AREHOLDERS

&
RISK REDUCTION
D RESOURCES
PRINCIPLE 1: CSR & GOOD GOVERNANCE ADDING VALUES TO

when supported by sound governance systems and independent

research

BUSINESS
Five Golden Rules

3. Limited resources: the planet has finite resources but a growing

population; without ethics, those resources are replete for purely
individual gain at huge cost both to current and future generations.

1. THE IMPORTANCE OF BUSINESS ETHICS

LONG TERM GROWTH

EMPLOYEE

Working as an ethical business has many benefits, not least of

which is the ability to attract and keep investors, employees and
customers. Knowing that the company they deal with has stated their
morals and made a promise to work in an ethical and responsible
manner allows investors peace of mind that their money is being used
in a way that aligns with their own moral standing. When working for a
company with strong Business Ethics, employees are comfortable in the
knowledge that they are not by their own action or inaction allowing
unethical practices to continue. Customers are at ease buying products
or services from a company they know to source their materials and
labor in an ethical and responsible way.

OTHERS

2. TOWARDS A COMMON GOAL - ALIGN BUSINESS GOALS

CUSTOMERS
There are two main dangers in failing to align business goals: Lack of a
common, clear goal and strategic direction. This leads at best to

GOVERNMENT
inefficiencies and at worst business failure as decisions become increasingly
SUPPLIERS
difficult, especially in reacting to competitive pressure.

There are very few companies that have a single goal that they hope
to attain for the duration of their business. The reality is that goals and
objectives at the top of the executive management chain can very much differ
from those in different departments throughout the organization. That often
means that a company can be pulled in several different directions as
opposed to having all employees on the same page, working towards a
common goal. This is where the aligning of goals and objectives becomes
somewhat critical so that the organization does not become fractured.

BUSINESS ETHICS
1. Long-term growth: sustainability comes from an ethical longterm vision which takes into account all stakeholders . Smaller but
sustainable profits long-term must be better than higher but riskier
short-lived profits.
2. Cost and risk reduction: companies which recognize the
importance of business ethics will need to spend less protecting
themselves from internal and external behavioral risks, especially

BUSINESS

3. THE IMPORTANCE OF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

Strategic management is an oft-used and sometimes ill-understood
concept in business. It helps to consider the two words separately first.
Strategies are the initiatives a company takes to maximize its resources and
to grow its business. This might involve financial planning, human resources
management or focusing on a mission statement. Management is the process
of operating the business on a day-to-day basis and planning for future
success. When you put the two words together, strategic management is
about driving the company's growth through effective management
techniques focused on goal-setting.

Involving generating options - for example we looked at

fund managers as a possible angle, as well as the area of NonExecutive Directors/the Senior Independent Director - and making a
choice. This stage usually used the data gathered in the first three
steps.
5. IMPLEMENTING THE STRATEGY
6. SET UP MONITORING AND REPORTING
Management should monitor the progress of the
implemented strategy. Significant issues must be documented and
revise as early as possible.

STEPS:
1. ANALYZING
RESOURCES

ALL

OUR

INTERNAL

AND

EXTERNAL

ALTERNATIVE METHOD
CSR Management: Plan, Do, Check, Act method

The books, articles, seminar and workshop materials, etc,

that we have written over the years, plus contacts, suitable locations,
etc.
2. ANALYZING OUR EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT
The marketplace for corporate governance services, keyword
research to identify what people search for (and how many) corporate
governance and related terms. It also includes standards and regulatory
bodies governing the business.
3. ANALYZING STAKEHOLDER VIEWS
While very limited at this stage, this included gauging the views of
actual and prospective partners to ensure our suggested approach would
be well received (and indeed we made a few changes as a result to ensure
buy-in and co-operation with our plans.

4. ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVES FOR GOOD CORPORATE

GOVERNACE

4. FORMULATING A STRATEGY
Organizational effectiveness should not be seen as a goal in
itself but rather the means to an end - achieving your goals. Since our

definition of corporate governance is in essence about good

management, it follows that to achieve your goals, through the
implementation of an ongoing strategic management process,
requires an appropriate and effective organization.

STYLE
STRATEGIC PLANNING SHAPE
FINANCIAL CONTROL
FUNCTIONAL
STRATEGIC CONTROL
MULTI DIVISIONAL
MATRIX

Matrix organization -is an attempt to combine the advantages of the

pure functional structure and the product organizational structure.
This form is identically suited for companies, such as construction,
that are project-driven. The figure below shows a typical Matrix
organization.

