The Customer is The Customer

There is a tendency for groups within a company to think of other internal groups as their "customers" or their "suppliers".  This is a mistake.  There is only one customer, the real external customer, the one who pays your company money for your products and services. Internal groups are partners -- not vendors or customers -- working together in a spirit of openness and honestly that comes with being on the same team. Partners trust each other to do their respective jobs, hold each other to account, and live up to that trust and those expectations, all driven by a desire to serve that real customer.