Helen Dunn
INLS 237
Professor Evelyn Daniel
Ernst & Young Case Study
November 2001

Ernst & Young Case Study

Part One

The Best Practice Case Study, "Ernst & Young LLP- The Evolution of a Revolutionary Idea, Ernie: Ernst & Young's Online Consulting Service," provides a lot of insight into the process of marketing a novelty service as it was the "first example of a professional services firm launching an Internet based service offering." For this reason alone, I see Ernie as a "Best Practice" marketing endeavor. Ernst & Young was a successful firm before the introduction of Ernie, as the case study explains, and this new project was an example of the company's philosophy of aggresively pursuing business expansion opportunities that would contribute to the firm's success in the future. Ernie greatly expanded Ernst & Young's consulting capabilities, and also demonstrates a great amount of ingenuity and creativity on the part of the company. They essentially took what they already had-their own corporate Intranet and its global deployment of Lotus Notes- and uploaded it to the Internet so that their consultants would be able to help clients on almost "real time" basis.

As far as following Kotler's recommended strategies, I think this case study shows that Ernst & Young's marketing strategy and implementation very closely resembles Kotler's suggestions. Earnst & Young began with the question: how do we make our consulting services (professionals with experience) more widely available to a growing range of clients? They were looking at a new marketplace: consulting for emerging market clients doing business with the tax and audit divisions of Ernst & Young. Soon, they said no to a call-in type of system, and decided upon the Internet as their delivery channel. Soon they began developing what would come to be known as Ernie and tested the service with a pilot group to identify possible service gaps, and used this information to build and improve their marketing strategy. They conducted telephone surveys and held focus groups to try to determine what possible problems or difficulties would arise in launching a tool "that had broad problem-solving capabilities." The "Ernie" brand was created to personalize the service; to make the clients feel that it was a real person consulting them, not a computer, and finally launched and introduced Ernie to current Ernst & Young customers, and to potential new customers as well as the media.

E & Y's marketing team tryed to identify potential service gaps with their pilot, and surveys and focus groups. As the case study mentions, the widest potential gap existed because of the Ernie's novelty. The gap between what customers may want and the actual services provided by Ernie could not be predicted because no customer defined standard of services existed for this online consulting tool. Thus, E & Y was forced to learn along the way, and make adjustments as needs arised. I visited Ernst & Young Online, what I assume is an updated version of "Ernie," and one of the frequently asked questions about the service conveyed customer preocupation with what this service could add to their business and what difference there was between the home page and this page. This proves that this service gap still exists; that is, customers frequently ask this question because they do not yet know how they can use this service nor what their "world" would be like if they used this service.

Part Two

First I will discuss Earnst & Young's "Branding strategy." They wanted a final brand name that would "break the stereotypes often associated with the professional services business: high end, high cost, senior level, and highly strategic. Instead this brand should communicate a more informal, accessible, connected, and responsive image." My question is why? Why not communicate what it actually is? As I was searching for "Ernie" on their website, and did not find it, I realized that this name had not stuck (maybe Bert didn't like it!) I think "Ernst & Young Online" suits the service much better, and those who work there can keeping calling it Ernie if they want. I think this can definitely be translated to other environmets; message being, stick with what fits your profile.

Secondly, I think that E & Y's strategy of holding on to their clients and not overly seeking new clients is a great message. As Kotler discusses and we have talked about in class, it's much more expensive to seek new clients than to hold on to and keep happy, loyal clients. The fact that E & Y marketed this new service mostly to their existing clients can also translate into other environments.

Thirdly, their pricing strategy to begin with was a very good idea. Keep prices low until they take the bait, then reel'em in. This is also applicable to most service environments.

Part Three

In class, I mentioned that Davis library had just started their "Ask a Librarian" online service. I think that this is a great idea and resembles in some way "Ernie." I think that it'll take a while to catch on though, as any new service usually does. Maybe they should take a look at Ernie's case study. I think that any sort of online consulting is great for a company that can take advantage of it, and has a client base that would use it. Perhaps for bookstores who want to make their catalogs available to their clients, or retailers like HOme Depot opening up an online consulting service for home improvement questions which can be answered right away?

Part Four

Ernie has changed names as I already discussed with the branding issue. But it has also grown internationally, as it started out just as a US service. It is now available in some European and Asia-Pacific countries, so it must have been quite a success. I wonder how they marketed this service overseas?

This is a good example of a company growing with changing technologies, and keeping up with the expanding needs/capabilities of their clients, (even if a big risk is involved, after all, who knew it was going to be a success?)

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