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Why Every Company Needs to be More Like IBM and Less Like Apple
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IBM’s a successful company. They’ve been around for a very long time. Not many companies can say that in their industry, or many others.
But Apple is beyond successful. Apple has done some pretty impressive things over the years. They’ve done it by operating in ways that are completely foreign to companies like IBM.
I think anyone who is close to Apple and it’s employees will tell you that Steve Jobs is the one who has driven this company. Driven it the way he felt it should have been driven.
Now that he is gone, I won’t be surprised if Apple becomes more like IBM and less like Apple.
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[Walter Soyka] “a much more unified model for “the customer” and one-size-fits-all approach to meeting their needs”
Above all, Apple is the “i-something” brand for around 78% or more of their product line. Where their profit centers are, only their accountants know, and I’d imagine they’re pretty creative, too. So one of the most dangerous business practices is to keep swinging the bat the same way that you swung it when you hit that home run, because thats what we expect from the heavy-hitter/sluggers. We see the ‘i” invading and taking over the entire Mac world, zombie-style, as they unify their OS so that it looks the same on every platform, whether its a phone or the Lion-ized MacPro. Even if it sports 16 cores. Probably more so. But wouldn’t it be nice to “swipe” between AVID, AE, MochaPro, Resolve…???
Over the last half-dozen years, man, the wailing, hair-pulling and gnashing of teeth over the un-Apple look of SHAKE and COLOR… I thought it would never end, but Apple saw to that by terminating those applications. So now we will shortly have the gestural/swipe editor upsold to the previously ProApp group — of course, this is the way iMovie works on the iPad – and in what way does this not make sense? What works small should work big too, right? Well, except in businesses large enough to need actuarial figures. Makes those “investment” business cases hard to pitch… y’know, to… well… “bankers”… or anybody who needs the numbers. But if your whole business investment is $299…. sorry, uh, refresh me, what would be the concern?
So there is an argument that “Apple is in the hardware business”, and uses the software as a sort of entree to move boxes. I’d suggest that is not necessarily the case, either, since the biggest thing that Apple does now is design — the actual hardware is produced by someone else, again.
I saw a business article discussing Intel’s Windows8 tablet recently — wouldn’t it be interesting if the actual manufacturers decided to step around the middle man and started producing and selling their own product instead of letting a design company put their fancy label on it, jack up the price, and keep steering the customers back into their selling compound?
“The Price Goes Up as the Name Goes On!” like the old Zenith ads might have said. You do remember Zenith (Motorola), right? or Electrohome? or RCA? or…
jPo
You mean “Old Ben”? Ben Kenobi?
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[Kevin Patrick] “Now that he is gone, I won’t be surprised if Apple becomes more like IBM and less like Apple.”
Most of the corporate film work I do is for IBM here in the UK, I’ve made a couple of films this year about their Centennial (on FCPX!) Apple would do very well to learn lessons from IBM as they face their future without Steve Jobs at the helm.
“FCPX Agitator”
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Sony and Apple can be compared in many ways. Both became highly succesful by bringing in inovation. But there is a core difference, while sonys founder and ceo encourged its employees to develope ideas a was mmostly hands off, Jobs was all the contrary very hands on kinda of a guy.
Sony still dominates many markets But since Akito Moritas death the company has been in great trouble and loosing ground, could this be the same for Apples after Steves demise?
Richard
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[Kevin Patrick] “Now that he is gone, I won’t be surprised if Apple becomes more like IBM and less like Apple.
“I don’t know about that.
I just had an experience a couple of weeks ago in an Apple store that was totally contrary to any retail experience I’ve ever had.
I had a 1st gen MacBook Air that I wanted to pass along to my son. I thought it’s only problem was a broken hinge, and I saw that there was a hinge problem with them, so warrantee care was not an issue.
I take it into the Apple store and the “Genius” looks it over and agrees that yes, the “mfg defect” is covered even tho the unit is long out of warrantee. So they pack it up and send it into repair.
Here’s where things get interesting.
