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Dell to go Community Driven Feature Design in Latest Web Strategy “IdeaStorm”

Categories: Community Marketing, Social MediaPosted on February 16th, 2007

Dell appears to be a company of the future, they’re opening the lines of communication using the web to build better products and services.

When I was invited by Lionel of Dell to hang with bloggers, customers, and press with Michael Dell in vegas in CES, he was very receptive to listening to the community. Now he’s manifested a new website that empowers Dell customers to submit ideas for feature improvements, vote up or down (is this wisdom of the crowd) and then working in a collaborative nature with Dell Engineers to really build the products that a customer wants to buy.

The online manifestations of this is called Dell IdeaStorm, which is really borrowing from Cluetrainish ideas, and nods to Johnathan Schwartz’s mantra that “intranets are anachronisms”. I do believe that the web is a platform that can allow customers and companies to build products efficiently and quickly using real time feedback. I hope this to become a shining example of how it could work. There’s more information of use on the About page.

[Companies of the Future will collaboratively design products with customers using web tools. These products will meet the specific needs of the people, reduce costs, and streamline the go-to-market process]

The lines of feedback appear to be very open to Dell, and even Michael Dell himself (who told us he reads blogs) as the official Dell blog announces they are accepting Videos from Dell users.

Not only do savvy companies of the future rely on their customers to aid in the product requirements and engineering process, but they can also rely on the community to help spread the word. I’m impressed, and hope this will live up to the potential I see it could have.

Update: Here’s an updated Blog Post from Dell that explains in their words what they’re up to.

Update 2: I find is disappointing that after months (or is it years now) that the blogosphere has criticized Dell to listen and join the conversation that when Dell does something potentially amazing that folks miss the whole point and make it a Dell copies Digg meme rather than focusing on what’s really important –Dell is opening up to build better products.

Friends, please see the forest, not the branches on the trees.

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This entry was posted on Friday, February 16th, 2007 at 12:23 pm and is filed under Community Marketing, Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

18 Responses to “Dell to go Community Driven Feature Design in Latest Web Strategy “IdeaStorm””

  1. I think we’ll be seeing this type of thing from more and more companies. I wonder how long it will take for the Digg mob to claim that Dell stole the Digg-style voting buttons from Digg???



    2. Posted by Mike on February 16th, 2007 at 12:52 pm

  2. I think Yahoo folks will say Digg stole it from them, then Digg folks will say that Dell stole it from Digg.

    Who’s on first?



    3. Posted by jeremiah_owyang on February 16th, 2007 at 1:54 pm

  3. [...] Jeremiah Owyang calls this a nod to the idea that “intranets are anachronisms,” though the second most popular submission as I write this is a call for a separate, internal IdeaStorm site for Dell employees.   That makes me question how enthusiastic Dell’s employees will be about IdeaStorm.  The leading suggestion is the make Dell more ecologically responsible. [...]



    4. Posted by Dell Pays Tribute to Digg with New IdeaStorm Site on February 16th, 2007 at 3:28 pm

  4. I think that this type of activity will become more and more prevalent down the road. The only thing that I don’t think will take off is the user-generated video section on their site…not sure what users would submit about the product…



    5. Posted by Damon Billian on February 16th, 2007 at 3:56 pm

  5. I completely agree with your Update 2, Jeremiah. I hope we’ll see other companies be inspired by this approach to gathering product requirements, versus shying away from it for fear of being a “me-too”.



    6. Posted by Jeff Maaks on February 16th, 2007 at 6:47 pm

  6. Jeremiah, I share the frustration you vent in Update 2. For whatever reason, people love to pile on and talk smack about how xyz site *stole* some feature from another. And it’s worse when the “victim” is a darling of the technorati, like Digg is.

    The sad thing is, it contributes the popular misconception many have of a given feature, like social networking or voting or tagging, being a product. At least you’re taking them to task for it.



    7. Posted by Pete Kazanjy on February 16th, 2007 at 7:02 pm

  7. Jeff

    Thanks my friend, we all want to see companies to the best they can.



    8. Posted by jeremiah_owyang on February 16th, 2007 at 7:38 pm

  8. Pete

    We’re in agreement, like Kevin Rose or whoever should pay copyright infringements to the founders of democracy or something.



