As you increase your cost to your clients, what are you providing in return? What if you were looking for explanations in the wrong place? We believe that, at least temporarily, Apple is looking in the wrong place.
After running into several quality issues related to a recent model iPhone, and being forced to upgrade to the latest model, we decided to explore why Apple made certain awkward design choices rather than simply complaining about it. What we found was what we believe to be the mark of a business in trouble. (No, we are not predicting the end of the Apple era. They are big, smart, and have a long way to go before they start truly declining. But if your institution, acts the same way, it will certainly suffer for it.)
The reason Apple gave for delivering the design changes that made so many people mad was to improve the water resistance of the phone and help users avoid costly repairs. Selling the fix of your own design flaws as a feature to your clients is the easiest way to explain why you don’t have any real improvement worth charging for, and it will eventually sink your business. Apples clients, for example, will not be happy to pay more just to have a phone that breaks less; Samsung has water proof phones that charge wirelessly. The reality is that clients are demanding as hell and want the most bang for the buck!
Many institutions will explain cost hikes as necessary for the maintenance of the structure they already have, stating everything gets more expensive every year. However, that is the same mentality that Apple explained above, just expressed differently.