By Rizwan Ebrahim
In any service encounter—from having dinner at a restaurant to a complex, long-term technology project—perception is reality. In the end, what matters is customers' perception of what occurred and how they felt during the process. There are several critical "touchpoints" that can make or break a customer's perception. If companies adopt certain principles of relationship management and delivery management during both short- and long-term technology projects, they are likely to enrich the experience of business users and achieve a greater level of success.
In the last three decades, IT organizations have matured in their delivery capabilities by adopting standard processes such as Capability Maturity Model (CMM) and IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL). However, many technology projects are still executed with sole focus on process and technology while ignoring an important aspect of being a service provider—managing the experience and perception of the end business users. The results are often mixed, creating a situation in which most business needs are met, but the overall experience is not necessarily positive.
