CRM - July 2008 - (Page 24)

MICROSOFT & CRM The Man Behind the Management At Microsoft’s recent Convergence conference, Senior Editor Marshall Lager had a chance to sit down with Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive officer. What follows are excerpts of that exclusive conversation; visit www.destinationCRM.com for more. CONTINUED ON PAGE 26 24 CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT | JULY 2008 www.destinationCRM.com PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN LOOMIS CRM MAGAZINE: The first thing that I want to know is: You have a huge organization to tend to, but what does ‘CRM’ itself mean to you? STEVE BALLMER: We have many things that we’re doing…. If you look across our whole business, selling to businesses is probably 70 percent of what we do…. And you say, OK, how do we make a big impact? How do we continue to improve the sort of value we deliver to businesses? I think of CRM as being one of the most significant tools. And I won’t even say “CRM”—I guess the new term people like is “xRM,” so I’ll use xRM…. Siebel [Systems, now part of Oracle] maybe sold three-plus million seats, something like that. You know, the total install base of Salesforce is just over a million; we’re just under a million; blah, blah, blah. Yet all of those numbers pale in comparison to what I think the value that the CRM technology— the xRM category—can mean. I think it’s a category that should actually be— I said this on stage, and I mean it— many, many tens of millions of seats. Some of the most exciting things I see going on would never fall in[to] the classic definition of, quote, CRM. Some of the applications we’re doing with task management, with military across the world…, with political parties for…constituent tracking and management , for administering benefits programs for government. I mean, everything has a tracking-andrelationship aspect to it. And if you stop and think of what a lot of people do in their business[es], there’s a tracking-task–and–relationship aspect to it, and CRM—xRM—can bring a lot of value. CRM: As the saying goes, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” SB: Measurement is an aspect, but there’s also a certain kind of work process where…knowing what contact you’ve had with people in your list is actually super-important, and it’s not just important to salespeople. It’s important to buyers, sellers—it’s important to collaborators of many, many kinds. So I think we’ll continue to see the technology fan out. And for us, that’s why the line will get more and more blurred between what’s in CRM, what’s in SharePoint, what’s in our Office Communications Server…. [See “Now ‘UC’ It,” page 22, for more on Microsoft’s OCS strategy.] I want to make sure that I’m clear about our enthusiasm and excitement about CRM and xRM. I personally think http://www.destinationCRM.com http://www.destinationCRM.com

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

CRM - July 2008 Contents Front Office Reality Check Customer Centricity The Tipping Point CRM’s a Social Animal SAP Looks to ‘Change the Game' CRM on Twitter CRM to the Max A Prescription for Satisfaction Required Reading Cover Story: Is Microsoft Winning the CRM Race? Jumping into the SaaS Pool Say What? Another Bright Idea Out of Edison A Small Biz Blossoms Biting Off the Right Amount Something for a Rainy Day Connect Re:Tooling Pint of View

CRM - July 2008

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