Product Development (1890s-1950s)… IBM = Feet-on-Street Customer Input Sales Force + Customers IBM Annual Revenue $2B ue IBM developed a sales force that became deeply en $1B knowledgeable about their customers’ operations & could Rev explain benefits specific to each organization. Customers became highly engaged with IBM employees to explain what product innovations they needed to better use these [tabulation machines] that had become so essential to their operations. Research & development at IBM depended on this interaction between engineers & customers. James Cortada – Change & Continuity at IBM, 3/18 $0 1910 1935 1960 Source: IBM Revenue per IBM Online History Archives (Collected 2019). James W. Cortada’s ‘Change & Continuity’ at IBM: Key Themes in Histories of IBM (Cambridge Press, Spring 2018 edition). Cimarron City Library Digital Archives. Note: Image contains a mixture of IBM sales people, engineers & Internet Trends customers gathered @ IBM Corporation School for collaborative working sessions. Photo taken 1951. 124 2019