I get so sick and tired of hearing clients refer to coworkers as “customers”. It usually arises when talking about process improvements. Typically the client says he or she needs to understand how their “customers” define value so that they can change their processes to provide greater value. The “customer” is the coworker that is on the receiving end of the process – not the end user who buys the product or service. This coworker is not the “customer” nor is he or she the “internal customer”.
Splitting hairs? Not really. The idea that there are “internal customers” leads to a seductive attitude that drives much process improvement. The so-called “internal customer” is easy to talk to, understand, lives in a highly controlled environment, is less costly to access and, in short, represents an easy target. It is a concept that has evolved making it easier for lean and six sigma gurus to extoll the need for the voice of the customer (VOC) in driving process improvements. Instead of surveying, or conducting focus groups with real customers, it is now possible to redesign processes and value streams in response to the needs of “internal customers”. The CTQs associated with internal custmers are likely to be significantly different from the CTQs of real customers. Do the resultant improvements actually help the organization’s competitive value proposition or do they simply make another employee’s work easier, reduce the number of employees, or cut costs? Over time people are deluded into thinking that they are using the VOC to drive process improvements when they are actually ignoring it. The organization eventually institutionalizes the wrong notions regarding customers and becomes even more internally focused than ever.
If there is no line of sight between the internal process and the end user, be careful. It is entirely possible that process changes do not improve the organization’s competitive value proposition and may, in fact, do harm to it.
