I’m currently studying Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and it has significantly altered my perspective on business operations. Marketing is no longer a silo, it’s simply one branch of CRM. Engineering is another branch. Accounting another.
It’s critical to keep in mind that every single thing a business does should revolve around the customer (or, stated more accurately, everything revolves around the direct & indirect beneficiaries, including vendors, partners, shareholders, etc.).
If you keep this perspective, then the strategic decisions evolve much more organically and you don’t have to pay as much attention to what your competitors are doing because you’re focused on serving your customers.
Stop and think, “What value does accounting add to the customer experience? What value do the programmers add? What value do the salespeople add?”