Source: Marek Piwnicki / Unsplash
Trust has never been harder to earn or easier to lose than it is today. As much a commodity as the services that an organization provides, trust is the foundation on which the organization should be building its future. It’s a culture of trust that ensures employees remain focused, productive and committed; and it is trust that must become the organization’s most important metric of success. Brands operate as an identifier for the customer and are associated with a certain level of quality, risk, and value. If a brand’s perceptions are positive, this creates trust that resonates throughout engagements between customer and company.
This is particularly relevant when it comes to business-to-business (B2B) engagements within the services industry. Unlike tangible products that have weight, taste and sensation, services are harder to quantify. This makes it essential for any service-based organization to build relationships with customers based on reliability and trust.
A few years ago whilst writing a paper on brand building in the B2B industry, I investigated the value of trust. The most important areas for organizations to focus proved to be: risk reduction, social visibility, competitive differentiation, service complexity reduction and value for money. By prioritizing these areas, organizations can strengthen not just their relationships but their reputation.
Relationships and reputation
Customers need to trust in the information they receive from service providers in order to feel they are getting a fair exchange of value.
Based on my research on trust which found that reducing perceived risk is a key driver for selecting a partner in the services industry, the question that every service-based organization should be asking is: what can we do to ensure the information and services we deliver are perceived in the right way by our customers?
The role that brand perceptions play in establishing trust should not be underestimated.
One of the most important metrics of trust today is an organization’s image: the role that brand perceptions play in establishing trust should not be underestimated. This is particularly relevant in the consulting industry where the services provided are complex, and where technology implementations run the risk of failure or limited return on investment. But when an organization is trusted, customers believe in its ability to manage complexity.
Another increasingly important element of today’s business relationships is social visibility. Companies that have an established reputation and a proven track record, along with ethical and environmental commitments, are going to start this journey on the right foot, and several feet ahead of the competition. In practice, this means the first steps any company should be taking are to:
- Clearly define policies around environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues;
- Embed transparency into engagements across company and customer;
- Ensure equally well-defined policies around business practices and ethics.
In a recent analysis of ESG and its implications for brands and perceptions, the McKinsey Global Survey found that companies getting significant value from their sustainability programs are those that follow certain types of management practices: those that are more inclined towards transparency, value creation and customer engagement.
So, I believe that to ensure services are perceived in the right way by customers, businesses must commit to ethical and transparent processes – shaping a company that’s trustworthy across every layer, employee and engagement.
Trust-building actions
What is required to really shape trust? Brand ethics and a commitment to ESG play a significant role, but there are additional steps the organization can take to really embed this trust.
Agile working models are key, allowing for organizations to engage in partnerships more effectively, building on a foundation of collaboration that puts the customer’s business at the center of decision-making. This allows for the relationship between the service provider and the customer to evolve intelligently – to deftly shift service provision and approaches to meet the changing needs of the customer’s business. Most companies have a vision of this level of collaboration, but many have no clear roadmap.
From my perspective, the companies that embed trust into every aspect of customer engagement – through honesty, transparency and collaboration – will lead the way.
In the past, targets were clear and roadmaps were easily defined based on business plans and waterfall charts. But this is not the case today, in a constantly shifting landscape. The future is hazy and complex. This makes trust incredibly relevant right now – customers have to trust in what the company delivers. They have to trust that companies mean it when they say ‘we’re all in the same boat’.
Companies that recognize the value of this, that share in the wins and the failures, are the gamechangers. From my perspective, the companies that embed trust into every aspect of customer engagement – through honesty, transparency and collaboration – will lead the way.
I believe that organizations need to take a more holistic approach to trustworthiness. That they focus not just on perception, but on sustainability and ESG commitments, on employee wellbeing, and retaining its relevance in a competitive and innovative space.
The trust connection
At NTT DATA, we strive to become a service partner, rather than a service provider, for our customers – providing consulting services and engagements that focus on collaboration and sustainability. This goes beyond just the promise made to the customer, but how internal employee values are aligned with the ideals of trust, innovation and shared responsibility.
Failure happens. But with the right partner, it should not define the end of trust. Instead, failure should become a benchmark for improvement and transformation.
Within the service industry, built on the shoulders of employees and smart people, failure happens. But with the right partner, it should not define the end of trust. Instead, failure should become a benchmark for improvement and transformation. Having clearly defined metrics around managing failure, transformation approaches, and ensuring transparency is the basis.
While trust initially seems a relatively hard-to-grasp criteria for business success, companies can take very clear actions in their target operating model. Trust then becomes inherent. It comes as standard: as much a part of the service delivery as the technology.
