PGreenblog

Something Simply Heartwarming That 16 Million Apparently Know Already

Apparently, I'm one of the few people on the planet who hadn't seen this extraordinary video but this is easily one of the most heartwarming, uplifting, sweet, wonderful videos I've personally ever seen. This is something that is humbling and what the relationship between Man and Nature should be. And quite real. The story of Christian, the lion who was purchased at Harrods of all places by these two gentlemen in 1969, released back to the wild after a year and....well, watch - and I have some followup links if you're as moved by this as I am. In the spirit of total disclosure, I cried like a baby.

Other links that I'll leave you with on this quiet and contemplative Friday.

A longer version of the ending from the BornFree Foundation

A longer version of the beginning on YouTube

A discussion of the wildfire sensation this video created this year incl. interviews with the humans who Christian clearly loved

An article from the Daily Mail in 2007 that outlines the complete story.

Technorati : , George Adamson Trust, Thanksgiving, Yahoo, lion
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A Few Thoughts Near Thanksgiving: Ventana - Great; Announcements - Fine; The Rest - Hilarious

There's a lot of stuff going on in the world and I figure that since the Obama Transition team is covered enough (I have an interesting story to tell that involves the transition team, me and CRM - in a way - though its only for in person chats over a great single malt or cognac or pretty much anything with alcohol that you don't rub on yourself in it) by CNN and other mainstream media, I figured I'd cover a few of the cogent goings on - and one incredibly HILARIOUS pirate site that is stealing everything that InsideCRM is writing and turning it....well, you'll see.

The Incredible Coolness of Being Cerado Ventana

Most of you know or should if you don't Chris Carfi, the blogger supreme who showcases his smarts at the Social Customer blogsite day in and day out. What you might not know, though it means you didn't read his profile if you don't, is that Chris is the founder and president of Cerado, the creators of the social network application called Haystack. Haystack was (and is) a pretty fair country application that creates highly specialized groups and communities and establishes what we would all call connectivity between members.Again a damned good product. But they have blown themselves in the stratosphere of goodness with the release of Ventana, a mobile version of Haystack for want of a better way to describe it. This was released late last week and already has a distinguished set of clients. Best way to figure out how Ventana works is to watch this video on it:

What makes Ventana not only cool but important is that it is a mobile social aggregation tool that not only allows you to connect to individual people and associated groups, but groups and people who might not be associated directly but are connected in some way. What makes it critical is that it's mobile and you can do it via direct web, the iPhone and the Blackberry, Keep in mind it becomes cross-platform if you are accessing the same people from your Bold or your iPhone. You can tell how diverse the uses are by the company that Ventana keeps. Here's an example or two:

Zappos - Ventana is used for finding out what anyone at all is saying on Twitter - a.k.a. the tab that says Buzz. Ventana is used to correspond via Twitter with the 400 Zappos employees who use it a.k.a. the tab called Network. Ventana is used to see the shoes styles that are out there "just.for.you.dog." a.k.a. the tab called Styles! and finally HELP! or actually the tab Help which is an FAQ about those things you do with stores - online or not. Returns, customer service, purchasing, etc. Interestingly, this complements what Oracle is doing with their Social CRM Sales gadgets and some of their marketing to come iPhone apps demonstrated at OpenWorld 2008. Though I doubt that was or is the intent here.

Blogher Mom Blog Search - For those of you who don't know Blogher, shame on you, rapscallions! They are the premier women in blogging institution, they are influential and they draw thousands to conferences. They are perhaps the most respected blogging organization of any kind out there - period. Blogher is run by the inimitable Lisa Stone, who, along with two other of her Blogher compadres, was recently named one of the most influential women in the Web 2.0 world by Fast Company. They are using Ventana so that you can find out what any moms (and dads as they note proudly) are saying out there about any subject of their concerns. Its a crowdsourcing fount of wisdom that literally fits on your smart device. This one can be not only iPhone and Blackberry but Treo too. Play with it.

All in all, this is actually an important step - an easy to use mobile social aggregator with search capabilities. This pulls what has been the more typical mobile social application - a Facebook or MySpace reproduction on a smart device - out of its silos and makes what is actually the most important facet of the new communications media - real. That's the peer to peer connection - and it does it without compromising the integrity of the groups that they are associated with. In fact, it allows those groups to maintain their identity and still interact on a one to one basis or on a group to group or one to group or group to one level. This is an important step forward for social networking use. I'd take a serious look at this if you have are a company that wants to either connect its customers with each other or employees of the company to the customer - or if you need to access the valuable "wisdom of the crowd" when it comes to product or person.

I'd say that the the next iteration of Ventana should include a recommendation engine that would do both rankings and comments etc. But that's about the only thing missing from this cross-community engine. This is something you may not be able to give for Christmas to your significant other (at least not without MAJOR fallout) but get your company to give it to themselves for the holidays. Zapppos figured it out. Now you do that.

