Discuss the concept of an internal customer

An internal customer is another person or group within the organization who

depends on others in the organization to get their own work done. One way that organizations can promote quality and teamwork is to recognize the existence of internal customers. By linking customers and suppliers together at the individual level, the nature of cross-functional processes becomes clearer. Eventually, everyone can better understand their role in satisfying not only their internal customers, but also the external customers. Promoting the idea of internal customers does not change the organization's structure as much as it changes the way that people think about the structure. Rather than focusing on satisfying their immediate supervisor (vertical), people begin to think about satisfying the next person in the process (horizontal), who is one step closer to the ultimate customer.