Some weeks ago I read a fun article where companies were compared to bad marriages. While dating (that is, before you become a customer) they’re nice, attentive, generous and willing to please you. But once the contract is signed, most companies start treating you like a simple number on their list and tend to ignore your feedback.
I believe Dell was thinking about this whole issue when they launched Ideastorm last February. Ideastorm is an online community focused on gathering all kinds of ideas from Dell users.
According to the company’s words:
Ideastorm brings all of us closer to the creative side of technology by allowing you to share ideas and interact with other customers and Dell experts.
In this way Dell has opened a communication channel between the company and its users, which is really positive. They’re free to express their opinions about their Dell experience or general technological developments. But above all, they can suggest new products and services to the company.
So far Ideastorm has gathered more than 3,000 ideas, the top suggestion being a better support for Linux on Dell computers. Bearing this in mind, the company launched a Linux survey which was taken by more than 100,000 people. The results showed that at least 70% of them would happily use Dell computers with Linux.
Today these users should feel proud of themselves: they have made their voices heard. Dell just announced that they’ll be offering Linux pre-installed on certain desktop and notebook computers. There’s no information about release dates yet or which Linux distributions will be available but, still, it’s definitely an important step towards a better relationship between companies and customers.
