ABSTRACT
This chapter is aimed at all those managers and other personnel at the customer interface responsible for gathering and analysing data on customer perceptions.
Customer satisfaction is the motive behind ISO 9001, therefore it becomes of paramount importance that the organization has up-to-date intelligence on the perceptions of current customers about its products and services. Any organization that is not monitoring customer perceptions or is ignoring them will ultimately fail for customers are the life blood of every organization. It is important also to use a factual approach to collecting and analysing such data. This will influence tactical and perhaps strategic decisions about product features (quality of design) and production/delivery processes (quality of conformance).
