Customer Expectations in IT Outsourcing

In today’s market, customer expectations are frequently discussed. Everyone talks about them, and everyone claims their company takes care of them. The awareness is evident, but there are many customer expectation misunderstandings due to:

  • No formal, defined process for customer expectations management (CEM)
  • No industry standards or best practices defined for CEM
  • No classification for unique customer expectation sub-topics (CRM, issue/feedback tracking, partnership development, CSAT, customer service, etc.)
  • No customer expectations management specialization, (e.g. CEM for IT service providers, CEM for manufacturers, etc.)

Although each industry has its own unique challenges, there are some general rules you can follow for successful customer expectation management. First let’s define expectation.

What Are Customer Expectations?

Expectations are your customer’s vision of a future state, result or action. These are usually unstated, but are critical to success. Expectations can fall into two categories:

  1. A primary measure of success
  2. Drive all of your client's actions and decisions

Typically, your customers are satisfied when you come very close to their expectations. This can apply to both processes and results. In fact, customers will have expectations about both, and expectations have different sources.

Key Customer Expectation Sources

Personal and Company Needs

People differ in their needs and motives. What is important for one is irrelevant for the other. For example, for some clients it is very important to be constantly informed by the project manager (PM) about status changes, while others will find this unimportant.

Previous Experience

First-time car buyers may have only one expectation – the car will drive. Over time, however, those expectations grow into new expectations regarding comfort, security and many other things. With experience, customer demands for professional competency and its value grow.

References

Personal references or referrals about products/services unfamiliar to the customer are important. Buyers are influenced by those they know, as well as strangers.

Promises made by the company

Many feature, pricing, service level and support promises are made during marketing campaigns and pre-sales phases. Numerous expectations are formed during these times. Messaging in advertisements and web-site/internet resources can also influence what clients expect of you.