Technology and social media vehicles have provided us with more opportunities than ever before to connect with our customers. From live chat and online communities, to Twitter and blogs, we are able to interact and collaborate with our customers on a day-to-day basis. Technology has made it easier to gain feedback and metrics through surveying vehicles and events such as EMC World are invaluable in sharing information.
EMC has become quite adept at collecting data from these vehicles as part of its focus on the customer. We have more data than ever about our customers, their requirements and how they feel about the services we provide. (Check out Frank Coleman’s blog for much more on this topic.) In this landscape, it would be easy to miss one very important component of our customer interaction – face-to-face dialogue.
I recently had the opportunity to sit down with 12 customers in a small and personal setting at an EMC Global Services Advisory Forum. EMC representatives and customers discussed a wide range of service related topics and challenges. We are certainly incorporating the feedback we received into our plans for 2012 and beyond. Following are a few key “take-aways” from our meeting.
- Proactive notification on any known technical issues in a customer environment is a high priority.
- Customers appreciate regular updates on EMC strategy and portfolio roadmap at informal meetings/discussions.
- Time spent listening to our customers to better understand their business problems and how they relate to their infrastructure roadmap is time well spent.
- Customers enjoyed this opportunity to hear how their peers in the industry were solving common business challenges. The interaction fueled an active and creative discussion.
There was a time, and not all that long ago, that the primary form of customer feedback was provided face-to-face. I wouldn’t want to go back, as the expanded opportunities to connect with customers have been invaluable. With that said, these recent meetings served as an important reminder; even with busy schedules and seemingly easier ways to connect every day, the time and energy to connect face-to-face with customers is worth it for EMC support and our customers!
Thank you to the customers who shared their time and thoughts with us. We welcome other customers interested in collaborating in this type of forum to contact us.
