Tidbits
One of the interesting things about large vendors is that they have the resources to address matters that are not directly and solely part of the supply and value chain processes that of necessity occupy most or even the entire attention of smaller companies. As an example, EMC has embedded in its corporate DNA a fanatical attention to the needs of its customers, which it measures via customer satisfaction surveys and customer councils. More recently, EMC has added a customer loyalty initiative that measures the likelihood of retaining existing customers or acquiring new clients from competitors, and the company plans to strengthen that effort. Customers should wish that each of their vendors had such a robust program to proactively monitor and address issues that matter most.
EMC also supports a corporate sustainability initiative that reinforces its practical commitments to social and environmental responsibility. Although EMC can take some internal actions, such as working to manage its use of energy in its facilities and products, a lot of its efforts here are collaborative. Working with other vendors, EMC can help bring about changes that meet, say, environmental or international working conditions goals. EMC and other similarly motivated vendors should be commended and encouraged in their efforts.
As a long-time participant in the information technology industry, customer meetings tend to bring my type of people (i.e. geeks) together for several days for learning (as well as other activities). Even the marketplace represented by the product solutions pavilion is a welcome and familiar sight (though I wasn't buying anything!). The reason that everything is so welcome is that it represents how technology is on the move, still growing, changing and adding value to the real world.
EMC World 2010 reinforced the idea that the positive effects of IT will continue through companies taking the first steps to the private cloud. What EMC is saying is that there is much more that IT can do and that the private cloud will enable progress that benefits IT, the enterprise as a whole, and society in general (as IT is a major economic driver). In EMC's case, knowing and clearly describing where the road ahead leads can help IT organizations think about where they are going, why they should want that particular future, and what they have to do to achieve that vision. At the time that this story was published, David Hill of the Mesabi Group is doing business with EMC.
