CSA 2011: Notebooks Guarantee Satisfaction

We are looking at a high growth segment that is undergoing a sea change in both form function and industry taxonomy. Yet again Dell rules here in terms of Notebook satisfaction scores and it managed to grow its satisfaction scores to 89.07 from 87.15 the previous year. Both HP as well as Lenovo also saw their customer satisfaction scores going up indicating the delivery of higher satisfaction by vendors on the notebook space. In terms of upsets, it is surprising to see Toshibas scores going down to 82.37 from last years 85.62, but its #6 rank remained unchanged. Acer meanwhile saw its rank going down to #5 and it saw a steep fall on scores to 82.38 from last years 86.03. Meanwhile Sonys publicity blitz on positioning Notebook as a fashion accessory seemed to have worked on the enterprise side too, with its rank going up by one place to #4 against last years #5.

As we look at the individual parameters, yet again in overall products Dell posted highest scores among all vendors at 90.29. But it lost to HP in pre-sales and marketing, with HP at #1 with 89.08. But Dell bounced back with vengeance on the value for money factor and timely deliver with pretty good scores compared to others.

Dells success with channel partners has been the result of its direct engagement with distributors, thereby forging strong channel ties and an in-depth understanding of the local market when it went the channel way. Under the SMB strategy, it has earmarked 200 of its channel partners who do only commercial series (the Vostro series). This seemed to have worked in favor of Dell over the year.

Click on the image to enlarge

Click on the image to enlarge

Sonys aggression over the last year seems to be working in its favor; its sleek form factor notebooks on VAIO series for both enterprise and commercial segments connected well with the market. What Sony achieved effectively is shedding its upmarket-only brand image and making definite forays in becoming a mass player. Sony climbing up to #4 position was quite impressive as only in the last year it began tapping the market aggressively with a huge product refresh and revamp.

If we look at the year ahead, due to the form factor and processors like Intels Core i series, the laptop configurations have changed a lot, and hence increasingly it is becoming difficult to separate a enterprise class notebook with a consumer one as processor and the other hardware ecosystem are same. Only when it comes to the OS, screen size and weight, a definite separation happens. So looking ahead vendors will increasingly find it difficult to position commercial notebooks to enterprise as enterprise users too are demanding consumer features like higher graphics and larger screens.

So with these trends 2011 would be an interesting year with customer priorities and expectations changing a lot and what it means is a new set of customer demands vendors need to address going forward.

Best quality products coupled with efficient service leave a good impression on the customer

Mahesh Bhalla, general manager, consumer and small and medium business, Dell India

How do functionality, convenience in operation and adoption of the product enable Dell to score a point with its customers?

We are in the business of selling and hence it is important for us to understand who are our customers and understand their needs so that we can design our offerings accordingly. So, our offerings for students, gamers, mobile professionals, large enterprises, small enterprises, etc, are distinct and different from each other. Apart from just the right design and easy to use features, in case anything goes wrong with the product, the company takes prompt action. Dell offers complete coverage in case of accidental damage also.

The cost of a Dell notebook is slightly more than similar products available in the market. But on purchase Dell helps its customer with certain services that a customer did not expect while purchasing the product, which leaves him surprised. At Dell, our responsibility extends beyond mere sales. In fact, we are responsible for the entire life cycle of the product. We at Dell believe that best quality products coupled with efficient service leave a good impression on the customer than the endorsement of the product by a Bollywood celebrity.

To ensure customer satisfaction, a companys responsibility does not end with the sale of the product. How has Dell ensured that it fulfills this responsibility as a producer?

If a customer has any grievance, he can directly get in touch with Dell or obtain the required services by going online or through chat. In fact, there is a single point of contact to understand customer grievances. In fact, we have a remarkable presence in over 650 cities, and intend to increase it in the future.

How has Dell maintained balance in walking the tightrope between being environment-friendly and also keeping its customers happy?

Dell was among the first companies to undertake green-IT initiatives and in fact we have been able to achieve our carbon neutral targets six months ago. With our eyes set on being green, the entire life cycle from product design to recycling of the product has been designed accordingly. We are the only company that offers 100% free recycling services to our customers.

What is the road ahead?

There is an importance of offering choice as it helps to provide more affordable services and products and also does not result in the locking of customers. With more services and choice the industry will become more competitive. There will be new offerings in the notebook segment; smartphones have witnessed a lot of announcements. Recently, Dell forayed into the new product category with its offerings like Streak and XCD range. In the future, more remarkable announcements are expected to be witnessed in the small device segment.