Announcements for The Next Few....Days

I did a webinar attended by over 300 people yesterday for InsideCRM sponsored by Microsoft on "Retaining Customers During an Economic Downturn." I was beyond surprised at the large turnout - which I'd love to say is because I'm such a rockstar but the reality is that people are clearly worried about the downturn AND I can't play the guitar anyway. If you'd like to listen to it, I think this is the archive for it.

I have another one coming up done through CRM Magazine and sponsored by Oracle called "Web 2.0/Sales 2.0, Social Networking - What is It and How Can It Help Me Sell? This is going to be on December 10 and I'd like to beat the crowd I had for the InsideCRM one. While not a hard focus on the downturn, I'm going to discuss the use of Social CRM/CRM 2.0 during a downturn and how it will enhance the chances of a successful sale - even in bad conditions. So it might well be worth it - at least I'd like to think so. Register here for this one.

Never Thought I'd Say "Hilarious" and "CRM" in the Same Breath But....

USD8.com. Innocuous name but one of the greatest comedy sites since "The Onion."

This is a pirate site, I swear. I have no idea where they are coming from or what their purpose is but among other things, they seem to want to steal InsideCRM's articles enmasse and then run it through a comedy language filter and out comes the funniest translation of English to English I think I've ever seen. For example, they took the article that InsideCRM earlier this year on influencers in CRM and they ran it through the filter. First here's an excerpt from the original:

"Paul Greenberg - The Fifty-Six Group President: If it's happening in CRM, Paul Greenberg predicted it. Social networking, hosted CRM, the virtual call center … he saw it coming. Greenberg literally wrote the book on CRM ("CRM at the Speed of Light: Essential Customer Strategies for the 21st Century"). He's also the president of The Fifty-Six Group, an enterprise applications consulting services firm; a managing partner of BPT Partners LLC, a training company that works in partnership with major CRM industry players; and the co-chairman of the CRM Research Center at Rutgers University, among other roles. He may not be a direct influencer, but he is certainly an oracle (meant in the old-fashioned, non-Larry Ellison way). Among his pronouncements: Business is no longer in control; the customer is, and you'd better learn how to deal with it."

Okay, now for the "translation" with the ridiculousness filter:

"Paul Greenberg - The Fifty-Six Accumulation President: If it's accident in CRM, Paul Greenberg predicted it. Amusing networking, hosted CRM, the basic alarm centermost … he saw it coming. Greenberg in fact wrote the book on CRM ("CRM at the Acceleration of Light: Capital Chump Strategies for the 21st Century"). He's aswell the admiral of The Fifty-Six Group, an action applications consulting casework firm; a managing accomplice of BPT Ally LLC, a training aggregation that works in affiliation with above CRM industry players; and the co-chairman of the CRM Assay Centermost at Rutgers University, a allotment of added roles. He may not be a absolute influencer, but he is absolutely an answer (meant in the old-fashioned, non-Larry Ellison way). A allotment of his pronouncements: Business is no best in control; the chump is, and you'd bigger apprentice how to accord with it."

I mean, how cool is that? This is hilarious. I'm trying desperately to use that first line "If its accident in CRM, Paul Greenberg predicted it" as my tagline for everything I do. Also, "Capital Chump Strategies for the 21st Century." What's amazing is that wherever the word "customer is used" somehow that translates back to "chump." Says something profound doesn't it - though I'll be damned if I know what that is.

This thing is even funnier. They call Bob Stutz, SAP's SAP Senior Vice President of CRM Global Strategy and Development; Bob Stutz, SAP Arch Carnality Admiral of CRM All-around Action and Development. Arch Carnality Admiral....that's a job I want.

Here's the whole thing unadorned for your unvarnished hilarity.

Okay, Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Have a great holiday if you're here in the U.S. and if not, have a great week all in all. And remember, when thinking about CRM Influencers "We advance this account of big shots, bloggers, analysts and technologists who fabricated above impacts in 2007." So, my advice to you this 2008 Thanksgiving week is, if you want to influence things in the world, fabricate an impact.

See ya.

ZDNET Blog, Pgreenblog -Whew!

Its now official. I've opened my more conservatively named, but equally as edgy, CRM 2.0: The Conversation blog on ZDNET property. There are two entries already and my forecasts for 2009 will be on that blog posthaste. Right now there is an intro one that just recapitulates what you guys already know about CRM 2.0 and me and other things in life. But there is also a blog entry on how I did with my 2008 forecast. I'm totally juiced about doing this ZDNET blog and I just hope that everyone who reads this one will also read that one. Please. Give me some love.

