I recently attended the Technology Services World (TSW) 2014 Service Transformation conference in Las Vegas, where I had the opportunity to meet with IT industry peers to share insights and knowledge. I’m happy to report that EMC was recognized for its continued dedication to its Total Customer Experience (TCE) program at the event, winning the Innovation in Customer Commitment award for the second consecutive year from the Technology Services Industry Association (TSIA).
EMC was also recognized for the third time as a customer experience leader and received the prestigious 2014 Customer Experience Excellence Award from Temkin Group. This award recognizes EMC’s leadership in driving and measuring transformation in four key competencies: Purposeful Leadership, Compelling Brand Values, Employee Engagement and Customer Connectedness.
Customer Commitment is a Focus of EMC
EMC’s was recognized by the TSIA for our proactive data analytics-based solution, which addressed a third party component failure. If left unfixed, forecasts indicated there would be an increase in component failures annually by 40%, impacting a wide swath of EMC’s install base. By putting the customer first, EMC committed to delivering a proactive, preemptive solution that replaced suspect components before they failed. Even though EMC did not own the flawed component, we took ownership of the problem because it was in the best interest of our customers. This solution came at a cost to EMC but the end result was more important — protecting our customers and maintaining customer satisfaction.
The results of the solution speak for themselves and prove to be a competitive differentiator to both the customer and EMC:
- EMC’s Net Promoter Score has increased 146% in the past 2 years, launching EMC into the top three for Net Promoter Scores in the IT industry according to Temkin
- Investments in customer-focused Lean Six Sigma (LSS) programs include:
- 600+ LSS certifications sponsored by EMC
- 2X+ increase in certifications from 2011-13
- 50+ LSS customer initiatives sponsored by EMC
- Overall net savings for EMC attributable to the effort was $81.8 million in 2013
The TSIA award holds tremendous weight to me because it’s our peers that review the applications and choose the winners. In fact, there may be no better way to “benchmark” where EMC currently stands in the industry than gleaning feedback at a forum like TSW through shared ideas, direction, and strategy discussions. One key message that I took away from the conference is the important role professional services play in differentiating and adding value to each customer’s experience.
Customer commitment takes perseverance and hard work. It is not owned by a single team at EMC but rather by every single employee in the company who can impact the customer experience in their own way. EMC’s best practices focus on ensuring customer success by cultivating a customer-first culture and committing to continuous improvement by leveraging technology and innovation. This is something that we recently celebrated at our EMC Total Customer Experience Day and is a mission we will continue to pour resources, time, and innovation into to further differentiate the value of the EMC customer experience.
