CRM - Is the need to understand the customer more urgent than ever?

I am sure about the answer.And I am also confident that all companies and brands in the world need to think through if customers are more critical now than ever. 

2012 I still ran into situations where I questioned if and how companies think through how they want to be perceived and what they want me to think and say about them. Because people do tend to ask me “Anders, can you recommend them, are they good?”.
I am sure that all brands and companies need to answer yes on the question in the header and that understanding customer needs are more important than ever before.

What do you think? What is your next step for your customer relations?