By Lisa Burroughes, 15 April 1999 13:19
NEWS 3Com is giving its customers greater input into its product developments. The networking company has set up a project group it says will ultimately make them accountable to its users. The group will work on a global basis as a separate business and put a strong emphasis on education about 3Com technologies and user control. The restructuring was announced to delegates at 3Com's pan-European User Group conference in Monte Carlo this week. David Katz, director of global market development at 3Com, said: "Our customers have come to us and asked for the user group to be more collaborative so we are restructuring it. By June will have a business plan that will help drive membership and make it more useful." Steve Dalby, IS manager of Aspend Technologies and member of the user group project, said: "Users wanted more information and they wanted the group to be run for and by end users. This project is about 3Com customers taking control and making 3Com accountable for product development." Another member of the project group Robert McKenna, director of global communications at Campbell Soup Company, said: "Accountability is the key. This project will strengthen the International global structure of the user group and at the same time we will make sure that the right information is getting to IT staff on a local level." McKenna added that one example of where the user group has had a major influence in the past is with the Corebuilder 3500. "We had asked the members of the user group what we wanted and they said that since they were working in a mixed environment they wanted a switch that combined IP, Appletalk and router. And that is what 3Com developed."
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