Reputation: slow to build, quick to lose

Our FS team are used to working with data. But when Polecat asked cxpartners to help them better understand the unmet reputation management needs of their current and future customers, the nature of that data became even more fluid transient and multi-source than usual.

Polecat wanted help developing a customer-centred product roadmap that could be prioritised according to customer demand, business value and technical feasibility.

Their clients are largely focused on managing the opinions of influencers – such as investors and the City – who’s views can impact the immediate and long-term reputation, and therefore value of a company.

Working closely with senior reputation professionals in major UK and global organisations, we identified the challenges for the future of reputation management. This included the need for smarter listening and decision making support tools, as well as opportunities to enable all members of an organisation to be proactive in managing reputation.

A core aspect of our work was the development of a cognitive task-model that describes the way in which reputation professionals weight and manage reputational risk.

This model pointed to some of the cognitive biases to which reputational professionals are vulnerable; it also provided real insight into the factors that are important in assessing risk, the mechanisms by which this is achieved, and highlighted opportunities for product innovation.