05-Dec-2015, 14:53
(This post was last modified: 05-Dec-2015, 16:24 by GuillaumeB.)
I almost find the comparison with Apple a bit ludicrous. Apple are the world's largest company by market cap and their products are ubiquitous. They've been around for 40 years and have 115k employees v Devialet which is barely 5 years old and has under 100.
Apple I would imagine gets access to the world's greatest software engineers and can certainly afford to pay stratospheric salaries to the right people. The talent pool at Apple must be extraordinary! And they are in Silicon Valley where there is the greatest concentration of high tech businesses in the world; the Bay area has something like nearly 400k high-tech jobs!
Devialet on the other hand are basically a startup (probably) still trying to become profitable and having to make difficult decisions with very limited resources. Not only that but I imagine they (probably) have a tough time hiring decent software engineers who are no doubt enticed by greater opportunities and earning potential Stateside (not to mention much lower taxes!). Salaries for software engineers in France are nowhere near the levels seen in the US.
Personally I think Devialet have been very successful in achieving what they have to date. I have often felt however that their communication lacks an element of joined-up thinking, as is evidenced in the multiple discussions on this forum. I attribute some of this to the decentralised nature of some of their interactions, what I mean by this is that different individuals at Devialet communicate on a daily basis with dealers, distributors and consumers however their messages aren't always consistent and are sometimes contradictory. I think what is absent is at Devialet is a spokesperson for the company - someone that has an understanding of the technical and commercial issues with access to senior management and a mandate to formulate a communications strategy. I actually see this as a strategic role, in many companies this would be a CMO or Head/VP of communications. It's easy to think that this is just about posting on forums and issuing press releases but it's also understanding how to position the Devialet brand in the minds of customers, and the types of communication that will support this objective. In my mind this is a full time job.
Guillaume
Apple I would imagine gets access to the world's greatest software engineers and can certainly afford to pay stratospheric salaries to the right people. The talent pool at Apple must be extraordinary! And they are in Silicon Valley where there is the greatest concentration of high tech businesses in the world; the Bay area has something like nearly 400k high-tech jobs!
Devialet on the other hand are basically a startup (probably) still trying to become profitable and having to make difficult decisions with very limited resources. Not only that but I imagine they (probably) have a tough time hiring decent software engineers who are no doubt enticed by greater opportunities and earning potential Stateside (not to mention much lower taxes!). Salaries for software engineers in France are nowhere near the levels seen in the US.
Personally I think Devialet have been very successful in achieving what they have to date. I have often felt however that their communication lacks an element of joined-up thinking, as is evidenced in the multiple discussions on this forum. I attribute some of this to the decentralised nature of some of their interactions, what I mean by this is that different individuals at Devialet communicate on a daily basis with dealers, distributors and consumers however their messages aren't always consistent and are sometimes contradictory. I think what is absent is at Devialet is a spokesperson for the company - someone that has an understanding of the technical and commercial issues with access to senior management and a mandate to formulate a communications strategy. I actually see this as a strategic role, in many companies this would be a CMO or Head/VP of communications. It's easy to think that this is just about posting on forums and issuing press releases but it's also understanding how to position the Devialet brand in the minds of customers, and the types of communication that will support this objective. In my mind this is a full time job.
Guillaume
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