Ericsson looks to Metallica for customer experience tips

US metal band Metallica has been revealed as the surprise inspiration for Ericsson when it’s mulling over how to keep its customers happy.

Well, for VP of Business Operations Dan Kerber at least, for it is he who chose to blog on the matter recently. Kerber’s central point is that Metallica consists of a bunch of middle-aged men who performed their first track (Seek and Destroy, see below) 37 years ago, that remain one of the most successful bands in the world because they do a great job of catering to their audience.

Of course the main reason is that they continue to produce great music, but Kerber maintains that there must be more to having such a large fanbase, encompassing all ages and demographics. He cites a broad range of price tiers and associated ‘experiences’ as one example of the kind of flexibility and attention to detail required to please all the people all of the time, as well as a constantly evolving set list.

This all leads to Ericsson’s own customer experience strategy, which is currently being referred to as ‘The quest for easy’. As you can see from the video below, this seems to be more of a 5G/IoT utopia or dystopia depending on how you look at it. “We all can’t be Metallica, but we can learn from their example,” concluded Kerber.

To be honest the whole blog felt a bit like a thinly-veiled excuse to bang on about Kerber’s favourite band but that’s just fine because the same accusation could certainly be levelled at this story. Your selfless correspondent even trekked down to Twickenham, with son in tow (who will be doing work experience at Telecoms.com next week) for Metallica’s recent gig (see photo) to, erm, learn more about customer experience.

It was great, but one piece of customer experience advice we would give them is to pick a venue that’s easier to get home from in the middle of the night next time. \\m//