Networked, collaborative, cross-functional: The Touchpoint Manager

Touchpoint managers help the company focus on the customer. BY ANNE M. SCHÜLLER*Actually, all areas of a company should focus on the well-being of the customer. But hierarchies, silo thinking, departmental egoism, personal self-interest and the struggle for dominance in terms of power, influence, budgets and resources largely prevent this. This dilemma, coupled with an antiquated understanding of leadership, are the biggest braking blocks on the way to our new business world.Companies are trapped in their own systems. And they will fail not because of the market, but because of their structures. That's why innovations are urgently needed first inside, in the company's internal interaction. Networking and collaboration are the central keys to achieving this goal. A touchpoint manager will be very helpful here. He can become the key driver of a company-wide cultural change.Core tasks of the touchpoint managerThe core task of the touchpoint manager is to enable one hundred percent customer focus at the company's external touchpoints, i.e. the points of contact between products, services, employees and customers. This is organized on a cross-departmental basis. The task set has both strategic and operational components.Overall, the aim is to transform the entire company into a networked, customer-oriented organization. To achieve this, the often uncoordinated customer-related uncontrolled growth that has spread throughout the individual departments must first be sifted through and then quickly eliminated. Because where there are weeds, beautiful plants cannot grow. The next step is to develop and implement synchronized, permanently customer-centric, reliable and profitable value creation processes.Advocate for customer interestsA touchpoint manager should be the first and top point of contact when it comes to customers. He is very familiar with customer-relevant developments outside and inside the company. He is the one who acts internally as the customer's advocate. He always takes their perspective, and that is accepted, even if it is sometimes uncomfortable. And he knows that if you want to walk long distances, you need patient money.When it comes to customer-related decisions, he has the first and the last word. And he has the right of veto. He puts his heart and soul into customer interests and coordinates all customer concerns. In this way, he also ensures that the unproductive, self-centered silo thinking between departments, at least as far as the customer perspective is concerned, finally comes to an end.With backing from the bossA touchpoint manager is the hub and pivot for all the touchpoints he represents. He is therefore not a marginal figure, but is at the heart of the company. Since every department, regardless of its core task, is also involved in customer issues, the touchpoint manager works cross-functionally with everyone closely and on an equal footing. He needs the absolute backing of the management, since his path is bumpy and he does not always make only friends. After all, anyone who acts as the customer's stakeholder is bound to uncover grievances. His internal ambassadors are in middle management. Above all, he has to win them over to his task. With their help and the ongoing involvement of all employees, he can set about the necessary redesign of a sustainable offline-online-mobile-touchpoint mix.Touchpoint Manager in practiceNow the exciting question: Do touchpoint managers already exist? The answer is yes, a few already do. One of them is Katharina Büeler. She has been in charge of touchpoint management at Basler Versicherungen since 2010, together with five employees, and is a member of the management team. Baloise, the fourth-largest insurance company in Switzerland, has 9000 employees across Europe, 3500 of whom work at the headquarters in Basel. "We deliberately wanted to break down hierarchies and silo thinking," says the pioneer, who herself worked in sales for 25 years and has suffered many a bad experience with her customers. The starting point of her approach was the question, "What do we want customers to say about us?" Subsequently, tools and methods were built and introduced to bring the customer lens into the company, bring about a culture change and initiate a systematic touchpoint redesign.The bookOutdated management fashions and antiquated leadership methods must quickly be jettisoned. Every touchpoint, i.e., points of interaction between employees and managers in an organization, needs to be put to the test. People specialists are needed. And HR managers need to learn how to sell. Digital transformation, new work models and the influx of digital natives leave companies no other choice. In her new book, "Das Touchpoint-Unternehmen - Mitarbeiterführung in unserer neuen Businesswelt," business coach and bestselling author Anne M. Schüller presents the necessary means, ways and instruments in a comprehensive, cheerful and practice-oriented manner that can be used to master the new world of work.Das Touchpoint-UnternehmenMitarbeiterführung in unserer neuen BusinessweltGabal, March 2014, 368 p., 29.90 EuroISBN: 978-3-86936-550-3www.touchpoint-management.de------------------------*Anne M. Schüller is a management thinker, keynote speaker, business coach and multiple bestselling author. With a degree in business administration, she is considered Europe's leading expert on touchpoint management and customer-focused business management. She is one of the most sought-after speakers in the German-speaking world. She holds lectures and workshops on the subject. She is a guest lecturer at several universities. Her clientele includes the elite of the business world. As of now, her Touchpoint Institute also trains certified Touchpoint Managers.