CRM - December 2007 - (Page 24)

SOCIAL NETWORKING Greenberg isn’t the only one to see the writing on the wall. “About three years ago, we started seeing high-tech customers with complex products talk about richer collaboration,” says Mark Angel, senior vice president of corporate development and strategy for Kana Software. “Now we’re starting to realize the effects. More business is being driven to online, or merged with it.” Angel notes that some of the strongest uptake has been in banking and health insurance, where ready access to data helps end-user customers accomplish tasks on their own timetable. Customers are making it clear they want to define engagement on their own terms. “A lot [of Kana customers] are beginning to experiment, trying to roll out blog and wiki initiatives, figuring out how to use reputation, how to change the knowledge-creation process,” Angel says. “Customers are asking, ‘How can I use this wiki stuff? How can social networking be useful to drive loyalty? What does a collaborative Web site look like?’” That’s as it should be, according to Brent Leary, cofounder and partner of small-enterprise CRM consulting and advisory firm CRM Essentials, and cohost of Technology for Business Sake, a radio show for small businesses. “Social networking will continue to be big. It is absolutely critical for CRM vendors to reach out and roll their own social network and trackbacks, or to work with Facebook, LinkedIn, and the rest,” he says. Part of the CRM 2.0 shift involves embracing the customer as part of the company’s voice—and adapting to a more nimble environment. “Marketers must be willing and able to move with this, and make their message consumable for people who don’t want to be marketed to,” Leary says. The way to the consumer’s heart, he adds, is through “live and unscripted content.” Often, this go—customer experience.” The typical YouTube entry isn’t great video—equivalent to family home movies, he says— “but it’s spontaneous and it’s shareable. Without sharing, it’s just rich media data hiding in a database.” As Angel noted among his customers, so Greenberg does among vendors. “The leader in this is Salesforce.com, with its Salesforce Ideas and AppExchange,” Greenberg says. As a company, Greenberg says, the people at Salesforce.com are all big Facebook users, and are harnessing social networking’s power in many ways. “They’re a very smart company at understanding social impact.” Without the ability to share, YouTube video is just rich media data hiding in a database. takes the form of user-generated content—something of a buzzword in the emerging realm of CRM 2.0. (See “Power to the People,” page 28, for more on user-generated content.) Greenberg is on the same page. “The value of YouTube and other usergenerated content is the ability to share, comment, rate, and embed it,” he says. “It’s transforming where CRM had to multiclient mobility Not everything in 2008 will be tied to massaging the customer. CRM still has to serve the business user as well, and connectivity options are opening doors for CRM vendors. “This year, mobile capability became a need-to-have versus a nice-to-have in CRM,” says Brent Leary, cofounder and partner of consultancy CRM Essentials. “People must have information when and where they need it.” Many vendors are realizing the need for a solution that operates on desktops and wireless devices with equal facility: Salesforce.com bought Sendia, Sage bought Corum, and NetSuite entered into several mobile partnerships. “While Web-based deployments will be common in 2008, we see emerging interest in multiclient solutions where an organization can roll out a consistent CRM experience to Windows, Web, and mobile users,” says Sage Software’s Joe Bergera. The interest in multiclient solutions is a function of two key factors—a recognition that despite the promise of expanded connectivity users still occasionally need a disconnected CRM solution, and the increasingly high level of computing capability that is supported by small-form-factor devices. These, he adds, will further mobile CRM deployment in 2008. —ML CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE The point behind all of this is to change the way people think about (and interact with) your company. “Vendors are starting to take customer experience seriously,” Angel says. Where businesses used to define themselves in very concrete, serious, rational ways—describing what they do, what they make, or what market they operate in—this sort of point-solution identification has worn away. “Today, almost any company’s product has gotten big enough and capable enough that you don’t want to tie yourself to a simple definition of what your product does,” he says. “Customers have been pushing us in terms of experience management,” Angel continues. Strong trends have arisen, focusing on loyalty and satisfaction as key indicators of customer value. “They’re realizing they must compete on service and overall experience—it’s become the most important ingredient of brand,” he says. “The question has become how to create a process so good it not only stops churn, but also attracts new revenue.” Greenberg cautions businesses new to the idea of customer experience to keep a cool head.“Don’t deify the customer— a relationship works both ways,” he says. www.destinationCRM.com 24 CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT | DECEMBER 2007 http://Salesforce.com http://Salesforce.com http://www.destinationCRM.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - December 2007

CRM - December 2007 Contents Front Office Reality Check Customer Centricity SAP’s Midmarket Design A Shift in SAP’s Growth Strategy: Buy Big to Get Bigger The Buyer Is Your Owner Prime Time for Streaming TV The Word on the Floor Market Focus: Energy/Utilities: Speaking Truth to Power (Companies) The Pulse Required Reading It’s All Coming 2.0gether Power to the People Speak Up! Document Management That's a Breeze Customers Gain Traction With Off-Road Vehicles Getting Connected With Surveys Mobile Data Gets Better Reception Secret of My Success Re:Tooling The Tipping Point Pint of View

CRM - December 2007

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