The Client Centric Index is the world’s first diagnostic test to enable an organisation to transform its performance and profitability by aligning what it does more closely to its clients.

On this page you can read about the methodology used to create the Client Centric approach and about the team that designed and develop the Index and deliver its programmes.

The Client Centric Index – at a glance

The Client Centric Index is a self-completion diagnostic test. It helps you take the first step towards the transformation of the performance and profitability of your firm by aligning its capabilities, structure and culture more closely to its clients and markets.

• It comprises 12 questions.
• It takes 5 minutes to complete online.
• It enables you to analyse 6 drivers of Client Centric Profitability for your organisation.
• It compares your business against a benchmark of similar Services businesses.
• It is designed to help executives in the Financial Services, Professional Services and Business Services sectors.

Click here to take the test

The Client Centric Index has additional benefits:

• It links your CCI score to a detailed diagnosis of the Client Centric strengths and weakness of your organisation.
• It suggests practical steps and gives you a routemap to transform your business with a Client Centric approach.
• It automatically generates a pdf document of your CCI results for you to export and share with colleagues.
• It is smart phone and tablet compatible. You and your colleagues can complete it anytime, anywhere.
• It has an Interactive Benchmarking feature which compares your CCI score in real-time against your competitor set.
• You can revisit your CCI scores any time and re-take the test to track your firm's progress towards client centricity.

The Research behind the Client Centric Index

In 2009, at the height of the global banking crisis, a team of analysts began the first phase of a ground-breaking research project. It led to the creation of a new approach to strategy in Services sectors.

In a series of unattributed interviews the C-suite and senior executives of leading Financial, Professional and Business Services firms, were asked how they formulated and executed strategy before and during the Banking Crisis and the economic turbulence which followed.

The conclusion of the research was clear. Many leading businesses had failed to put their clients at the heart of their business. Their management teams identified this as the single most important strategic mistake – and the root cause of almost all subsequent failures in their business and across their sector.

More importantly, executives identified ‘client focus’ as the path to recovery for their business. The alignment of the business to address the needs of its customers and clients, is seen by many as the way to repair the business model, to re-establish growth and to restore confidence and trust. This conclusion is now universally shared by regulators, political leaders and other stakeholders.

It’s an approach which we began to call ‘Client Centric’ strategy.

Subsequent analysis by our team established the link between the performance and profitability of leading players and the degree of their client focus - or Client Centricity - over the last 5 years.

And we went on to identify that high-performing Services businesses align six elements: (1) their Strategy (2) Structure & Operations (3) Client Relationship Management (4) their Service and Product offerings (5) the Remuneration and Culture of their people, and (6) their Brand and Communications. We call these, the ‘6 drivers of Client Centric Profitability’ for an organisation.

Many businesses are convinced of the need to follow a Client Centric approach to Strategy. What they are looking for is a realistic plan with the clear steps required to transform their organization to become Client Centric.

The Client Centric Index was developed to help firms identify which aspects of their business they should address first.

The Client Centric Index is the methodology used during the first assessment stage of a typical Client Centric programme. It is designed to assess the current level of Client Centricity in an organisation, to benchmark that against a database of the leading advisory companies and to identify what is holding the organisation back from re-engaging with clients.

Click here to take the test or contact us with your questions on contact@gullandpadfield.com

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