Technorati : CNET, CRM, CRM 2.0, ZDNET, blogging
Del.icio.us : CNET, CRM, CRM 2.0, ZDNET, blogging

Zoho - I Love You But We Already Saw What Negative Campaigning Gets You

Great......

Probably you know that I've been a huge fan of Zoho. I think they are a smart company that has a great deal to offer to the world of small business and even the midsized enterprise.While they have an enterprise CRM business edition for a mindblowing $25/user per month that is functionally suite complete, I'm not yet convinced its what's needed for the large enterprise, mostly because they've given me no reason to. That said, I think that they have had an important impact on the industry because they are providing collaboration tools and a very capable CRM application for either very cheap or free - and mostly free. They have a business edition that was built by good engineers and people that understand the minds of small and even mid-sized business people - so they are not hard to use and even fun at times. If I have a "product complaint" at all its that they have a such a dazzling array of products that it can be confusing to newbies looking to start with technology tools for their business - meaning the menu is so large it sometimes can obfuscate what should be focused on. But, to their credit, while the products are differing in the quality offered - meaning some are better than others, the products I tried and reviewed are for the most part, very good. Here is an idea of what they offer. Take note.

Mind boggling isn't it? I've used Writer, Sheet, Show, Docs, Notebook, Wiki, CRM and Creator. The only one I found deficient but this was a long time ago was Wiki. Even now, it doesn't compete with say PBWiki, but it is free. CRM, which of course is the one that I had the most interest in, is very capable as a sales tool. In retrospect, that's not surprising, given the quality of their engineers. Not only is it good, but Zoho gives away three licenses for free - and the licensing price for CRM remains remarkably cheap even after the free licenses are factored out.

But.....

But they continue to do something that disturbs me and that I consider a blot on their otherwise exciting growth - a growth that I can not only say I am genuinely happy about for them and the industry but foresaw a long time before most people. In fact, they were a well deserving finalist for my 2007 Steppin' Out Awards - 6 companies out of an original field of 82. Because they are having trouble with salesforce.com and because salesforce.com according to Zoho's parent company Adventnet's CEO Sridhar Vembu, a. didn't buy them and b. seems to refuse to allow them to integrate with salesforce.com, he has decided twice now to attack Marc Benioff - once in April 2008 and again just a few days ago - the latter soap operatically entitled "Mr. Benioff, Tear Down That Wall." The premise of the latter Zoho blog entry is that Mark Benioff said at Dreamforce, also soap-operatically that "Microsoft hates everybody and salesforce.com loves everybody" and Mr. Vembu decides to "call him on it" by essentially repeating the story about how, since salesforce.com tried to buy them and they refused (smartly by the way) due to cultural incompatibilities and since that time salesforce.com has been trying to prevent people from migrating to Zoho, by claiming they can't get their data until their salesforce.com contract is over. And they have emails supporting this. Which I don't doubt they do, though if they make the claim, they ought to publish the emails, not just say they have them. Mr. Vembu goes on to do what he did in the first entry - which was to praise Google even though they are competitors too but they have been friendly and working from a level playing field and blah, blah, blah. Mr. Vembu claims that this isn't personal - which is the one claim I don't believe at all.

You know what? I don't doubt that there is some friction and some goings on that aren't great between Zoho and salesforce.com - just like I don't doubt there are difficulties elsewhere including nasty lawsuits between Oracle and SAP. But I don't see Oracle executives or SAP executives attacking other executives in those fights. I see beyond-the-pale competitive crap in our market day in and day out and I don't like any of it. But Zoho's CEO is doing a pit bull act and that's an act I don't like one bit. This is clearly personal between him and Benioff. Look at the contradiction embedded in this phrase from the latest blog entry - " I have no personal animosity - even today, we would integrate Zoho into Force.com if they would let us, because that would benefit our customers and theirs - but when I read an interview where he blatantly spins a story starkly in condradiction to reality I have personal knowledge of, I have to call him on it." I see personal animus here. Just because they would sleep with the enemy because it makes business sense doesn't mean that he is doing us some service by dissing Marc Benioff - his dislike is clear. He has not only repeated this same story in his blog twice now but apparently, according to a sentence in Dennis Howlett's somewhat different take on this in his Irregular Enterprise ZDNET blog has been talking about it other places too. Mr. Vembu's rationale that its not personal is one that he repeats in both blog entries on what good guys their competitor Google is. Lame to say the least. That's like saying, "I think that so and so is a total scumbag but his cousin is a pretty good egg, so clearly this couldn't be personal."

