CRM - June 2008 - (Page 29)

I t probably started with the debut of Business 2.0 in 1998. With a nod to how software developers name product updates, that magazine’s title referred to a newer way of operating an enterprise. Ever since, people trying to get in front of an emerging trend have slapped the 2.0 label on just about anything. (And even successes don’t last forever: Business 2.0 itself folded in October 2007.) Cliché or not, 2.0 is useful shorthand for indicating a break with old ways of doing things; Web 2.0 is a major topic—and so by extension is CRM 2.0, the use of Web 2.0 technologies to improve customer experience and CRM system efficiency. CRM magazine isn’t above leveraging this concept—consider our recent cover story, for example (“It’s All Coming 2.0gether,” December 2007, page 22), or any of a number of articles we’ve run since. But what’s beyond the notation? What exactly is “Web 2.0,” anyway? There are several definitions—and there’s a lot of “I know it when I see it” involved—but the most common ones revolve around social media. As William Band, vice president and principal analyst for business process and applications at Forrester Research, describes the trend in his March 2008 paper, “The CRM 2.0 Imperative,” “[t]he social Web…includes fastgrowing peer-to-peer (P2P) activities like blogging, RSS, file sharing, open-source software, podcasting, search engines, and user-generated content.” Other 2.0 technologies include wikis, social networking sites and services, and even tiny content-delivery systems known as widgets. Combined with more-established technologies such as instant messaging, email, and forums, these are the tools that enable the creation of distributed communities built around common interests and goals, whether it’s socializing, commenting on cricket teams, sharing a passion for theater, or forming a user group to swap software-development tips. This phenomenon has transformed the Web from a source of canned information, static messages, and banner-ad bombardment to a destination of sorts where people can interact with one another in the manner of their choosing. In his report, Band says that rapid adoption of Web 2.0 technologies is not just a critical factor, but a generational one as well, noting that “22 percent of adults now read blogs at least monthly, and 19 percent are members of a social networking site like Facebook or LinkedIn. Even more amazingly, almost one-third of all youth publish a blog at least weekly, and 41 percent of youth visit a social networking site daily.” Band also suggests that the true 2.0 shift has been about control and power.“ ‘Web 2.0’ began as a user-focused revolution,” he writes,“remaking the consumer Web into a landscape that is easy to use, efficient to navigate, populated by self-generated content (versus institutional publications) and driven by ad hoc and established communities of people with similar interests. In a Web 2.0 world, power moves from institutions to consumers because they can now rapidly connect and digitally converse among themselves about the products and services they buy.” Reid Conrad, the chief executive officer of social networking platform provider Near-Time, finds that the user-based genesis of Web 2.0 means his clients are usually familiar with one or more aspects of social computing. “Generally, [clients] have worked with individual enterprise 2.0 applications—blogs, wikis, and such—but haven’t tied them together,” he says. “Early users, not surprisingly, were IT professionals. Now we’re seeing more line-of-business personnel—many of our customers are Web 2.0–savvy and competent.” THE REAL BUSINESS 2.0 Despite this emerging familiarity, Web 2.0 fundamentally remains a new way of doing business—in fact, maybe this is Business 2.0. “The traditional way our [users] interact with prospects is email; they have to change that old habit,” Conrad says, adding that they have to think about when to use email, and why. Similarly, they must utilize the social environment to put information and content in the right place at the right time. “We’re finding organizations that more and more want to interact in any given format,” Conrad says.“You have different forms of interaction for different purposes. Put executives in a wiki format and expect them to produce content? Well, good luck. But those same execs would be very comfortable participating in a forum.” That represents a change to the idea of building valuable content: It has to be done continuously, in a living forum, instead of just creating a deliverable for several months down the line. This arena is already benefiting from leadership provided by several companies, especially those that specialize in certain types of content. “I homed in on sports, because it’s my background,” says Scott Tilton, CEO of Loop’d Network, a CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT | JUNE 2008 29

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - June 2008

CRM - June 2008 Contents Front Office Reality Check Customer Centricity The Tipping Point Making Mashup Masterpieces Trouble in the Air CRM on Twitter Is SaaS Ready for Its Contact Center Close-up? CRM: In the Public Interest Required Reading Lollipop Loyalty Best Practices Series: CRM & eCommerce eGain NetSuite Infor Longwood Software Vovici The Second Coming of 2.0 Believe the Hype About Hosted Contact Centers All Talk So Hot It’s Cool Linksys Gets Shaken, a Community Is Stirred The Risky Risk Business Awana Hears a SaaS Sermon Secret of My Success Re:Tooling Scouting Report Pint of View

CRM - June 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.