2 KEY ELEMENTS

Shape:
Functional organizations -contain specialized units that report to a
single authority, usually called top management. Referred to as
functional
units
or
areas,
these
specialized
units
contain personnel with various but related skills grouped by
similarities.
STYLE:
Strategic planning-is an organization's process of defining
its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its
resources to pursue this strategy. It may also extend to control
mechanisms for guiding the implementation of the strategy.
Multi-divisional form -refers to an organizational structure by
which the firm is separated into several semi autonomous units
which are guided and controlled by (financial) targets from the
center.

Financial control-refers to facts that show whether or not the

business has the right to control the economic aspects of the worker's
job. Where the centre sees itself as a shareholder or banker for the
divisions with little desire to get involved in defining their individual
product/market strategies.
Strategic control- is a term used to describe the process used by
organizations to control the formation and execution of strategic
plans; it is a specialized form of management control, and differs
from other forms of management control (in particular from
operational control) in respects of its need to handle uncertainty and
ambiguity at various points in the control process.

1. Establish a governance structure

The Board of Directors represents the membership of the
organization. The board sets in place policies, procedures, values and longterm planning to meet the mission of the organization. The board does this
through a governance structure or model. The structure a board decides to
implement will dictate not only the policies of the organization but also such
things as the relationship between staff and the board, and the role and use of
committees.
5. The Importance of Corporate Communication
Corporate communications serve several audiences and purposes
external to the organization. Companies need to communicate effectively to
the media, so they engage public or media relations professionals. If
organizations need to liaise with government agencies or if they lobby, they
need government relations experts. Public companies need to employ
investor relations specialists. Some companies may have specific individuals
to handle relations in the community, such as charitable or volunteer works.

2. Identify and prioritize key issues

As the team in charge of CSR management, start by identifying the
CSR issues that are most relevant and material for your company and
your stakeholders. This step is crucial in focusing efforts and canalizing
resources to those risks and opportunities that matter most.
KEY ISSUES IN CSR:

How to Put CSR into Practice?

Labor rights:
child labor
forced labor
right to organize
safety and health
Environmental conditions

water & air emissions

climate change
Human rights
cooperation with paramilitary forces
complicity in extra-judicial killings
Poverty Alleviation
job creation
public revenues

skills and technology

3. Engage with stakeholders

4.

5.

6.

7.

Engaging stakeholders involves establishing good lines of

communication between a company and its various stakeholders and
then maintaining a constructive relationship with them. Through this
relationship, stakeholders can have their say and the company can
listen and respond.
Review mission, vision and strategy
Review your mission, vision and strategy to incorporate key
CSR issues in your business strategy and priorities. Focus both on
your core business activities as well as supporting activities. For
example, consider offering innovative, environmentally-friendly
products and services while striving for efficiency in production.
Implement strategy
Implementing strategy has two dimensions, technical and
personal. Technical implementation implies embedding CSR into
your day-to-day activities through policies and procedures.
Implementation at the personal level entails raising awareness among
your employees and developing capacity to put policies and
procedures into practice.
Review and evaluate
Reviewing, evaluating and re-adjusting are key steps of a
successful CSR management system. You can review both existing
processes as well as your CSR performance towards stated targets.
Establish internal and external communication
Communicating progress, both internally and externally, has
many advantages. Internally it helps you create enthusiasm among

the employees whereas externally it assists you in retaining your

social license to operate and improve your image
PUTTING PRINCIPLES INTO PRACTICE
(Ancon Company)
HEALTH & SAFETY
Taking responsibility
At Ancon, safety is everyones responsibility and its our top priority.
Nothing is more important to us than safeguarding the health and wellbeing
of our people at work. In practice, that means we all look out for each other.
We engage all employees in taking responsibility for their own and their
colleagues wellbeing, encouraging them to suggest improvements to
manufacturing processes or work procedures that could further improve
safety. We believe that a clean and tidy workplace is a safe workplace, so all
Ancon factories are maintained to the highest standards of housekeeping.
International standards of safety
Having achieved ISO9001 and ISO14001, our UK manufacturing operations
are working towards the internationally recognised OHSAS 18001 health and
safety standard. We have risk assessments in place for all areas of our work,
and our operations are fully compliant with far-reaching Health & Safety
legislation to protect our workforce. We have thorough near-miss and
incident reporting procedures, as well as policies in place for hazard
identification, risk control, staff training, emergency response and
performance monitoring. In addition to meeting basic regulatory standards,
our operations comply with the Ancon Groups own strict standards, which
are more specific and even more stringent than the statutory requirements.
We pride ourselves on going beyond the demands of legislation to ensure that
Ancon provides a safe, healthy, caring environment in which to work.
Reducing incident rates
We believe a single accident is one accident too many. Thats why we have a
no-compromise philosophy on working safely. Were proud of our
consistently low incident rates, but we are constantly striving to improve this
performance. We wont be satisfied until we achieve our goal of zero
accidents across our operations
Health and safety policy

