Barry Bonds’ record-breaking 762nd home run cost the San Francisco Giants hundreds of thousands of dollars. On an absolute financial basis, the 2007 game was a resounding success. The stadium was packed; memorabilia sold like hotcakes. Yet amid the thunderous applause of 40,000-plus fans, one man was fixated on the opportunity cost of this historic event.
Earlier this year I wrote an article for the Globe outlining the top reasons for companies to have a Chief Customer Officer. Without repeating all the details, the basic premise was that in the era of customer centricity companies need a senior executive that owns the end to end customer experience. This executive needs to be empowered to make decisions across what today are individual silos: marketing, sales, operations, human resources, etc.; if it impacts the customer, the CCO needs to be accountable for it.
In theory, big data enables organizations to make better decisions, improve productivity and build better product offerings. However, many executives are confused by the term and few organizations are equipped to work with it properly.
