English

There are several examples of how Dell, the multinational technology corporation, is investing on social tools to engage their customers. Richard Binhammer, Senior Manager - Corporate Affairs at Dell, tells us about the company’s experience so far.

I read you say “Social media is an ideal tool to reach customers more quickly, efficiently, frequently and cost effectively”, it “is an ideal tool to listen, learn and engage in real conversations with customers”. Are Dell’s objectives for the use of social tools the same now as they were when you started?

Yes, our objectives are squarely focused on relationships with customers…listening, learning and engaging in a direct manner to constantly improve our business and strengthen customer connections.

The Community area of Dell’s public site is very strong. IdeaStorm and Direct2Dell are just two great examples of how Dell is using social tools to engage customers. What have you learned with these experiences so far?

That our customers like to connect, learn and share with each other and that they - and we - all benefit when working together.

Dell’s use of social tools to engage with customers includes the creation of new platforms but also includes making use of existing platforms where their customers already are. Like Facebook, for example, where a year ago, Dell set up a group on Facebook called “Social Media for Small Business - Powered by Dell”. The mission for that group is to “[c]reate a community for small businesses to learn how to best use social media to grow their companies”. Why have you created this group (and possibly others at other social networking sites)?

We want to be a resource. Certainly using technology is a great way for any business, large or small, to improve productivity. It’s also a great way to effectively reach customers and connect with increasingly and tech-savvy customers all over the world, so not only do we use our own products, we want to share our experiences using technology to better connect with customers….just as we like to share what our customers are doing that is innovative with technology, like our “take your own path” heros. I like to think that we have not forgotten our entrepreneurial roots about making technology more accessible, usable and valuable to every one.

Building new platforms and bringing customers in (Dell Community) versus reaching out to customers where they already are (e.g. Facebook, Twitter). Are you already in a position to assess which one seems the most effective? Or are they serving completely different purposes?

We’re constantly evaluating what works and what doesn’t. Fundamentally though it is all about going where our customers are and where the conversations about us are taking place. We want to be part of the conversations with customers. So, sure, you can find things on Facebook or Twitter or at Dell Lounge or at our community sites. However, each of those often has a very different purpose. Our Facebook page, which has over 30,000 members, offers customers a look into who we are. We can share company updates, new products, even events. Twitter, on the other hand, gives us the chance to share our best deals at @DellOutlet, but it is also a place where we connect with gamers or data center IT pros, cloud computing folks and many others. So, yes, the tools may be different but it is all about connecting with people… and, most importantly, to listen and learn and engage with others.

Photo from Flickr. (CC) Brian Solis, www.briansolis.com.

Besides Dell’s use of social tools to engage with customers, the same type of tools are also being used internally. In an interview, Robin Johnson, Dell’s CIO, said “[a]t Dell, [the use of social tools] tend to focus on generating ideas for products, product development processes and sales. (…) What I’m really trying to do is foster debate internally among our 80,000 employees in 20 locations”. What kind of social tools are you using internally to achieve these goals?

We have a tool with the same model as IdeaStorm called EmployeeStorm, for employees to share their ideas about products and other aspects of Dell’s business. We also have employee facing blogs, including one for each of our business units that focuses on consumers, large enterprise, public sector and small and medium business customers. We are also experimenting with micro-blogging tools which have been really successful with our employees so far. Our network has now grown to over 8,000 users around the world.

What happens to an idea submitted on EmployeeStorm?

It is very much like IdeaStorm. Ideas are voted on and brought to the attention of whoever in the various businesses is responsible.

Is the use of social tools already considered as business as usual at Dell or are you still in the process of convincing employees of the benefits and teaching them how to make the most of the tools?

We are always working towards the integration of social media into the everyday business – where it makes sense and can assist us in improving business and connecting with customers or other Dell partners.

How would you describe Dell employees’ internal adoption of all these tools?

The blogs and micro-blogging tools have been welcomed with open arms. I think employees have enjoyed the kind of real-time interaction that these tools offer.

What have been Dell’s toughest challenges throughout this process?

You just need to be willing to take the risk for the sake of innovation and take a look at what the real business objectives are. We are constantly learning and improving and nothing is perfect, from our perspective…so in some respects there is ongoing change and improvement. There’s no rule book making it an exciting area of work to scale and realize more efficiencies and effectiveness. Smartly done, it is all great!

Any advice you would like to share with other organizations about the use of social tools?

As your questions have noted, you can’t be afraid to fail. Be thoughtful in your planning and execution of course and be ready and enthusiastic about engaging with your customers. You will have to give up what you thought of as control, but I think participation becomes far more meaningful when you really think about it….leading to even more brand loyalty and connection.

Note: A Portuguese translation of this conversation is available here.