Customer journeys are no longer just a buzzword - they are the key to sustainable customer centricity. However, many companies fail to create an overall strategic direction from individual journey fragments.
At Unic, we have therefore developed the CX diamond as a methodological framework that combines four key dimensions.
In brief
The CX Diamond integrates customer segments, customer journeys, value propositions and business capabilities into a holistic strategic framework
Organisational silos are broken down through consistent customer-centric thinking rather than isolated departmental perspectives
Proven methodology from practice based on around 30 years of consulting experience with commercial and industrial companies
Strategic basis for implementing initiatives through value stream mapping and systematic business capability design
Sustainable customer-centric value base instead of a pure focus on technology
Why many customer journey projects are unsuccessful
‘It is more important to do the right thing than to do something right,’ explains Dirk Nölke, expert in customer experience transformation at Unic. This insight, originally from management pioneer Peter Drucker, illustrates the core problem facing many companies: they improve individual touchpoints but lose sight of the overall strategic perspective on customer relationships.
In our daily consulting practice, we identify four characteristic challenges:
1. Internally oriented hypotheses instead of genuine customer focus
Numerous customer experience initiatives arise from internal assumptions. Marketing wants a new CMS, e-commerce needs an updated web shop, sales is introducing new tools – but no one is asking the crucial question: What do our customers actually need?
2. Department-focused solutions
When business units act in isolation, disjointed island solutions arise. This results in contradictory interactions for customers: sales promises one thing, customer service has different information, and marketing communicates conflicting messages.
3. Value propositions do not reach the touchpoints
Companies have strong value propositions, but do not implement them consistently throughout the customer journey. Valuable differentiators remain ineffective because they do not reach customers at relevant touchpoints.
4. Historically grown IT complexity prevents agility
Established organisations in particular struggle with legacy systems. They understand their customers, but cannot respond quickly enough to their needs.
The CX Diamond: Four dimensions of successful customer centricity
Our CX Diamond framework systematically combines four dimensions that are crucial for sustainable customer orientation:
Dimension 1: Customer segments and their specific needs
At the top of the diamond are your relevant customer segments. We deliberately differentiate between basic needs (the perception of a deficiency from the customer's point of view) and specific requirements (especially for specific products and services).
Practical example:
Our client Magura Bosch Parts & Services serves around 30,000 bicycle dealers, who in turn supply their customers with spare parts for their bicycles and provide repair services. In order to meet the need for quick problem-solving assistance with bicycle repairs, bicycle dealers want to take advantage of training and further education courses on the spare parts range. However, smaller retailers, for example, cannot close during business hours for on-site training. This led to the development of the Magura Tech Academy with permanently available digital training courses.
Dimension 2: Value proposition – your strategic response to customer needs
Your value proposition is positioned vis-à-vis the customer segments. This encompasses much more than just products and services:
Core products and their specific customer benefits
Complementary services and support offerings
Attractive price-performance ratio
Brand perception and quality promise
Digital interaction and networking options
Sustainability aspects and other value propositions
Dimension 3: Customer journeys as a strategic connecting element
Customer journeys are at the centre of the diamond. They describe, in phases, how customers gather information, make purchasing decisions and, ideally, become loyal regular customers.
Exemplary phase model:
Awareness: Attracting attention and identifying problems
Consideration: Information research and offer comparison
Purchase: Decision-making and purchase processing
Delivery: Delivery process and introduction phase
Usage & Loyalty: Product use, service experience and further development
Dimension 4: Strategic value streams and business capabilities
The fourth dimension represents your company with its specific capabilities. Here we work with value streams and business capabilities.
Value streams define the activities with which your company creates value for your customers (or other stakeholders) in the context of interaction at the user touchpoints. Examples include the presentation of valuable product information, intuitive configuration and ordering options, or convincing personal consulting concepts.
Business capabilities describe the capabilities your organisation needs to enable these value streams. Capabilities provide the methodological foundation for a uniform definition of what the business does or should do to be successful, regardless of departmental thinking. In this way, they create a cross-departmental basis for strategic planning and investment decisions.
Practical example from mechanical engineering: Digitalisation increases the maturity of business capabilities
A manufacturer of packaging machines faces the challenge of manually calculating and coordinating complex machine configurations, which has been a time-consuming process up to now.
The customer problem: A customer analysis shows that users expect an online solution in their customer journey that allows them to set up and pre-calculate configurations independently before discussing them with sales engineers and then placing an order.
The value stream: As part of the ‘Acquire Product’ value stream, various business capabilities are identified that need to be further developed in order to meet customer expectations, particularly in customer management, agreement management, inquiry management, finance management and order management.
Optimising business capabilities: The necessary initiatives to increase business capabilities are planned and implemented: the implementation of an online product configurator, an integrated quote and order process for integrating the ERP system, and the accompanying organisational changes, particularly in the sales team and IT.
Methodical implementation: How to implement the CX diamond
Step 1: Structured customer segmentation and journey mapping
Start with a precise segmentation of your customer groups. Use business model canvas methods and carry out comprehensive end-to-end customer journey mappings. Collect relevant data on digital user behaviour and conduct qualitative interviews with representative customers.
Step 2: Strategic value stream design
Identify the specific value you can offer your customers for each phase of the customer journey. Work methodically with the value proposition canvas and value stream mapping. Think ‘beyond digital’ – not every solution has to be digital, and digital innovations often require organisational rethinking.
Step 3: Systematic business capability mapping
Define the necessary business capabilities and their maturity levels for your identified value streams. Use industry-specific reference catalogues as a starting point and evaluate which capabilities will become critical in the future.
Step 4: Integrated architecture and targeted implementation
Assign your organisational units and applications to the defined business capabilities. Develop a coherent data strategy and consistently prioritise investments according to customer relevance.
Typical challenges and solutions
Challenge 1: Premature focus on technology
Problem: Teams focus directly on system selection without understanding the underlying business logic.
Solution: Business architecture design must precede technology decisions.
Challenge 2: Persistent silo structures
Problem: Departments continue to work in isolation, even when customer journeys have been documented.
Solution: Design value streams independently of existing corporate structures and synergistically develop the necessary business capabilities across departments.
Challenge 3: Loss of value in the implementation phase
Problem: Compelling value propositions do not effectively reach touchpoints.
Solution: Consistently map aspects of the value proposition to specific journey phases.
Demonstrable success through consistent CX Diamond implementation
Companies that systematically apply the CX Diamond achieve measurable improvements:
Significantly increased customer satisfaction through consistent experiences
Significantly reduced organisational complexity through the elimination of silo structures
Accelerated time-to-market through clear strategic prioritisation
Optimised return on investment for digital transformation initiatives
Conclusion: The strategic path to authentic customer centricity
The CX Diamond represents more than a methodological framework – it embodies a fundamental change in mindset. Instead of thinking traditionally from the inside out, you consistently reverse the perspective: start with the customer and work your way systematically into the company.
The real challenge lies in harmoniously integrating all four dimensions. Only when customer segments, value propositions, customer journeys and business capabilities are optimally aligned can sustainable value be created – for both customers and companies.
Are you ready for a strategic customer-centric realignment of your company? Then let's work together to develop your individual CX Diamond.
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