Building relationships is crucial to every successful business. I have the privilege of meeting with an average of 35 companies each month; some are longtime EMC customers and others are looking to strengthen their partnership.
Along the way, we sometimes lose sight of why they choose us. The reality is that EMC has the most relevant products and the broadest portfolio of services capabilities in its history. We have the most robust solutions in the marketplace, as well as strong technology alliances and partnerships. We possess substantial financial resources for pursuing R&D and acquisitions while maintaining solid financial stability. We have the ability to help companies effectively save money on legacy IT so they can strategically invest in the future.
The breadth of these factors is why companies choose to work with established players in the industry. We ease the workload placed on their shoulders. The ability to significantly impact our customer’s business success is the main reason I have stayed a part of the EMC Federation for almost 25 years.
A healthcare company I recently met with had been frustrated that it was taking nine months for their developers to get the resources they needed to do the job. After partnering with EMC, VCE and VMware, it now takes nine seconds or less to deploy the equivalent new infrastructure elements, allowing them to focus on improving the healthcare experience and understanding better and faster ways to get and keep customers healthy.
Financial service companies are frequently focused on the need for speed and agility. One such company is world-renowned for stable insurance and mutual fund investments. However, with the internet now posting insurance premiums and fund returns online, their customers are able to see minute-to-minute changes in performance, increasing the traffic level on their trading systems exponentially. Their most profitable offerings are being disrupted at the core of their business model. We are actively engaged in educating the leadership team on technology that ensures they can do business faster by immediately responding to changes in the marketplace, as well as identifying specialty data that can be commercialized. They’re looking at all EMC’s offerings to help them get there.
A $15B company in the highly competitive food services industry provides thousands of small restaurants with the food, beverage, and serving supplies they need to open each day. Their competitive edge is the ability to deliver a great customer experience with their electronic ordering and delivery processes. Their IT system’s performance and stability are critical to ensure that their customers continue relying on them each day. Again, EMC is the core element to their environment.
This track record of executing for our customers opens the door for much deeper engagement. All three companies asked EMC to challenge their way of thinking about IT. With our strong field teams and our world class product and services, EMC has been able to move from being a vendor, to a supplier, to being a business partner, to the ultimate goal of being a strategic business partner.
Great business relationships take time; they’re built on trust. It’s only when you earn trust that customers feel comfortable enough to open up a dialogue around discussing what’s possible with their business.
Everyone at the table knows that not every idea is going to stick, but it’s the ability to sit with a customer to strategize on how we can help them that is refreshing and exciting.
Companies are looking for strong business partners now more than ever. I’m convinced EMC is in the right place at the right time with the right offerings to enable our customers to transform their business.
