Happy New Year everyone!
And what a busy and challenging year 2013 has been for us in the Customer Service Innovation Group.
Looking over the stats for Ask the Expert, they really do show how much the program has grown since 2012. In 2012 we hosted 27 events.
In 2013, we surpassed this with a total of 91 events with over 125,000 page views, and over 71,000 visits. EMC Ask the Expert is now an integrated production tool that is part of EMC’s Customer Service innovation offerings.It is is multilingual, and incorporated into all aspects of the product life cycle. We host Ask the Expert events for product launches as well as continuing those events throughout the life cycle of the established product. The phenomenal success of this program is very much down to the participating community members of the ECN. And particularly I would like to thank all of the experts who gave up their time and expertise to answer questions on the their hosted hot topics. Thank you all so much for making this program such a success in 2013. We will continue to grow, and expand EMC’s Ask the Expert program in 2014. We learned a lot in the past year and while we intend to continue to offer these events for new and existing products, expect to see us where you want us to be. We not that the Social Media evolution continue unabated.
We intend to offer these events where it is relevant for our community. We will continue to be based on the ECN but are happy to meet our peers on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest and other platforms that arise as relevant to Social Community collaboration.
While Ask the Expert has been successful due the community member, it is important for me to single out one contributor who I considered to be a joint Project Manager on Ask the Expert. That is Stephanie McBride. Stephanie did phenomenal work with Experts, with internal EMC business units and really helped us Market the program in a very relevant and community-centric way. She is very much responsible for integrating ATE into our launch process for products. I cannot thank her enough for her stellar work ethic and passion for the program. As you all know, Stephanie has moved on to Boston University. And while she will be missed very much at EMC, I know she will continue to do stellar and remarkable work in her new role.
Now to talk about EMC Elect. What a phenomenal success its been. Starting out in 2013 on January 15th as a brand new program it garnered a phenomenal response, attention and popularity. We recognized 75 people in 2013, who on average had ~50,000 unique Social Media followers.
And these 75 people were the driving force behind the EMC Elect success. Within a short time EMC Elect went from new to something EMC cannot do without. Whether its at a conference, product launch or just a techie hangout, you see #EMCElect and you know some very relevant people are sharing very relevant information and community connectivity.
EMC Elect is quickly being seen as the equivalent of press or analysts. What they have to say, everyone wants to hear. Matt Brender and I worked hard very hard to facilitate this within EMC. But the hardest work was done by the EMC Elect members and I would like to thank all of them for their contributions in 2013. Thank you so much for making this a success that amplifies Social Community and collaboration.
Very soon we’ll be announcing the EMC Elect for 2014. It’s been tough for the judges this year, given the scale of increase in nominations. Being An EMC Elect is a coveted title it seems. and in 2014 the program is sure to grow in popularity, attention and engagement.
And while iit is sad to see Matt Brender move on from EMC, I want to thank him for his immense contribution and drive for this program. I will miss him an awful lot, but rest assured what we built together will continue to grow and thrive.
I intend to see EMC Elect thrive and rest assured the EMC Elect team inside EMC has grown significantly too since we started. It is big focus for EMC and the team are very much behind executing and really providing the new EMC Elect even greater opportunities to engage.
Its been a tremendous ride in 2013. 2014 looms large and you can bet I will be a busy man with two amazing programs. But I will never loose sight of the fact that the success of these programs are dependent upon the community engagement of its members. There are a lot of you to thank, and I do so humbly. I look forward to working with you all again in the New year. Here’s to to a challenging year and great successes throughout. To you and yours all the best for 2014.
Read more from Mark Browne: http://baysidechronicle.com
“The opinions expressed here are my personal opinions. Content published here is not read or approved in advance by EMC and does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of EMC nor does it constitute any official communication of EMC.”
Senior Program Manager
EMC Customer Service Innovation
