Definition

Customer centricity is about transforming the Group to accelerate its growth by fostering its ability to engage, inspire and co-create sustainable value with customers. Solvay should become a strategic and agile partner for its clients, providing innovative and tailor-made solutions through a seamless omni-channel customer experience.

Management approach

In 2017, the Corporate Marketing and Sales Function launched a worlwide initiative to embark more than 1000 managers in the identification of the major challenges the group is facing today in terms of customer centricity. "What stands between us today and the worldclass BtoB companies that deliver robust growth". This question was the cornerstone of very insightful exchanges and brain storming sessions around this burning platform on how to better integrate customer feedback in all Solvay's decision making processes in order to boost growth.

Leveraging this broad expertise, a common definition of Customer Centricity as well as a structured framework has been co-constructed to share best practices and support each single entity across the entire group to elaborate its own customer centricitry roadmap.

The framework is articulated around 4 pillars :

• Cultural Shift,
• Better understand markets and customers needs,
• Co-construction of innovative solutions,
• Seamless Customer Interactions.

Consequently, about 20 workshops and webinars took place across the group, with more than 500 participants, around this framework in order to mobilize managers from all functions far beyond marketing and sales to join the customer centricity tranformation of the group. The objective is to accompany each single team within the group while starting their own journey, building their own short term action plan within their own environment and contribute as such to make the group a true solution provider.

Indicator and objective

Since 2014, Solvay has been monitoring and publishing the Group’s Customer Satisfaction index by consolidating the Group Net Promoter Score (NPS), which is compiled through GBU-driven, “Voice of the Customer” surveys.

In 2017, the Group made substantial progress, with a NPS of 36%, exceeding its original 2020 objective set a few years ago by implementing action plans and follow-up programs across the entire group.