Emc2

Case4: EMC2: Delivering Customer Centricity

EMC is a computer storage company that entered the industry in 1979 and prides itself on being customer centric. The company began producing memory boards, and by the mid-1980s, increased its product portfolio to include memory and disk drives. As the company advanced into the 1990s, it continued to develop new products in storage of data, including the Symmetrix line based on redundant array of independent disks (RAID) technology. EMC eventually diversified its product line from storage to software through an acquisition strategy.

In the beginning, the company’s primary focus was sales, with limited focus on post-sales support. EMC soon realized that a sales-only strategy was not working, and lack of customer support in conjunction with quality issues was jeopardizing customer retention. CEO Mike Ruettgers began to implement a customer-centric strategy, centered around the concept that EMC was not only a vendor but a trusted business partner. The success of this strategy was evidenced by a 99% customer retention rate in 2001.

EMC began to add new product lines through acquisitions, along with the introduction of value-added resellers. In addition, the company saw that customers’ buying habits were changing. With changes in customer behavior and increased portfolio complexity, EMC needed a way to ensure the continuation of customer centricity while remaining profitable. EMC faced several key issues: First, physical or face-to-face interaction between the company and customers was decreasing because customers began using Internet and social networking websites to learn about EMC’s products and services. Digital interaction between customers and salespeople became more frequent than physical interaction. The second major issue was that EMC had promised delivering one-size-fits-all high-touch service to its customers. Every customer got the same high-touch service; however, this was problematic because some...