The Groups commitment to providing a healthy and safe workplace for

employees and contractors, and for taking care of customers and visitors, is
set out in our Health and Safety Policy. This document also outlines our
commitment to training, instruction and supervision, enabling our people to
perform their work safely and efficiently. Each of our sites has a dedicated
Health and Safety Committee, which meets regularly. Representatives from
both office and factory operations sit on these committees, which are tasked
with addressing safety issues as they arise and communicating new initiatives
and practices across the workforce.
PRODUCTS AND PROCESSES
Pioneering products improving efficiency and reducing waste in
construction
Ancon designs and manufactures steel fixings, support systems and other
essential components for the masonry and concrete construction industries,
worldwide. Our products are used in a wide range of applications including
houses, schools, hospitals and infrastructure. In fact, they have been used on
some of the most prestigious projects in recent years including London St
Pancras Station, the Brisbane North-South Bypass Tunnel in Australia and
The Palm, Dubai. Ancon products facilitate more efficient, less wasteful
construction processes by optimising the use of materials and reducing onsite man hours.
Efficient processes continuous improvement
Operational Excellence is the driving force behind the efficiency and ongoing
improvement of our processes. Encompassing the latest lean manufacturing
and Six Sigma principles, our operational excellence programme helps us to
continuously improve the quality of our products and reduce waste, operating
costs and delivery lead times. The everyday implementation of process
improvement tools and continuous improvement methods means Ancon is
well positioned for sustained growth, keeping us at the forefront of the steel
fixings industry and minimising our environmental impact. It ensures that our
products and our business continue to rise to the challenges posed by the
ever-changing economic, environmental and social conditions in which we
operate.
MATERIALS AND SUPPLIERS
Enhancing the built environment for life
As well as delivering benefits at the construction stage, Ancon products go
on contributing to the efficiency and integrity of the built environment

throughout the life of the structure. For example, our MultiJoint system
protects against cracking and uneven settlement at joints in concrete floors,
caused by high frequency, wheeled traffic. Our product portfolio is
particularly well placed to support CO2 emission reduction strategies and
improve the energy efficiency of buildings. Our low thermal conductivity
wall ties, for example, minimise heat loss between the external and internal
leaves of cavity walls, while our Isolan balcony connectors create a thermal
break between the external balcony and the structural frame.
Supply chain management
Ancon purchases stainless and carbon steel direct from the steelmakers. Our
supply chain management ensures that all aspects of the production and
distribution of our raw materials are ethically sound. The majority of our
material is sourced within Europe, and our major European-based suppliers
hold ISO9001 and ISO14001 accreditations. To remain competitive and
ensure an uninterrupted supply of material, whatever the demand, we also
source materials from further afield. Representatives from Ancon recently
visited a mill in India to audit performance before adding it to our supplier
database in line with our responsible sourcing policy. We manage an efficient
supply chain by purchasing direct from the mill. Some of our products are
bespoke. This means each component is value engineered to suit each
project, reducing waste. We also manufacture standard products which are
stocked at distribution outlets. This enables our customers to source Ancon
products locally, helping to reduce the carbon footprint associated with
construction activities.
ENVIRONMENT ACTION
Sound environmental stewardship
Ancon is firmly committed to reducing the impact of our operations on the
environment. This commitment is manifested in our rigorous recycling
procedures, strict energy-efficiency schemes and effective wasteminimisation practices.
Energy and waste management
Ancons manufacturing processes have a relatively low environmental
impact we use electricity to power our machines and gas for heating, but
we are not an energy-intensive business. That doesnt mean we are
complacent about reducing our environmental impact.

