CIO Amy Evins and her team have moved away from talking about technology as something that supports the products the company sells to instead focusing on IT that creates experiences customers want.
“Even just five years ago, when CIOs talked strategy, it was about growth, it was very product driven. The customer was kind of talked about, but the customer was not in the forefront,” she says. “But there has been a huge pivot over the past two years, because now the customer is at the center, and at the center all the time.”
That customer-centric focus requires both a different mindset and a different way of working, says Evins, CIO of LPL Financial.
Evins sits on two customer-focused councils within her company so she can gain insights into what customers want. Her IT department has adopted agile methodologies, which bring customer input into the software development process. And she and her staff are using new metrics, such as Net Promotor Scores, to determine whether they’re meeting customer expectations.
“We can’t lose sight of that customer. We’ve got to make sure we keep customers in the center so we’re able to deliver the right solutions,” Evins says.
