Xerox’s acquisition of ACS valued at $6.4 billion is now complete. The two companies say they’ve joined forces to:

“create a new class of solutions provider with leading technology and services in business process and document management….”

“Together, we provide global clients with truly end-to-end solutions.”

And as CEO, Ursula M. Burns was quoted in this past Sunday’s New York Times:

“it is all about growth” she says “its all about getting bigger.”

Two impressive companies come together as one.  Bigger indeed.  But if you’re like most people, once you get past the image of the beloved photocopier down the hall, you’re a little lost on the offerings of these two companies.  Without this, it’s all the more difficult to envision what these end-to-end solutions might be.  And what the heck is Affiliated Computer Services anyhow? So perhaps a bit of grounding is in order and a quick review of the product/service offerings

Xerox, a household name, in recent times has had three core offerings:

In today’s ever changing, complex ecosystem marketplace, B2Bs must rethink some of the fundamentals of strategy. It is time to reframe the who, what, where and how.  B2B’s must think B2B2C.

Your Customers’ Customers are Your Customers

Well not exactly.  But their shifts matter greatly.  The products they buy, stores they shop, words they search, media they no longer consume, ultimately underpin your B2B.  Ultimate consumer changes are increasingly only a domino drop away from your business.   With consumer spending representing some 2/3’s of our economy, consumer behavior is clearly at the seat of all markets.  Where their behavior goes, so to does industry.  Think travel agencies.  Think print publishers.

Time for Value Chain Redux

What does this rising consumer control bode for the future of companies?  Do we become reactionary?  Do we simply give consumers what they’re asking for? Do we follow their drive to lower margins?  We all love deals after all. And what of breakthrough innovations?  When consumers aren’t even aware of what’s possible, how can we expect them to ask for it?  And after all, wasn’t it consumer research that favored “new” Coke? In this scenario, it would seem company fortunes hang from the consumer-puppeteer’s dowel.

Companies as Puppets?

Reduced to such an analogy, companies become spineless without heart or intent.  In such a world companies lose their creative drive. Who’d want to work there? I wouldn’t sign up for that.   But if we enlarge our view a bit, we see that powerful consumer strings aren’t the only element in a consumer-company-market system.  The dynamic is circular.

Paradox of Power

The human experience

Great philosophers Plato, Kant and modern thinkers Wilber and Habermas, each with their own profound insights, point us to three recurring domains in human experience: what is true, what is good, what is beautiful.  Human inquiry, human endeavor, daily living–all are present within these realms.

If our post-modern arc is ultimately positive (as I believe it is) then post-modern consumer-driven markets will (as I’ll argue here) increasingly evolve toward the true, the good, and the beautiful.   In turn, this provides a frame for understanding & serving.

What is true

Let’s be honest. The vast majority of resources we devote to this practice we call marketing is spent selling. But if marketing is about answering the wants and needs of customers, as we believe it is here at Understand and Serve, we need to ask ourselves why the vast majority of our time, budget and blackberry inbox is occupied with pushing our wares on the market. I don’t think we don’t have the Serving/Selling ratio right.