Should we be less reliant on customer feedback for business improvement?

Has anybody else noticed recently how “needy” companies are becoming when it comes to asking for feedback from customers? It seems we’ve moved from information overload to information request overload.  I am constantly bombarded with pop-ups, emails, text messages and even phone calls asking me “how was it for you?” and my responses, when rarely given, are increasingly being skewed by frustration at the request rather than the service itself.

I thought this an interesting juxtaposition, my own indignation being somewhat at odds with my position at the helm of an organisation which actively espouses the use of modern technology to respond quickly to changing market conditions.  But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Now, it’s true that modern transformation platforms enable organisations to be ultra-responsive to changing customer needs and sentiment, but they’re also still capable of gathering information on trends and performance metrics and able to adjust internal behaviours with dynamic and reactive business processes.

I believe a modern organisation should not be one hundred percent reliant upon or led by perpetually requested feedback, it should of course be responsive, but it also needs to be self-aware, confident in its strengths and proactive in addressing its own weaknesses.  In essence, when delivering contemporary solutions with modern business transformation frameworks we must continue to harness the old capabilities as well as embracing the new.