Dell: Facing Up To Past Mistakes

Dell’s laser focus on cost efficiency has long been a core strategy. But like Home Depot, Dell’s cost-cutting efforts have alienated its customers. The "direct" sales model of selling computers to consumers via phone and the Internet eliminates the costs of shipping to stores and tracking inventory. But outsiders say that mentality also leads to moves that almost seem designed to put customers last. Dell, for instance, staffs some customer service call centres with fewer than 500 workers. A center that small is almost guaranteed to be frequently overwhelmed.

Enter Richard L. "Dick" Hunter, Dell’s new head of customer service. If he has his way, workers in the company’s call centres will soon have a coloured flag to raise when they run into trouble helping a customer. When the flag goes up, a supervisor will come running to help out. It’s an idea Hunter cribbed from Dell’s computer factories, where an assembler can raise a similar alarm. "In the factory, if there’s a problem, he flicks on a light and the next-level [builder] comes running," says Hunter. In the call center, "why not do the same ?"

Read the full story (BusinessWeek)