The future of growth is relevance

$1 Trillion at risk for companies that fail to maintain customer relevance.

That’s the staggering headline figure from Accenture’s latest report, Living Business: Achieving Sustainable Growth Through Hyper-Relevance, released at Cannes in June this year.

How to respond to the ever-changing needs of the new customer was front and centre at many of the debates at the creativity festival this year. “Consumers want personalized, curated, hyper-relevant information provided with a sense of wonder — as long as they’ve been asked permissions”, said Antonio Lucio, CMO of Hewlett Packard, and it’s true, with the report showing a massive 61 percent of consumers will switch away from companies that no longer meet their needs.

“I believe what’s important as a brand is making sure you’re part of people’s lives, and that you make their lives better,” says Roel de Vries, global head of marketing and brand strategy at Nissan Motor Company.

As part of its study, Accenture surveyed 400 C-level executives from global companies to understand how leading organizations are achieving sustainable growth. The study found that companies and brands who are continuously adapting and shifting around their customers’ needs and expectations will not only thrive, but are also three times more likely to achieve above-average revenue and profit growth.

These successful businesses are adopting new capabilities to be more agile, responsive and innovative in their quest to remain relevant. In today’s world, this is the only way brands can achieve sustainable growth — and that’s what winning is all about.

Accenture works with its clients to transform them into “Living Businesses” that seek to do exactly that — to unlock sustained growth by continuously adapting to the evolving needs of the customers to achieve total relevance.

“These are very demanding challenges, and they’re being driven by technology and the market,” says Mark Curtis, co-founder and chief client officer for Fjord, design and innovation from Accenture Interactive.

Customers are facing an onslaught from social upheaval, tension and technological disruption; so much so, it’s come to characterize modern life. This more substantial challenges will demand that businesses use their resources and knowledge to work towards actively improving our lives, rather than simply flogging us more stuff.

Accenture’s John Zealley points to three things that all organizations need to do to become a Living Business. He says brands must create intelligent experiences, ensure responsive innovation and rewire their business with a customer-first mindset to become an agile organization, and accommodate customers’ ever evolving needs with speed and scale.

Leverage smart, connected data to deliver intelligent experiences to customers, partners and employees in real time.

Salesforce’s Jon Suarez-Davis, agrees “experiences are trumping everything. A customer is willing to switch brands, even for a potentially inferior product if the experience and the service is better.”

Companies and brands must embrace new ideas, behaviors and technology to engage in responsive innovation.

“We are constantly leveraging new technologies to bring more engagement and more immersive experiences to kids,” says Julia Goldin, EVP and global CMO for Lego, “even if they bought our products before doesn’t mean they’re going to buy them again so we’re super focused on making sure we’re engaging to kids.”

“Data used the appropriate way to unearth rich insights makes the product much more relevant to the customer,” says Suarez.

A company that thinks nimbly to make confident decisions at speed and at scale, can adapt quickly to deliver the most hyper-relevant experiences to customers.

“Being a Living Business is about turning from an organization to an organism,” Curtis explains, “Thinking through how your business is going to be responsive in real time to the needs of customers again and again, and then evolving to be better at that. In our research we saw clear financial benefits to those businesses who are at the forefront of adapting to the new economy.”

Curtis goes on to say, “Change the way you think about your customer. Those businesses that aren’t busying themselves chasing customer loyalty, but are flipping the tables by focusing on becoming loyal brands, will be the next to succeed.”

Accenture’s research shows that Living Businesses are 50 percent more likely to stand firm and succeed in the face of industry disruption, and three times more likely to achieve above-average revenue and profit growth.

This is evidence enough that a firm focus on creating experiences that genuinely enrich consumers’ lives will become truly Living Businesses.