Do You Want Fries With That?
Written on June 21, 2012.
One reason that McDonald’s dominates the fast-food burger charts is that they listen to their customers and tweak their offerings for individual markets. The chain just finished the Mein Burger contest in Germany which allowed customers to pitch new sandwiches and vote online. The first of five winners just started selling: the Pretzelnator burger with ham, cheese, and a pretzel-style bun.
It’s important to let your customers have a say in your product line, but also to anticipate what the market needs. Everyday, 64 million people in 188 countries eat at McDonald’s and the company has to retain the hard-core Quarter Pounder with cheese crowd, but also foresee how the market might shift – and give customers a reason to come back into the store. Hence, McCafe and free WiFi, smoothies and oatmeal. Oh, and the Pretzelnator.
I think Intel does this with the 3rd generation Intel Core vPro processor family, too. There are some features – such as hardware-based KVM with multiple screen support, as well as Instant-on Technology – that have become standard tools that many MSPs and IT consultants (as well as their clients) couldn’t live without.
Then there are features that were developed with the future in mind. Intel Labs, for instance, has worked on a variety of innovations to make it more difficult for hackers to access your information, for malware to corrupt your applications, or for viruses to infest your system. You can see the results of some of this in the new chip. Intel Identity Protection Technology with Public Key Infrastructure is just one of the components of the new hardware-assisted security developed to keep the identity and assets both corporate and personal users safe from hackers – and it was designed to address the rise in logons and passwords required for today’s computing. You can read more about security challenges associated with the proliferation of devices and malware here. Meanwhile, I’ll be on the road interviewing some of the folks at Intel to get their take on what’s new and great in the 3rd generation Intel Core vPro processors. You can see the first video here.
It’s more than just burgers at McDonalds, it’s about relationships with suppliers, customers and the market. How do you think about your customers and market? Let me know here or on Twitter @Eric_D_Townsend.
Eric Townsend is Director of MSP and SMB Marketing for Intel Corporation. You can contact Eric at activation@intelmsp.com.
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