I get a call from the repair facility telling me that along with the hinge issue, the case has two damaged corners AND the logic board is bad. (probably from a drop.) He quotes me the cost of a new logic board at $600+. I mention that it’s not worth that level of repair.
What does he do? The tech calls the Genius at the retail store for a consultation. They huddle via phone, and he comes back with a discounted price that knocks TWO THIRDS off the cost of the repair. My son gets a nice computer for $200 bucks. And when they returned it, it was obvious that not only did they repair the logic board and the hinges, but they completely replaced the entire case. It literally looked like the day it left the store.
The odd thing was that the 20-something year old Genius at the store level had the ultimate authority not only to solve my problem, but that the “chain of customer satisfaction” stopped at HIS level. Not at his managers, or at some supervisory level, but at the customer-facing employee. He controlled even the REPAIR centers behavior. It all went through him.
Considering parts and labor there’s no way they didn’t take at least a small loss on the transaction. But they certainly achieved an extremely happy customer.
That’s what impressed me.
Apple gets this right, even at the “street level.”
And at least in the retail sense, this is the total antithesis of a company that wants to “exert control” at every stage.
FWIW.
“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Connor
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Interesting, when i tried a similar trick to walk into the store and replace some case screws, i was told to go and find them on ebay. Guess it depends
which Genius you get on the day… -
[Bill Davis] “Considering parts and labor there’s no way they didn’t take at least a small loss on the transaction. But they certainly achieved an extremely happy customer.”
I’ve had a few similar experiences at the Apple store. Most notable was with my iPhone.
When I bought the phone (new contract at AT&T), the protective case I wanted wouldn’t be in stock for a few days. So I figured I would just be really careful with it until then. The day I went to pickup the case I got a pretty bad scratch right in the middle of the screen (I honestly don’t know how it happened). I went to the Apple store and talked to the guy at the front door about the scratch. He then set me up to talk with a Genius. When it was my turn, I showed the lady and explained the situation. She opened up a new iPhone and traded me, NO COST (after making it clear that I have to be more careful with this one)! They certainly achieved another extremely happy customer.
Whether or not the Genius looked up my name and saw that I had spent ~8K in that store over the last couple years, I don’t know…
The over-all service I’ve received since my first Apple product purchase in 2008 (Mac Pro) has been exceptional. I think this treatment inspires some level of “Loyalty”. I’m really big on customer service and am willing to pay a bit more to buy from the company that gives it. So, provided that they continue this standard of customer service (although I don’t expect the free replacements to continue) and their products continue to fit the needs of my business, they have earned a customer for life… We’ll see.
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[Bill Davis] “And at least in the retail sense, this is the total antithesis of a company that wants to “exert control” at every stage.”
I think you experienced Apple’s desire to exert control at every stage. Your positive experience happened in Apple’s store. A place where they have complete control over the user’s experience. An experience that impressed you.
Other companies have tried and failed to what Apple is doing at retail. While Apple is not only successful, but their stores have some of the highest revenue per square foot in the industry. At least according for this Forbes article.
The retail experience was very important to Jobs. A position that reported directly to him.
Apple may become more like IBM. But I wonder if (and probably when) they do if your experience will still be the same. Or if an IBM-like Apple will pay a little more attention to the bottom line as opposed to the consumer experience.
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IBM is a very good company. They’re successful. They make money and pay dividends. That’s a pretty impressive accomplishment for a company that’s as big as they are and has been around as long as they are. They also record the largest number of patents for any company every year for the past 18 years. (at least according to IBM)
Although I’m not sure Apple would be a better company being more like IBM.
FCS might still be around. But overall, I’m not sure Apple would be better to be like IBM.
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[Walter Soyka] “Volkswagen never thought that their cars were ugly, nor that their cars were lemons. “
hmm they are still ugly! lol
Like to compare VW with Apple check this one out:
VW Group is
Volkswagen, Audi (Auto Union), Seat, Skoda and many more.
I wouldn’t so not be surprise to a similar tradition in the computer world.Yeah VW are ugly except for there Passat CC.
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