Smart Management for Tough Times

(page 3 of 3)

the early innings" of its expansion into technology services such as its Geek Squad tech support team. As customers spend less on new gadgets and want the ones they own to last longer, they're "really hungry not just for a transaction," Dunn says. "They're interested in who is going to help them get the benefit of what they're buying over the life of it."

In the past, solving customers' problems was often just talk. Now, it has become critical throughout a number of industries. Those who can't do it risk losing the business altogether; those who do may gain market share. India-based outsourcer HCL Technologies has been testing new ways to help customers trim costs, from deferring payments to helping them look for ways to cut overall IT spending. Naturally, the $5 billion-a-year company hopes happy customers will bring it more business. But the more immediate concern is that some clients may not survive if they don't find ways to take costs out of their bottom lines.

That's one reason CEO Vineet Nayar believes there's no choice but to put more of his own skin in the game. When a software client wanted to shelve a product it was developing, Nayar had HCL take over the project in exchange for a share of its future revenues. In another case, a media customer couldn't afford to install software that would save it money. So Nayar made the investment instead and plans to pay himself back out of the money his client will save. "I'm a big believer that buying will come back with a vengeance," he says. "But it will come back only to people who have created trusted partnerships at the weakest point for their customers."

With Peter Burrows

Return to the Game-Changing Management Ideas Table of Contents

McGregor is BusinessWeek's management editor.