aren't the business who is? All the while IT refer to "us" and "The Business" we have a problem. I think the use of “customer” comes from a wider epidemic where marketing has saught to reduce everything to a transactional relationship. For example on the trains we are referred to as Customers and no longer Passengers (try googling “passengers not customers” for general reaction to this).

Another issue I have though is the phrase “The Business” as if it is some seperate sentient entity which exists beyond the physical world, with a twist of omnipresence and infallability, untouchable by us mere mortals and definately something which should not be questioned. If we aren’t the business who is? All the while IT refer to “us” and “The Business” we have a problem.

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