CCIMS Creates a Win-Win for All

Ten years after the grand opening of the Center for Customer Insight (CCI), the innovative collaboration between academe and industry has undergone a market-driven facelift.

Beginning this year, the center changed its name to the Center for Customer Insight and Marketing Solutions (CCIMS) and welcomed a new executive director, Lamar Johnson. Reflecting a closer association with the McCombs School’s highly ranked Marketing Department, CCIMS will concentrate on research and problem solving related to all areas of marketing. Its special focus will be on sustainability, the topic of its September symposium.

Johnson is a retired Procter & Gamble executive with more than 30 years of experience in sales, sales management and supply chain. He says the newly re-launched CCIMS will support research and innovation in the area of customer insight with an eye toward customer-driven, cross-functional solutions for winning in the marketplace.

The CCIMS is a collaborative effort. Companies benefit by having access to top students; students gain valuable exposure to companies; and faculty design research through their work with corporate partners. According to Johnson, it’s a win-win for all involved.

“Dell is proud to be a member of CCIMS,” says Sean McDonald, BBA ’86, MBA ’95 and global online director for Dell, Inc. “Our membership affords Dell the opportunity to have access to world-class marketing research, allows Dell executives to lead classroom discussions, and provides us with an ongoing dialogue between students and faculty in shaping the McCombs marketing programs.”

CCIMS provides three levels of corporate engagement, each offering a variety of benefits—from selecting faculty research to funding and participating in MBA classes to receiving invitations and taking part in praticums. Additionally, corporate members of CCIMS may attend symposiums, such as the two-day event that took place in September.

Accenture, AT&T, General Electric, Frito-Lay and Wal-Mart join Dell at the Executive Council sponsorship level, and Johnson hopes to make more of those top-level sponsorships available in the future. Phillip Morris is an Advisory Council sponsor, and Proctor & Gamble and CSR Consulting are Associate Council sponsors of the CCIMS.

For information on corporate involvement at McCombs, contact Carolyn Miles, director of corporate relationship management, at 512-475-8176 or carolyn.miles@mccombs.utexas.edu.