Understanding customer value shifts.

• Author: Motley, L. Biff
• Position: Customer Satisfaction

Intel Corp., the king of microprocessors, recently announced outstanding earnings results. This marked a major performance turnaround, which began with a strategic shift two and a half years earlier. This change was the result of the company's fundamental recognition that its prior--very successful--business strategy had become outdated as customers' values shifted. The insights from this case are applicable to bankers as we strive to understand similar shifts in our customers' values.

Prior to 2000, the microprocessor business was built on speed. Moore's Law, which stated that, "Processor speed will double while chip size is cut in half every 18 months," was the driving truism that framed all product development and marketing at Intel and its competitors. The race was for smaller, faster chips. Intel was the perennial winner. CEO Craig Barrett said at one point, "We did great for years just creating technology and throwing it over the fence to let people use it."

But then things began to change. After the Y2K frenzy, it became apparent that different customers--especially the laptop, mobile computer users--wanted different things. In the world of mobility, customers valued battery life more than speed; and since speed required more power, there was a direct two-dimensional conflict in customer values. An Intel marketing executive, Paul Ortellini, recognized this shift and convinced the successful product-focused company to shift its orientation away flora raw technology and toward customers. He wanted to find out what types of customers were out there in this maturing market and what they valued. This initiative resulted in the definition of four unique user clusters: desktop, mobile laptop, servers, and cell phones. All of these dusters need chips, but their values are different. For example, laptop users value mobility and extended battery life more that speed. Microprocessor clock times had advanced so far that this group of customers could not distinguish the difference...