PEOPLE
Putting people first
Caring for our communities is all about looking after our employees, being a
good neighbour to people living near our operations and supporting the wider
community in the areas where were based.
Engaging and empowering employees
Communication is key to engaging and empowering employees, and we keep
our people fully informed about company developments through regular
newsletters and briefings. Our employees personal and professional
development is supported by performance reviews and individual training
plans, including NVQs in subjects such as lean manufacturing for our
production staff. Were extremely proud of our high staff retention rates,
which are testament to the rewarding, supportive and friendly environment
we nurture in our workplaces. Almost a quarter of our people in the UK have
been with us for more than 15 years, and more than half have been with us
for more than six years. Such commitment is celebrated by our
Talent management
As well as developing our existing skills base, were keen to attract and
develop new talent. We offer apprenticeships to school leavers, in
conjunction with local training providers and colleges, which lead to
technical qualifications. Were proud of our track record of taking people
from our apprenticeship or training schemes and developing them through
the business over many years. In fact, our Operations Manager and Special
Projects Manager both started out with Ancon on youth training schemes
back in the 1980s. We value our employees opinions too. And we dont just
pay lip service to employee involvement. Our suggestion scheme welcomes
ideas for improvement from anyone in the business, and rewards people
whose suggestions are put into practice.
COMMUNITY
Championing local communities
Community involvement runs deep at Ancon. Whether were sponsoring a
charity event, hosting work experience students from local schools, donating
materials for construction projects in the voluntary sector or helping to
enhance our neighborhood for the benefit of local people, were proud to
play our part in building strong, cohesive communities.
Languages at work

Ancon has achieved Business Language Champion status for our work with
secondary school students in Yorkshire and Humberside. We host groups of
students to demonstrate the essential role that language skills play in todays
global business environment. Its part of a national Routes into Languages
initiative that aims to encourage language learning beyond secondary school.
Visiting students spend time with our multi-lingual employees who use their
language skills at work every day. Students are tasked with translating
documents and conversing in their second language, giving them a chance to
build confidence and practise their language skills in a real-world setting.
Preserving an icon
When severe gales damaged an iconic monument in Sheffield, Ancon was
quick to donate materials and technical support to help restore the historic
structure. The Cholera Monument, erected in 1834, is a slender 22-metre
high sandstone structure. Following the storm, which caused serious
structural damage, Ancon provided reinforcing bars, couplers and support
cleats to stabilise the monument and help preserve it for future generations.
Innovation for the Public Good: The Five Keys to Innovation
Leadership
Leaders need to create space for innovation in their organizations. This is no
mean feat. Creating a culture that embraces calculated risk-takingand that
tolerates some failure in order to drive learning and improvementrequires
strong leadership. You also need good leaders to precisely define success so
that innovation can be focused on achieving the necessary transformation
thats crucial when tackling complex social issues. Dedicated funding for
innovation
Designing programs or services that are genuinely innovative requires
ongoing investment. Much attention is given to the amount of money
invested in research and development, but thats just the first phase of
innovation. Funds must be available at every stage of the innovation cycle,
from R&D to design to prototyping to seeding growth capital for scaling.
Some social issues are often able to draw in private, venture, or philanthropic
investment to help trial new approaches.
Dedicated funding for innovation
Designing programs or services that are genuinely innovative requires
ongoing investment. Much attention is given to the amount of money
invested in research and development, but thats just the first phase of
innovation. Funds must be available at every stage of the innovation cycle,

from R&D to design to prototyping to seeding growth capital for scaling.

Some social issues are often able to draw in private, venture, or philanthropic
investment to help trial new approaches.
Permeability
Innovation centers in social policy are permeable. That is, they are open to
new ideas and ways of working. They embrace insights both from frontline
staff and from outsiders, including the end users of the provided goods or
services. And they encourage new systems, people, and technologies to
emerge through a range of providers.
Incentives, rewards, and responsiveness
Innovative organizations reward staff personally for good ideas, improved
performance, or systems design. Rewards can come through commendation,
recognition, or even a cash bonus. Innovation centers also incentivize new
work by ensuring that funding is not tied to activity or program compliance
but is instead linked to carefully defined outcomes. Examples of good
outcome measures in the social sphere are improved high school attainment,
sustained employment, or reduced recidivism. In the commercial world
consumers vote with their wallets, so ineffective or out-of-date products can
be rejected by the market. Likewise, innovative public-sector environments
use performance data and customer feedback to inform where funding flows.
Smart agencies are able to act quickly, ensuring that funding for
underperforming or unwanted programs is shifted rapidly to new more
promising approaches instead.
Innovation plans
It sounds simple, but the most innovative departments and companies have a
comprehensive plan to build a culture of innovation. They understand their
strengths and develop strategies to address their areas for development. They
invest in both incubating new ideas and in scaling the best ones. They work
with users and with latest technologies. And they both cultivate dedicated
innovation teams as well as ensuring their entire staff is prepared to support
continuous improvement and learning. As a result, theyre constantly
adapting. We believe agency leaders who want to promote innovation need to
focus on all five key ingredients. The next five parts of this series examine
each ingredient in detail, drawing on examples from around the globe. Next
weeks installment looks at the importance of strong leadership. This is the
latest installment of a weekly column on government innovation produced by
CAPs Doing What Works team in partnership with the Bellwether Education