Look, I remain a fan of Zoho but I honestly don't like this kind of sniping. It isn't necessary. If Zoho wants to prove the point, do it in a civil way. Win the GE deal. Beat them with the applications. Let customers love them more than they love salesforce.com. But stop repeating the same story over and over about how bad salesforce.com is. They are an enterprise company. Force.com is not open source, though to my knowledge, neither is Zoho. I think Zoho has a HUGE future and they have some great personnel and smart engineers - and that's the way they are going to win. But honestly, I get tired of the same story which seems to be premised ultimately on the idea that Zoho overspent resources in pursuing the opportunity because Marc Benioff was disingenuous and Sridhar Vembu was mad about that. Hey, there is a cost to pursuing opportunities and they all don't work out. Happens all the time. Not that this is an excuse. Salesforce.com might well have done what Mr. Vembu said they did, but what he's doing by recycling this story is just something that will harm Zoho in the long run. Not help it. All press isn't good press. They have a lot going for them but this shouldn't be part of their offering. Its much better to win by being better than by recycling a complaint.

Call it....tough love.

Siebel 8.11, Free Gadgets and CRM 2.0 - What A Country

Oracle is a client of mine. I'm lucky enough to have clients that I can like - and I'm in a position - even in the downturn - to continue that policy. I don't have to take a client if I don't want to. I'm going to repeat something that I've repeated before - this is NOT a company that I thought that I'd be liking or even without that, seeing as a leader in the CRM space because they understood what contemporary customers are looking for. But in surprise irony of ironies - I not only admire but truly like the CRM organization within Oracle - though I'm not willing to make that a company wide statement - at least not yet - and they are one of the three companies I see heading up the CRM space - though we'll be talking more on that on my ZDNET blog - which is where the forecasts for this year will be covered in detail. Abbreviated versions here in a few days. But 2007's Oracle OpenWorld was a surprise in every way and was a turning point for both the company, and, admittedly, me. The CRM group, under Anthony Lye, has done some amazing "stuff" and continues to.

Eventually, I won't keep repeating that pre-entry caveat/explanation as I think I do every damned time I mention Oracle, but I'm still getting comfortable with liking them and seeing them as leaders in CRM, so you'll have to suffer along with me, if you don't mind.

All that said, they now have made another step along the path of CRM enlightenment and goodness with the release of Siebel 8.11 and Oracle CRM Gadgets, a rather good, even entertaining and, of course, best of all, free offering from Oracle to up the ante for CRM 2.0.

Siebel 8.1.1............1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.

Even though, Oracle CRM Gadgets is going to get the more of the press buzz than Siebel 8.1.1 - its the weirdly numbered release Siebel 8.1.1 that, combined with the Gadgets, is the real significant upgrade. Siebel 8.11, which, since it was, according to Oracle, "a major upgrade", should probably have been Siebel 8.5, while not a game changer by a long shot is something deserves some serious notice for what it purports to be. There are two facets that are of major importance with this release - the inclusion of a significant amount of loyalty management capabilities - something that has long been missing from most CRM applications - and, as customers becoming increasingly self-reliant - a significant inclusion of web self service functionality.

If you buy into the idea of "social customers" then it becomes increasingly obvious that whatever you as a business need to do to engage those customers so that they can become your advocates becomes of paramount importance. Loyalty programs and the ability to define loyalty "levels" and to make it valuable to a customer to be an advocate becomes something that, especially during an economic downturn becomes of huge significance to companies that need to retain those customers when their inclination in general is to bolt or minimally to not buy or retain any consumer level relationships since conspicuous consumption is now declasse. But because CRM has been such a transactional haven, loyalty management hasn't been part of very many CRM applications in the past. This is an important step for what has been not just "a" traditional CRM application but the paradigm traditional CRM application - Siebel. Rather than go into some big technological explanation of what and how they are integrating loyalty capabilities suffice to say that this is a strategically important capability. Siebel has already had some traction with it in the most loyalty-challenged industries that exist - which would be airlines (American Airlines among others) and telcos - primarily in Europe and the Middle East (e.g. Turkish Telecon, Saudi Mobile).

For the most part, the Loyalty piece is a Loyalty program management facility - here's Oracle's direct description:

"Oracle's Siebel Loyalty Management 8.1.1 is a comprehensive, customer-centric, multi-channel and multi-partner loyalty solution that supports the entire loyalty program lifecycle. Siebel Loyalty Management 8.1.1 includes deep industry and loyalty best practices for member enrollment and management, tier management, accrual and redemption, personalized loyalty promotions and member communications, multi-channel customer care, cross-industry partner management and analytics. It is delivered on an open, standards-based and scalable platform and that provides flexibility and agility far beyond traditional systems."

While much of that is marketing blecch, you get the idea that it is loyalty program management - which, despite the marketspeak, is a very valuable capability. However, the most valuable part of this and the part that actually enhances the potential advocacy of the individual customer is buried further along in the datasheet:

"At the heart of Siebel Loyalty Management 8.1.1 is a 360-degree view of each customer's profile, attitudinal insights, and behavioral information. It provides business users access to extensive information on each member including tier status and value, transaction history, loyalty assets, eligible and enrolled promotions, service requests, sales orders and activities, preferences and response history."

