Transforming a leading RTO towards customer excellence

Challenge

In recent years, Research and Technology Organizations (RTOs) have faced increasing pressure to adopt a customer-centric approach while simultaneously seeking to secure private funding. While RTOs are often viewed as bastions of innovation, their traditional operating models can pose challenges when aligning with market needs. That is why one of Europe's leading RTO's sought guidance for an end-to-end transformation program to become a truly market- and customer-centric organization. 

Solution

To drive the shift towards customer centricity, we leverage our proven methodology, which is rooted in market and customer research, develops tailored propositions, and explores potential go-to-market and valorization strategies. Initially, this approach was applied to 12 pilot cases, enabling us to refine the methodology to meet the RTO's unique needs and demonstrate its value to the broader organization.

In the next phase, the new way of working was integrated into the organization. This was achieved by launching training programs and establishing streamlined customer-centric processes with clear roles & responsibilities. We also implemented supporting systems and dashboards to facilitate and monitor adoption.

Results

In collaboration with the RTO's internal team, the transition to market centricity was successfully achieved. Signs of this success included an improved understanding of customer needs by the sales team, which led to the acquisition of new customers, higher customer satisfaction, and improved retention rates. Additionally, the project value for those implementing the methodology was notably higher. This progress is expected to translate into a greater societal impact in the years to come.