Partners and the Young Foundation, as part of the Innovation for the Public
Good series supported by the Rockefeller Foundation.

Managing for Innovation

Even under the best of circumstances, staying competitive today is more
difficult than ever before. Why? Because the conditions that determine
competitive advantages change at an unparalleled speed. Todays hot
product is tomorrows flop; the secure, stable market of yesterday is racked
by technological advances and increased competition. Examples of the riseand-fall nature of todays environment are everywhere with small start-ups
rapidly rising to great heights, and large multinationals going through
massive layoffs.
Innovation: The Key to Competitiveness
The cold truth today is that a company can hold its competitive edge and stay
ahead of change only through innovation. Innovative companies are those
that keep their collective eyes and ears open to change and opportunity, and
respond with ideas and action that keep them growing and profitable.
Companies that compete through innovation know that new (or borrowed)
ideas apply not only to products, but also quality, productivity, service,
financial discipline, employee attitudes and renewal. All are critical
elements in a companys competitive ability.
Two Categories of Innovation
Two basic categories of innovation contribute to the competitive strength of
an organization. On one level are continuous improvements: innovations
conceived and implemented by an individual or small group to make their
job easier, better or more productive. Examples of these small-scale
innovations include an improved form, a simplified ordering system, a
slightly readjusted tool.

At the other level are organizational innovations: more impactful changes

that
involve
different
functions
and
levels
within
the
company. Organizational innovations vary widely in scope, but in all cases
require commitment and cooperation from management, supervisors and
employees.
Environment for Innovation
The first goal of executives seeking to build competitive innovation is an
organizational climate that encourages, supports and rewards innovative
effort. Climate emanates from the very top of the organization, and must be
carried out at every level of management.
The challenge is to erase the common fear of being punished for rocking the
boat. Executives must say and show, through incentives, rewards and
recognition, that the organization needs and will listen to the ideas of all its
people. Adding a sense of urgencymaking innovation a key to the
companys security and growthcan help emphasize the organizations
commitment to new ideas.

THE FIVE KEY THINGS THEY NEED TO CONSIDER VERY

CAREFULLY WHEN STARTING TO DEVELOP IT
The innovation strategy defines the role of innovation and sets the direction
for innovation execution. However, the role of innovation in helping
organizations achieve growth targets is often unclear and the revenue growth
from innovation is insufficient, unless managed with great rigor. While there
is lots of theory about and many good (and not so good) books on innovation
strategy, many companies fail to develop and execute an innovation strategy.
We work with clients to help them take a very pragmatic and executionoriented view on this.
Once we start to work with a client to develop an innovation strategy, we
seek to develop a common understanding of the definition of the innovation
strategys purpose. When we speak about innovation at Accenture, we speak

about successfully commercializing new ideas, i.e. inventions with market

impact or in other words the notion of innovation = invention x scaling.
However, new can have different meanings, ranging from new on the world
market to new in one specific industry, but already established in another
industry, to new to a company or maybe even just new to some of us. The
word strategy implies that we are talking about something with a potentially
large impact on the company, i.e. does not include just a series of incremental
product line extensions.
Based on this understanding, the following are five things that we believe
make up a good innovation strategy:
First, an innovation strategy needs to be truly inspiring and should
describe a desirable future state for the company.
This is a high bar as it rules out a single-minded focus on incremental addons to the business. Rather, it requires the organization to aim higher. You
have probably often read in literature that the innovation strategy should be
derived from the corporate strategy to clearly define how the organization
sees opportunities for growth and makes explicit choices about the role of
innovation, which is absolutely not wrong. Still, we think that to some extent
it should be the other way around. Opportunities and possibilities formulated
in an innovation strategy should actually provide input and shape the overall
corporate strategy. Invention is done everywhere. In fact, the value that is
derived for many large companies by scouting inventions, connecting the
dots between many singular ideas and inventions into one big platform
innovation and fully scaling it to maximize potential benefits.
Second, the innovation strategy needs to be ambitious in terms of
providing the basis to break away from the competition, beat the
competition, and create new spaces. Too many innovation strategies that
we have seen tend to be me too (and mostly incremental). Even if executed
according to plan, they fail to deliver the truly sustainable competitive
advantages that can only be derived by performing above the overall market
growth level and exceeding average profit margins.