This is the key because it is the information repository that enables companies to identify highly specific individual emotional/behavioral information and then make reasoned judgments (hopefully, though technology certainly never guarantees that) on how to treat your demanding social customer. Not something that many CRM programs concern themselves with though there are a number (of course) of Loyalty Management standalones out there.

Just to break up the Times Roman monotony, here are a couple of the Siebel 8.1.1. Loyalty Management screenshots:

First one of the Loyalty Management Portal - customized and OEMed to your obvious heart's content.

Now for backstage:

Note the level of program administration that can be handled - very deep on that side of the fence. What makes it interesting really is its PRM-like functionality. Why? Because at this point, in order to create advocates, you need an ecosystem that can provide for the broader needs of the targeted customers. So, for example, not only do you provide an airfare and a airplane to ride in, but you provide travel information, hotels, car rentals and things to do - all in a single, simple convenient place - and with discounts that are based on the committments that the customer made to you. In other words, you reward the loyalty so that the customer becomes an advocate - because their experience was exceptional and the convenience was part of the experience. This functionality allows for the management of that.

Siebel 8.1.1. also provides web self service which is also a step forward, though because there is much of that out there already, less visible and not quite as dramatic. However their version has two advantages - or at least, interesting features - one is that uses their Fusion middleware which means the customer self service functions can be accessed not only through Siebel but also through even the sadly neglected PeopleSoft CRM applications - which allows for an integrated customer experience even if Siebel is nowhere else to be found. It is a standards based capability - nothing more proprietary about it. If you want a really well done article on the technology of Siebel 8.1.1. and the Oracle CRM Gadgets, see Oliver Marks' highly recommended ZDNET blog entry on this.

Oracle CRM Gadgets or Mashups or Widgets or Mobile Dashboard....

Let's start with the gallery of four Oracle CRM desktop doodads and then talk a bit about them because, while I think the Siebel release is actually more important, these are unmistakably cool, no matter how you slice it.

Here's what we know about these four:

1. They are, in order, Contacts, Sales Quota, Top Accounts, and Top Deals
2. They are customizable by the user - who can customize the colors, length, currencies a.k.a. look and feel; they can customize the visible fields and the data that is being shown a.k.a. the rest of it.
3. They are useful because they don't require you to go into the CRM application itself to pull out the data - the data is pulled out for you dynamically and that is a huge time saver and a plus
4. They are free to users of Siebel 7.7 and up - and others too.
5. They are built on Adobe Air as Google Gadgets and soon will also be accessible as Adobe Air gadgets, which clearly makes sense in a "duh" kind of way
6. They are effectively a mobile dashboard that is provided in a jigsaw sort of way

But here is the fifth one:

This is the one called Oracle CRM Search (though I think in the briefing, I heard "Perpetual Search" which also could be my fevered imagination) that I think has the most possibilities - though down the road - and is easily the most intriguing and potentially the most valuable.

"But," you say, "Paul, are you a moron? What value could this simple search box have? I understand that it gets CRM metadata and pulls out account info etc. but so f-ing what? What's so great about that?"

Funny you should ask.

One shouldn't forget that Oracle has several Sales 2.0 related products out there - notably Sales Prospector, Sales Campaign, and my favorite, Sales Library. Imagine this scenario with this little gadget/widget/mashup called Search.

A salesperson is going on a sales call to do a presentation to a prospect to drive a deal identified by Sales Prospector forward. The salesperson (note the gender neutrality here) wants to find out what his colleagues think is the best presentation, given the characteristics of this potential deal, that the salesperson can pull out of the Sales Library to bring with them to do the presentation to the prospect. Rather than having to go to Sales Library and then do a search and see the rankings etc. to make that determination, they simply type into this box the following: "best sales presentation, ranked 4 stars or better, for Company XYZ opportunity" and it brings up the link to the presentation in the results so that you can go straight to the Sales Library and download it.

YES! Easy way to get what you need quickly and simply - with little necessary "load the app and pray it all works right" stuff to do. Can the Search Gadget do this yet? Not according to Oracle. Will it be able to do that - and even pull in social profile data as part of the search. Should be able to according to Oracle. If it gets to where it can, this is one very very cool Gadget.

So there you have it. I think that despite the sexy-cool of the Gadgets (sad that this is what passes for sexy in CRM, though....Sigh), Siebel 8.1.1, despite weird numbering, is Oracle showing that it still realizes the Social CRM means that social customers are what need to be reckoned with - and that's even cooler. Again, not earthshaking but distinctly cool.

