On the 18th March 2008, Jamie Lywood, Harding & Yorke's managing director, will speak at the Gartner Customer Relationship Management Summit as a guest of Ed Thompson.  He was invited to speak with Dr Yuksel Ekinci following the relevation in late 2007 of the correlations between H&Y's Empathy Measurement and profitability.

Title: How Your Organization's Empathy Rating Drives Profitability 

In 2004, Harding and Yorke constructed a benchmark program measuring how it feels to be a customer.  From the outset the approach taken was very different to traditional satisfaction indices.  The benchamrk was named ERIC (Empathy Rating Index Company). 

In 2007 Dr Yuksel Ekinci for the University of Surrey and supported by Professor Merlin Stone set out to investigate the relationship between ERIC and profitability.  The study looked at 28 companies and 1400 customrs in detail.  Teh study shows that a company's ERIC score has a statistically significant impact on profitability.  The implication is that the more empathetic your employees and organization the higher your profitability.

To register for this event:

Online: europe.gartner.com/crm

Tel: +44 (0) 208 879 2430

Email: EMEA.Registration@gartner.com