Catch Up

You'll probably see a lot of me the next few days, as I make some attempts to beat the clock to Spring Break.

Today I was poking around the required blogs, looking desperately for something to write about. It took awhile but luckily I stumbled upon an article on Modern Marketing entitled 'If you're not interested, stop listening'. The article talks about Dell's recent foray into idea collection via their customers. They've recently created IdeaStorm, which is a company-run website that allows customers to post ideas and comments about Dell and their products.

There are several main aspects in this site and what it could do for Dell. These aspects are independent of the article itself, as I came up with them after some analysis.

1. Creating a Dell community - Love of a product is even more unique and special when you can share that love with other people. Communities designed to support products by the people who enjoy them are not uncommon, and are certainly helpful to the companies. Examples would be Harley Davidson and their Harley Owner's Group, or online-based with the Treo Smartphone and Andrew Carton's blog.

2. Giving customers a direct link to the company, and providing them with feedback - An issue with companies, especially in a growing economy, is the increasingly large distance between the company and the consumers, themselves. Resentment is often present with consumers who can not communicate directly to a company with their own comments and ideas. The site allows a direct forum for consumers to put their two cents in, which may lead them to eventually put their $1,000 worth in when they get to the cash register or online checkout page. With this growing use of technology as of late, businesses should be doing everything in their power to create any sort of relationship possible with their customers.

3. Allowing new ideas into the Dell mainstream - Dell is going through a period that necessitates change. While still doing quite well, it is hard to forsee how things will remain in the future. They were extremely popular in being able to specialize computers to the needs of each individual customer, but this once core competency has become much easier to replicate. The company's long-time CEO Michael Dell has recently turned over the position to Kevin Rollins, which has larger been discussed in the news. Dell needs new ideas and a new edge in order to remain competitive in an industry which is being quickly commoditized. Not to mention, it's free ideas!!

4. Giving Dell a competitive advantage - This one's a little less complex. Building a relationship, promoting ideas, and differentiating themselves will give Dell a competitive advantage to catapult them into an equally profitable future.


But, if they don't listen and respond to the needs of their customers, which the article states is currently the case...it'll be a long time before we'll be 'getting a Dell!'