Again, the innovation strategy should aim higher and help the company
outpace anybody else in a contested space. If the so-called strategy does not
seek to push those boundaries, the strategy in all practicality is probably just
a product roadmap of business extensions, not an innovation strategy.
Third, the process of developing the strategy needs to be open. Open
means bringing the outside in and working under the assumption that the
other seven billion people on our planet may have insights that do not exist
within a particular companys boundaries. Even today this is something that
many people find hard to accept. One client once joked: We actually
invented the not-invented-here-syndrome in our company. Companies are
settled into the way they innovate.
The statement above gives you a good idea of how hard it is for companies to
open up and avoid merely settling. At the same time, this should not be
mistaken as an excuse for failing to come up with a great innovation strategy
based on internal ideas and conviction. Being open is just a great way to raise
the bar in terms of ambition and to more quickly get to more mature plans.
By the way, as opening up the innovation pipeline is not just a matter of
mindset, new technologies play an important role in making openness
commercially feasible.
Fourth, an innovation strategy must also be specific to the time in which
it is developed, as it is grounded in the reality of a companys environment,
and it reflects the available capabilities, technologies and gaps that may need
to be filled. What do we mean by this? It is important to describe with great
precision which specific innovation initiatives should be pursued, and where
to invest and compete.
The innovation strategy also needs to explore possible market developments
and scenarios while defining the most attractive market opportunities. The
strategy should answer a number of questions like: What growth platforms
represent the best chances for the company to win in the market? And, what
is the rough business case per growth platform? This is the step where the
overall risk related to the execution of the innovation strategy should be
assessed in the context of the overall company situation. It is not by
coincidence but due to the inherent uncertainty that venture capital funds

place a portfolio of bets. Still, a corporation should carefully consider how

many eggs to put in a single basket. But bear in mind Mark Zuckerberg
recently put it nicely: The riskiest thing is to take no risks.
Finally, an innovation strategy needs to be adaptive and to evolve over
time, i.e. incorporate learning, allow adjustments to the desired course and
maybe even allow an organization to cut its losses if required. This typically
does not fit with the classic annual corporate planning cycle. An innovation
strategy and the respective execution should be capable of adapting the
moment there are new insights, even if that requires moving in multiple
directions to raise the aspiration you had at the beginning. After all, Rome
was not built in a day. Likewise, innovation sometimes requires more time
than originally estimated.

CUSTOMER DRIVEN BUSINESS

Many organizations regard customer feedback and complaints as an
inconvenience - and customer satisfaction research as no more than a form
of marketing intelligence. In doing so, they fail to capitalize on the
opportunity of using customer feedback as a management tool to improve
their products, their services and their business.
Start measuring customer satisfaction (and dissatisfaction) in financial
terms:
This lets the organization prioritize current threats, to customer retention,
positive referrals, and opportunities for improvement, in terms of their
potential influence on the financial and strategic outcomes to their business.
Establish a customer experience baseline of satisfaction, loyalty &
dissatisfaction:
A customer experience baseline helps you identify the problems that
customer currently experience doing business with your organization and
prioritize them for remedial action.
Improve customer-response and complaint-handling skills, processes
and systems:
Customers who make contact looking for help can then be assured of a
consistent and effective response and timely problem resolution. An effective
response can improve customer loyalty and advocacy.

Increase feedback from customers by making it easier for them to

contact you:
This, combined with improved customer response, increases the number of
dissatisfied customers your organisation can turn into satisfied customers,
reduces your potential negative reputation and increases the amount of data
available for preventive analysis.
Establish a formal "Learning from Customers Program":
Customer experiences can then be monitored on an ongoing basis and
recurring failures in service and product quality can be quickly identified and
addressed.
Conduct ongoing tracking of customer satisfaction with key processes:
A systematic approach to satisfaction tracking provides the organization with
an effective ongoing management tool to support the management of critical
customer experiences.