    9. Posted by jeremiah_owyang on February 16th, 2007 at 7:40 pm

  9. [...] これはもしかするとウェブ世界全般に渡る新しいトレンドになる兆候かもしれないので面白いのだが、今日（米国時間1/16）、DellはIdeaStormという新しい顧客サービスのサイトをローンチした。ユーザーはスペックや機能、サービス約款など、Dell製品に対する要望をなんでも投稿し、Dellユーザーのコミュニティーと共有することができる。この投稿に対して、他のユーザーがDigg方式で投票する。Dellの動きはYahoo! が似たようなサイトをローンチした翌日に行われた。同社はStudioDellというDell製品に関連するビデオ共有サイトもスタートさせた。内容はDell社自身で制作したビデオとユーザーからの投稿と双方がある。コメント機能はIdeaStormにはあるが、StudioDellにはない。Dell社はこのアイディアを全面的にDiggに負っていることを十分に認めて、IdeaStormはコミュニティーの掲示板とDigg.comの合体したようなものだと述べている。Jeremiah Owyangはブログで「〔IdeaStormのような動きは〕イントラネットがすでに時代錯誤だということの証拠のひとつ」と述べているが、私がこの記事を書いている時点で、IdeaStormで２番目に人気のある投稿は、Dell従業員のための別のIdiaStormを作ってくれないかというものだった。これではDellの従業員がIdeaStormをどれほど真剣に利用しようとしいるか疑念が残る。1番人気の提案は、Dellはもっと環境に配慮するべきだというもの。IdeaStormのようなサイトが生まれることは DiggやYouTubeによって知られるようになったパラダイムの有効性を強く証言するものだと思う。昨日ローンチしたばかりのYahoo! Suggestionサイトも、DellのIdeaStormもDiggにそっくりである。これに強く反発する人も多いが、昨日のMichael Arringtonの紹介記事も、そのコメント欄の意見も、Yahoo!を支持するものだった。こういうサイトを作るのはまったくスマートな動きだ。ウェブファンは、論理的に当たり前で広く普及しているプロセス（ソーシャルネットワークとかマッシュアップ）に対して大企業が特許権を主張するのを攻撃していながら、一方でパイオニアの切り開いた道を謙虚に追う者を非難するのはフェアではあるまい。MeneameやHuggがDigg方式を採用しているからといって凝らしめてやれという怒りの声などはあがっていない。無数の会社がビデオをアップロードできるサイトを作っているが、これをYouTubeのアイディアを盗んでいるといって非難するのは最低の石頭な連中だけだろう。Dellの新サイトは、やがて多くの企業が後を追うようになるような、大胆な試みだと思う。この双方向コミュニケーションの動きがどんどん進んで、やがて企業がユーザーの言い分を真剣に聞くようになることを期待する。[原文へ] dell [...]



    10. Posted by TechCrunch Japanese アーカイブ » Dell、Diggを賞賛する―IdeaStormをローンチ on February 16th, 2007 at 7:40 pm

  10. [...] Jeremiah Owyang calls this a nod to the idea that “intranets are anachronisms,” though the second most popular submission as I write this is a call for a separate, internal IdeaStorm site for Dell employees.   That makes me question how enthusiastic Dell’s employees will be about IdeaStorm.  The leading suggestion is the make Dell more ecologically responsible. [...]



    11. Posted by Multimedias.mobi » Dell Pays Tribute to Digg with New IdeaStorm Site on February 16th, 2007 at 7:53 pm

  11. [...] Jeremiah Owyang appelle cela un hommage au fait que “les intranets sont des anachronismes”. Pourtant alors que j’écris, la seconde soumission la plus populaire est un appel pour un IdeaStorm interne et séparé pour les employés de Dell. Cela montre combien les employés de Dell sont enthousiastes concernant d’IdeaStorm. L’idée principale est de rendre Dell plus écologiquement responsable. [...]



    12. Posted by TechCrunch en français » Dell rend hommage à Digg et YouTube avec IdeaStorm et StudioDell on February 19th, 2007 at 12:16 am

  12. [...] Turning it up with Customer Collaboration Just a few days ago, I helped to announce IdeaStorm, the idea was for Dell to create a Customer Feedback/Collaboration web tools that will let customers and employees create products together. Marshall Kirkpatrick at Techcrunch, wasn’t sure if I was completely right that employees were fully onboard. Engaget cleverly modifies the tagline as they state that Dell Wants You to Make It Suck Less with Digg Clone. Acknowledging the Voices of the People Well it appears that Dell corporate (which I hope includes some employees) that they are on board and that they are taking IdeaStorm seriously. [...]



    13. Posted by Web Strategy by Jeremiah » Social Media Saga continues as Company advances towards “Dell Swell” on February 25th, 2007 at 9:12 am

  13. [...] Jeremiah Owyang calls this a nod to the idea that “intranets are anachronisms,” though the second most popular submission as I write this is a call for a separate, internal IdeaStorm site for Dell employees.   That makes me question how enthusiastic Dell’s employees will be about IdeaStorm.  The leading suggestion is the make Dell more ecologically responsible. [...]



    14. Posted by Ajax Girl on March 23rd, 2007 at 6:05 pm

  14. “”Update 2: I find is disappointing that after months (or is it years now) that the blogosphere has criticized Dell to listen and join the conversation that when Dell does something potentially amazing that folks miss the whole point and make it a Dell copies Digg meme rather than focusing on what’s really important –Dell is opening up to build better products.
    Friends, please see the forest, not the branches on the trees.”"

    Jeremiah, I couldn’t agree more with your update #2. I can’t seem to find anyone that wants to take a walk through the forest. I am not talking about virtual trees, but real live customers, with real live on line voices.

    Since CES, when we sat together at the round table with Michael Dell, I have wanted to share a real live forest view with you. If you would like, I can send you a picture of the forest.



    15. Posted by David Marshall on April 6th, 2007 at 8:19 pm

  15. David, this is excellent, keep on sharing, here in these comments, or on your own blog. The world should know.



    16. Posted by jeremiah_owyang on April 7th, 2007 at 7:30 am

  16. [...] Dell may get serious about product design, and about getting feeback from customers and employees via a digg-like site, IdeaStorm. More on IdeaStorm from Jeremiah Owyang. [...]



    17. Posted by » News to know: Steve Jobs on teacher unions, Google stuff, daylight-saving bug | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com on May 22nd, 2007 at 4:15 pm

  17. Follow Fundamental Rules of Internet Marketing to Build Successful Business (Part 1)…

    When going online, few people give much thought to all the aspects of running an online business. But in order to be among the 5% of the businesses that still run after their first year, you need to keep a few things in mind.
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    18. Posted by Improve the Web on December 6th, 2007 at 8:17 pm

  18. [...] create a space for your customers to interact with your product/company and help you improve it (like Dell’s IdeaStorm) [...]



    19. Posted by Follow Fundamental Rules of Internet Marketing to Build Successful Business (Part 1) | Just Simple Marketing Works on April 3rd, 2008 at 1:28 pm

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