Spend a few hours picking the brain of virtually any senior executive today and I can almost guarantee two of the topics that will come up: simplification and customer focus. What you are far less likely to hear, however, is the inherent synchronicity linking these two concepts.

To most executives, simplification is specific to an internal activity practiced by a project team. Conversely, customer focus is deemed an externally focused activity and usually the domain of marketing or sales. Why the missing link between these two all-important practices? From my experience, it’s usually a reflection of the little time senior executives spend with their customers and, by extension, the value they put on such efforts.

The point being, this is a significant area of value creation that most companies are ignoring.

Ask most customers or suppliers for their perception of your company, for their insights into how easy you are to engage or to do business with, and the insights you receive will invariably be more useful and actionable than any internal assessment or outside consulting […]