1. How have EMC’s recent strategic moves (within the past ten years) supported or hindered its customer-centric approach?
1. How have EMC’s recent strategic moves (within the past ten years) supported or hindered its customer-centric approach?
Customer Centricity is a strategic choice the company has made on how to run business. This requires listening to our customers’ needs, repairing what’s broken, and delivering simplified experiences to them. This will differentiate us in the marketplace, and deliver long-term, profitable growth. EMC has the following bold moves recently to maintain EMC's culture of customer centricity:
a) Managing a VAR sales model that distances EMC from its customers since EMC had entered into partnership relations with a number of companies. These include companies like DELL and CISCO. These partnerships enabled EMC to increase their returns and, at the same time, cut costs that come with direct sales. EMC classified these partners as Value Added Resellers. However, this created some problems. For example, the company could not access the customers that were serviced by their partners. This automatically meant that customers could not experience the high touch that EMC offered to its direct customers. This is because their only point of contact with the customers was through the VAR partners.
b) Effects of the Internet, Social Media and Web 2.0 Technology on the way B2B Business Buy. The internet, social media and web 2.0 technologies have led to reduced spending in the sector of technology. With the presence of many websites offering versatile information on different products, customers now have gained a wide range of options for choosing. In this situation, they are poised to make their choice depending on the price quoted by the service provider. This has led to increase in competition for customers coupled with a reduction of prices to suit the customers. Many companies, therefore, had to cut prices so as to acquire more customers. Internet has also led to reduction of one to one contact between customers and their service providers. This,
Customer Centricity is a strategic choice the company has made on how to run business. This requires listening to our customers’ needs, repairing what’s broken, and delivering simplified experiences to them. This will differentiate us in the marketplace, and deliver long-term, profitable growth. EMC has the following bold moves recently to maintain EMC's culture of customer centricity:
a) Managing a VAR sales model that distances EMC from its customers since EMC had entered into partnership relations with a number of companies. These include companies like DELL and CISCO. These partnerships enabled EMC to increase their returns and, at the same time, cut costs that come with direct sales. EMC classified these partners as Value Added Resellers. However, this created some problems. For example, the company could not access the customers that were serviced by their partners. This automatically meant that customers could not experience the high touch that EMC offered to its direct customers. This is because their only point of contact with the customers was through the VAR partners.
b) Effects of the Internet, Social Media and Web 2.0 Technology on the way B2B Business Buy. The internet, social media and web 2.0 technologies have led to reduced spending in the sector of technology. With the presence of many websites offering versatile information on different products, customers now have gained a wide range of options for choosing. In this situation, they are poised to make their choice depending on the price quoted by the service provider. This has led to increase in competition for customers coupled with a reduction of prices to suit the customers. Many companies, therefore, had to cut prices so as to acquire more customers. Internet has also led to reduction of one to one contact between customers and their service providers. This,