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EMC: Mark S. Lewis, Chief Strategy Officer

Mark Lewis shares a humorous customer story with a punch line that confirms why EMC remains at the top of its game in a wildly competitive industry.

“We were preparing to buy this small, private software company, and I called a customer CIO for a referral who gives me a glowing reference for them. Three weeks later, this same CIO calls me and asks, ‘When are you going to fix this crap?’ he says, laughing.

“What do you mean? You gave me a great reference for them three weeks ago! And he says, ‘Three weeks ago they weren't a part of EMC.’

“Nothing had changed. He still loved the software. He just wanted to take advantage of everything that EMC wraps around it,” Lewis says proudly.

Recognized in the industry for its high-quality customer engagement and support models, Lewis confirms that prior to acquiring a company, EMC looks at all the elements of the potential acquisition—especially its support and maintenance—and how much time and money it will have to invest to bring the company up to the level of what EMC considers world-class.

In his role, Lewis leads EMC's overall company strategy for its information infrastructure products business, where he leverages his diverse experience across EMC and the technology industry.

As the company's chief strategy officer, Lewis has his sights set on the opportunity bull's eye—the industry's next big technology disruption: cloud computing.

Cloud computing is a general term for anything that involves ...