It’s all about trust. When I started my career at IBM, one of the favorite sales lines we used was, “No one ever lost their job because they chose IBM”. In fact, in the burgeoning business computer market, that was true. Why? It wasn’t the size of the company. Actually, we were forbidden to link customer success with IBM “bigness”; an artifact of the Consent Decree with the DOJ. It wasn’t always the technology either. Fledglings DEC, Wang and Basic Four, not to mention HP, were often a generation ahead of us. Oh, and did I mention we were the most expensive? So what was the difference? It was service and not just seminars and brochures. It was what I call Dark Day Service. It was the belief, the trust, that we would fix the problem.
The Dark Days are the time in a project when the wheels come off…and we can thank entropy for the fact they always do. Dark Day Service was what the company did when that happened. What resources were brought? What attitude did the company present? What sensitivity and real concern was exhibited for the customer’s situation? Was there a sincere sense of urgency that led to the relentless pursuit of resolution and customer satisfaction?
Few companies ever really ingrain in their people the fundamental and unshakable truism that getting the customer to the goal line is everything. But those that do, reap the rewards of long term profitable relationships. We see it in our industry. TSMC is known for its customer service and enjoys the leadership role. Synopsys has grabbed that high ground in EDA through customer satisfaction and became the leader as well. But it’s not always the biggest guys in the field that get the recognition as great Dark Day suppliers. We have enjoyed relationships with several small and very small IP suppliers that have done whatever it takes to make us successful and, thereby, allowed us pass it on to our customers. No, it’s not size, it’s attitude.
I have tried to recall the trust and customer satisfaction lessons taught me at a younger and very different IBM. And as eSilicon has engaged in 40nm developments (and quoting 28nm), I know it is not our size that wins, it’s not our R&D investments or experienced staff. I am told over and over again that our customers buy from us because they believe when the Dark Days arrive, when the wheels come off from broken IP, stalled EDA tools, changed architecture, missed verification bugs, ESD issue….and on and on…we are committed to resolve their problems as if they were our own. In short, they trust us.
What we do as an industry, what eSilicon does every day, is not easy and it’s getting tougher. We like that as it gives us more opportunity to add value. But we also see the concern of our customers (and their investors) in placing a 40nm or 28nm bet with a billion transistors (more switches than New York has light switches) and the power consumption of a small kitchen appliance. Most realize they can’t do it alone which means, more than anything else, one has to engage those partners where a trust exists and can thrive during the Dark Days.
eSilicon is committed to that trust, our customers and to those behaviors which contribute to them moving forward so that, one day, we can hear, “No one ever lost their job by choosing eSilicon”.