Technorati : CRM 2.0, Mashups, Oracle, Siebel, Social CRM
Del.icio.us : CRM 2.0, Mashups, Oracle, Siebel, Social CRM

The Election - Post Election

The 2008 Election

First, I think that you all know by now I was and am an ardent Barack Obama supporter so, while cruising in the Caribbean, I celebrated his victory on November 4 with a glass of champagne and a HUGE smile. I never thought I'd see this day and I did. I just wish my Dad was here to have seen it. He would be proud.

We know that one reason that President-elect Obama did as well as he did was his staff's incredible grasp of how all sectors of the populace communicate - and their use of technology tools to organize each of those sectors after understanding and listening to the fears and desires of each of the constituencies he needed to attract. He used the social media tools, traditional CRM tools etc., gasp of gasps, tools for organizing human contact. He didn't substitute the tools for that human contact - no self-respecting community organizer - of which I was one in my past - would ever do that. He used them as a strategic element in his campaign because he understood that was the way to communicate that was preferred by the 18-24 years (who went 66%-33% for Obama) and by the astute or at least, technologically proficient Gen Xers and even baby boomers. Three of the most telling indications of that, two smart things and the other a campaign momentary glitch, actually that showed what was at stake but clearly wasn't particularly damaging in the long run:

• During the primaries, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both had Twitter presences. But here was the key difference. Hillary Clinton had 25,000 followers and followed no one. Barack Obama had 39,000 followers and followed 39,000. That little difference makes all the difference. This wasn't an exercise in using "with it" technology; it was a tactic that fell within the use of technology as part of a strategy for potential voter engagement at even the micro-level.

• Interestingly, while the first smart move was pre-election, the second was post-election. At 2:30am the night of Obama's election victory, I received a thank you text message (as I'm sure did millions who had opted to use text messages as one of the communications media. I was a "YOU made it happen and thank you for that" SMS. But it was smart. Post-election, the movement he created will continue - and he recognizes that value.

• The mistake that luckily had little consequence but could have was the way that MyBarackObama handled the volunteers point system online. The initial approach to volunteers for the campaign was to award them points for their volunteer activity - if you fundraised, or registered someone to vote or hit the streets and homes to get support or did phone work, you got points. You didn't get anything material for those points - no vacations to the Caribbean or power saws or iPods. But, if you pay attention to the social stack, you got reputation and validation and the other elements of "sociality" as Thomas Vander Wal calls it, that are as meaningful as material reward. So, if you had 4571 points and were #1 in the points game, you were the most active Barack Obama volunteer which could be translated to "worked the hardest" or "made the most difference" or something that was meaningful to the volunteer with the points and the social circle of other volunteers. But as the Washington Post pointed out in an article several months ago, they changed the system to something more like a ranking from 1-10. Meaning, if you had 4571 points you were a 10. If you had 3988 points you were a 10 and somewhere it became a range for 9 or 8 or 2 or 1. This was met with some outrage that didn't ultimately damage the campaign (whew). The general upset was along the lines of "he can't do that. They were MY points."

  That is a very important statement. Because what the Obama campaign forgot very briefly was that this wasn't done for Barack Obama - him - it was done by the volunteers for themselves.

  One CRM lesson to be learned by this thankfully not all that damaging mistake was that we as customers, or volunteers, or participants in an institution always do the activities, make the sacrifices, buy the stuff as customers, for ourselves - not the party that we are interacting with. These are ways of achieving personal agendas that are satisfying to us. That's why being the #1 or #13 Barack Obama volunteer is far more emotionally beneficial to the individual achieving it then just being a 10 which might have 103,000 others like that. We want to have the reputation of being unique and, dare I say, best among equals. That goes for how we deal with companies and any institution out there. Its called self-interested. Not selfish. We want good things for ourselves. Normal, human. We want others to know about those good things for ourselves. Also, normal. Human.

  For example, we've heard the term "status symbols" forever - especially since the 50s. Rolls Royce - among certain circles status symbol. Toyota Corolla - good car, not a status symbol. Seiko watch - good watch, not a status symbol. If I say generally recognized status brand - what pops into your head? C'mon. Don't kid me. Unless you're a watch connoisseur, you and I both know you thought "Rolex" right away. Omega watches are $10 grand but did you think "Omega"? Noooooo. That's what I mean. "He has a Rolex and a Rolls Royce. He must be rich." "He has a Corolla and a Seiko. He must be....what?" A regular person?

  Point is, reputation matters to people in many ways. Mother Teresa wanted to be known as Good, not just be good. She was actually that but I'm sure it was comforting to know that she was seen as that too.

