The hologram is a useful metaphor for Customer 3D™.
The three-dimensional holography process was accidentally discovered in 1947 while scientist Dennis Gabor was working to improve the electron microscope. However, holograms were not utilized until the 1960’s with the invention of the laser, which provided the purer, more intense light that was necessary to create useful holograms. Today, holography has produced thousands of new products, including 3D models to aid surgical planning or forensic science investigations, holographic data storage and retrieval, and improved supermarket scanners.
Not only are holograms versatile, but they are also uncopyable. This characteristic allowed the three-dimensional pictures to be developed into a low-cost security device for documents such as credit cards and currency.
3D thinking within organizations also makes those companies very difficult to copy. Companies that are highly customer-centered are recognizable by customers with a difference that goes far beyond their products. They have the capability across the entire organization to envision almost endless ways to add value for their customers. The process parallels the development of holography, where the inventors took a new technology and found uses based on what people were telling them. Customer 3D™ companies have the same heightened abilities to create continuous refinements to match their customers’ needs.
3D organizations do their work for the customer, not to be different. The visionary culture they have developed, however, does make them noticeably different and harder to copy. Their sales and markets are expanding because customers are drawn to doing business with companies that listen and truly understand their needs.
Making your organization unique is a prime result of the Customer 3D™ system. It takes customer-centricity to a new dimension that delivers real differentiation between your organization and the rest of the market. It makes you uncopyable.
