The Dell Computer - Creative and Innovative

I feel that because both “creative” and “innovative” are basically synonyms for each other, being that both typically result in the other because both terms envelope originality and imagination, that for this paper, “creativeness” will have more to do with the “thoughts of originality” behind the product and “innovativeness” will have to do more with the “production of originality”. The product that immediately comes to mind when I define creativity and innovativeness this way is the Dell Computer. I believe Dell created the idea of a real personal computer and backed it up with innovation that allowed a personalized computer at a low price.

Dell has been creative and innovative for several reasons. Dell created the idea of an every man’s computer by making it possible for a customer to create his or her own computer according to their needs and budget constraints. For example, when ordering your computer you can choose the size of your hard drive and your processor speed. They have even recently added more options to personalize your computer, even letting you choose the color of your computer. By making the computer able to be personalized and at a reasonable price, a computer could be put in every family household and in every student hands. Dell also innovated a new process of buying a computer. They cut out the middle man, the brick and mortar store. The computer is sold directly to the customer through the internet. As well as selling directly to the customer, Dell also innovated a new process of creating a computer. The computer is not constructed until ordered and depending on where the computer is being sent (where the customer lives), the computer pieces are sent and put together at a distribution site closest to the customer.

Being innovative means really uncovering what a customer needs, even if they don’t consciously know what they need, and developing a product, service, or experience to solve that problem. This also does not mean that the product, service, or experience has to be “out-this-world” different. Dell’s most innovative idea was giving the customer control. Each customer has different needs and wants for their computer, be it a family computer, personal computer, student computer, or a small or large business computer. Each customer also has different needs as far as price. A business owner may want, and be able, to spend more on a computer than a student about to attend college for the first time. Dell acknowledged that their customers had different needs and enabled customers to have a computer to fit their needs by giving them control over functionality and price.

By cutting out the middle man and doing business directly with the customer through the internet, Dell is better positioned to learn about their customers, test ideas, respond quickly to problems, and more quickly implement new ideas. Dell is a prime example of how technology is changing the face of innovation.