  In other words, it was a mistake without ultimate consequences but worth noting for CRM folks to move to a 1-10 rank rather than a points system in a campaign based on a candidate who not only wants to be held accountable but wants to make his base accountable to the general welfare. It took the volunteers from being unique individuals to just being one of the numerically defined herd. Why? Because it denigrated the value that the individual volunteers derived from their specific efforts. It also mislocates who the individual is really doing it for. They weren't doing for the candidate. Barack Obama was the person who best reflected their own personal vision of how things are supposed to be - and because he did, they loved him - as did I. He reflects what I want for the country and world - for the most part. But the campaign had a short term glitch and forgot that the most important person in the interaction is the person in the interaction. They are self-interested and individual. Personalized experiences are something we CRM lifers talk about all day. We have to remember that that isn't just verbiage to warm our bosses hearts or to make us feel better about saying it. People really want them and they go where they need to go to get the ones they want.

• Oh, actually, there is one other one you can look at. Back in 2007, I did a blog entry on the Web and fundraising that is being used now by some to show how Barack used technology (among others) to help win the election (makes ME feel good anyway). Here's the link if you want to see it.

One other thing I want to point out because I'll be following it up on either or both blogs, is that if you're interested in the technology behind all this, you should really be alert to a company who's reputation won't be anything but enhanced by the Obama victory - and it already is a great company. That would be Blue State Digital - responsible for Howard Dean's successful Internet technology effort in 2004 and for the incredibly powerful MyBarackObama.com this time around. This is a company that is interested in going commercial and has a few customers in that direction but has primarily focused on, as you can tell by the name, blue state related campaign efforts for the technology platforms that they use. They need to be commended for their extraordinary success and role in this election victory. I don't give a crap if you're a red stater or blue stater personally - your company might want to give a good look at the social platform that they use. Its eminently adaptable to commercial efforts. I'll be doing a more extensive review of their strengths and weaknesses in the VERY near future but they deserve not just the kudos for a brilliant technological effort but a look see from you if you're considering social platforms.

Microsoft: Makes the Pitch But Followthrough....?

I figured that since I was on a cruise, vacationing, enjoying life, that I'd probably forego the blog for awhile and just kick back and enjoy my show about nothing. But, sigh, that isn't the case.

Unfortunately for my intended inertia, I read the article in this month's Fast Company (the one with Seth McFarland on the cover) about Gary Flake, the quirky and apparently aptly named genius behind Microsoft's Live Labs and the innovative work that he's doing with Live Labs. What's he's doing, while not necessarily directly related to CRM, is, nonetheless, very consumer-cool and wildly creative. For example, they've developed a product called Photosynth which can not only stitch together any photos you've taken into a 360 degree self-styled (or at least Fast Company styled) "virtual world" but can do the same for any photos taken by anyone of the same thing - meaning it could go on Flickr, find large numbers of photos of a street corner in Amsterdam taken by 30 photographers and wannabes and make them into a virtual world of that street corner.

Live Labs is no one trick pony. In their three years of existence, they've filed for hundreds of patents and Flake, who reports to uberinnovator Ray Ozzie, Microsoft CTO and famous techie person, has been willing to take risks and to go outside Microsoft hierarchical bounds - which is great - and in fact, operate as a self-described "perpetual startup" in a culture that is anything but.

In the same article is a sidebar - really more of a short article - on Microsoft making its efforts to go into the cloud. Though they don't mention the name "Azure", the recently released to great fanfare Microsoft competitive offering to Google and Amazon's cloud infrastructure, this is likely the story of its prototype especially given this paragraph - revelatory to me:

"Microsoft now has 20 multinationals using its cloud offerings, including Coca Cola and Nokia; another 3,500 companies are testing a version using shared servers that should be become generally available this fall. Exchange email, Sharepoint collaboration, Communications Server instant-messaging, and the Dynamics customer relationship management software are among the products Microsoft has moved to the cloud."

All this is good, including the Fast Company article, because it shows that Microsoft has been at least trying to be innovative and at the same time, despite their public image (more on this VERY shortly), attempting to realize that the exigencies of 21st century "customerhood" literally are forcing companies to accept a reality that involves delivering services and applications the way that not only companies can afford, but also that they actually want - and on premise, especially in light of the pricing and cost models, seems to be the way that they are choosing.

But I have a problem.

Microsoft = SAP 18 Months Ago

About a year plus ago, I wrote a blog entry about SAP entitled SAP is Doing Cool Stuff - But Who Knows?. Now everyone knows and SAP, if it doesn't allow itself to be hamstrung by the economic downturn for too long, will continue to be a frontrunner in the the CRM 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 race. Not something easily said before November 2007 but now...like buttah. Oracle too. Salesforce.com slowing up more than they should but also still on the path. But Microsoft? Even with this Fast Company article they are still always a surprise - and frankly, not a happy one. I think that they "get it" but I'm not sure their model allows them to do anything if they do.

In that entry on SAP, I pointed out a few of the things that SAP Labs was doing and how they are remarkable and brilliant but that no one knew about it except SAP Labs and a maybe a few others who worked hard to find it.

