The Webster’s definition of “relevance” leaves absolutely no room for misinterpretation: the meaning of relevance is “having significant and demonstrable bearing on the matter at hand.”
Today, making that “significant and demonstrable” impact is really about the end-user. How can companies deliver immediate, tangible outcomes for their customers and consumers? Some organizations are doing this already, and harnessing unique technologies to make it happen. You don’t need look any further than Uber, Apple, or Amazon. These are not just companies. These are entirely new operational models that are disrupting their industries, but more appreciably, they are changing end-user expectations. I used to drive myself or take a town car to the airport. Not anymore. Now I Uber every time. The cars are cleaner, booking is easier, service is better, and the cost is often less expensive. Uber has changed my expectation of car service, and now nothing less than better, cheaper, and easier will suffice.
The thing about the Ubers of the world is that it’s not just a killer app. Uber and others like it are completely new offerings that put end-users first. So much more than products, they are totally user-centric experiences that deliver real-time and tangible benefits, and true business outcomes.
The user-centric, benefit-focused business model is the path forward for businesses today. Customers and consumers increasingly expect and demand solutions that translate to immediate impact and results. Results that are specifically tied to the outcome needed to maintain share, grab share, or create a market. To say it’s exciting is an understatement. To say it’s challenging companies to be better than ever before is very real indeed.
Around the halls at EMC, it’s become a bit of a mantra: customers want solutions that enable opportunity and transformational outcomes. Solutions that make the business better, more efficient, more profitable; that make employees’ lives better, easier, and more productive. No longer can a salesperson walk into a room and solely compete on technology alone. That person would struggle to connect the product to the desired outcome, and ultimately the changing landscape of buyers. Because there’s no relevance to the customer, no relevance to the marketplace, and no tie to what the product will enable the business to accomplish.
Today’s salesperson must deeply understand her customer’s industry and business, his customer’s specific pain points and opportunities. And from there, the salesperson must architect a solution that is hyper-relevant to the customer, addressing today’s needs and enables tomorrow’s opportunities. Without that relevancy to the customer and its industry, more often than not, there is no sale.
So how can companies ensure relevancy? At EMC, we are shifting our model – we still focus on providing best-of-breed, cutting-edge technology, but we are also going deeper into our customers’ businesses to understand what they need, what they want, and the best way to help them achieve their goals. It’s not always about selling the most expensive or the largest amount. That’s a short-term gain and we’re not interested in blips.
We know our success depends on our customers’ success. So we are building solutions that have, in the words of Webster’s, “significant and demonstrable bearing” on our customers’ businesses. Often, uncovering the best solution means leaning on our partners’ expertise in specific industries. Our partners play a critical role in diagnosing customer pain points, and helping to prescribe the right solution. This is one of the many reasons I’m so excited about EMC’s Global Alliances, and the ability to leverage the vertical expertise from our partners: the coupling of our world-class solutions and with our partners’ IP and experience not only answers the question of relevancy, but solves the problems facing our customers today.
We’ve never experienced a market as fluid as today’s. Transformation is all around us, in every industry and in every operation. To me, it couldn’t be more thrilling to be a part of it, and know that EMC, together with our partners, is driving forward a new reality for many of our customers.
