Why is Voice of the Customer (VOC) important in Lean Management?

Unveiling the Essence of Lean: Understanding the Voice of the Customer

The client rules in the business domain. Notable states: ‘There is one and only manager: The client. Also, he/she can terminate every person in the company – from the CEO on down, easily by using his money in another business!

From that, the Lean enhancement effort exploration journey must be started by embracing the Voice of the Client’s core. It is comparable to unraveling the tale of the client – what they truly yearn for and their values.

Understanding the Voice of the Customer: Key to Meeting Expectations and Achieving Lean Principles

Thus, to satisfy this and those aspersions, you have to go on a quest for the VOC. In other words, you have to know the needs and hopes of your customer as well as possible – in fact, everything is simple here.

Moreover, according to the concept of Lean, the customer is the one who consumes the product or service you offer; this might be a person, team, group, some company,, but still a person who receives value from what you do. Also, do not forget that the customer is not necessarily external – it can be internal, that is, some kind of department of your own company.

Lean methodology makes a clear separation between external and internal customers:

• Voice of the Customer (VOC) refers to external customers.
• Voice of the Business (VOB) refers to internal customers.

For example, if you optimize operations for an adjacent department, that department is your internal customer. The customer is always part of your processes at any level of the organization.

You must obtain client demands from the client themselves to avoid any wrong assumptions. Understanding and ranking the Voice of the Customer is a critical factor in lean projects. It ensures that business results and customer needs are always in agreement.