Microsoft has less excuse than SAP. I'm continually amazed at how poorly it follows through on anything after the initial fervor and incredible buzz and discussion around the release of the new...whatever it is they released that week.

But its worse than that.

The Problems Manifest

There are several problems that typify their puzzling lacks - and they don't seem to be doing anything about them.

Microsoft Bites Its Own Hand

Microsoft doesn't know how to deal with itself. One division not only doesn't know what another related division (at least related according to me) is doing, but will actually impede its progress. One anecdotal piece of this evidence is actually in the article and concerns the above mentioned Photosynth - and I quote:

"Similarly, when MSN, the company's Web portal, wouldn't promote Photosynth on its home page unless it was rebranded using an MSN name, Web address and log, Live Labs launched the service solo."

This is precisely what I mean when I say they don't don't how to deal with themselves. What makes more sense than to launch Photosynth, a cool Web based consumer technology using MSN, Microsoft's very visible consumer presence. But, like many other companies their size, the individual department was more important than the customers that they could be serving - thus the wrong result. And, most germane to this, a lot less visibility than it could have had.

There are numerous other examples of this - several of which I've personally experienced - that are either one hand being crushed by the other (like Photosynth) or one hand not knowing what the other is doing. For an example, of the latter, I am personally acquainted with the lack of a relationship between the consumer division and the customer relationship management group. Not only is their a distinct and obvious relationship between "consumers" and "customers" but, at least in principle, Microsoft has a grand strategic objective of being the company that is engaged in every part of your life which I have to assume includes your work (CRM) and your home life(consumer group).

We can write some of this off to Microsoft's inability to solve its own size. But the other issue is inexcusable to me, a Microsoft fan no less.That would be their incredible failure to do anything other substantial pass their initial press release to sustain visibility of their initiatives in the marketplace.

Here's the Pitch, But Where's The Followthrough?

Let me just reiterate something here. I'm a big fan of Microsoft - not one of their silly techie detractors who don't like them because they are Microsoft - and apparently not for any other reason. But I also know when they drop the ball, its not only bad for them, but for the enterprise and software industries as a whole - and they drop it frequently and in many ways.

First and foremost is the "Post-Release Dissipation Syndrome."

You'll have no trouble finding release after release on Microsoft products week after week, the latest being an incredible number of releases and post-operative discussions on Microsoft Azure, the above-mentioned cloud computing initiative. For example, here, here and here.

But I've seen this before - and always. For a short while, Microsoft has an incredible amount of buzz on a service or product release - one that is often innovative - and then - where is it?

Several months ago, I wrote another blog entry "Shame on You Microsoft" that showed how badly the buzz around Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live had dissipated after the 2007 Partner Conference. For example, the third entry on a Google search was "Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live Sucks." It was noticed by the CRM group at the time, but apparently, this isn't something noticed by the company because at the corporate level, this lack of followup seems to be continuing. And not only in press followup.

Another example of innovation wafting aimlessly through the ether is Microsoft Surface.

First, in the interests of full disclosure, I sit/sat on the Board of Advisors of Microsoft Surface. Surface is the incredibly interesting, cool and potentially customer experience enhancing technology - multi-touch - that Microsoft developed and released over a year ago. I say "sit/sat" though, for a reason. When I was chosen to be on the Microsoft Surface Board of Advisors, I was (and still am) incredibly honored. This is a significant technology that at the time was at least visibly Apple's domain due to the iPhone and iTouch, but Microsoft's plans were scaled up on this considerably. If you don't know it, here is a good discussion of it. In early 2007, I (and the rest of the Board of Advisors) flew out to Redmond for a meeting. We had that meeting, which I thought was productive. There was a little bit of followup over the following months leading up to the release (and I mean a little) and then - bam. Nothing. Nada. Nunca. Zip. Zero.

I've been and am on many Boards of Advisors and normally they are expected to be, well, advisors and there is an active solicitation of their advice. Regular phone calls perhaps, meetings on occasion. Minimally, we are kept in the loop as to the product that we agreed to be advisors for so that perhaps we can proactively provide some level of support for that.

Nope.

But then, nothing to let us know that the Board of Advisors has been dissolved either. Just that ethereal item in the press here and there.

I'm very busy with my clients and the 4th edition of CRM at the Speed of Light and recovering from my accident etc. so I don't worry about it. But I'm concerned because of the nature of the problem, not because of Surface. This is another lack of followup in a different form. I've now seen this countless times from Microsoft and judging from conversations I've had with industry analysts in CRM and with employees there and with observers and with my own observations, this lack of followthrough or at least turtle-like speed of followthrough is something that makes many unhappy - especially those of us who wish Microsoft nothing but well - and are willing to try "tough love" as the way to get them to WAKE UP!!

Get It Out, Speed it Up, Follow it Through

Okay. I've seen some remarkably innovative technologies that the CRM group is engaged with. Yet I don't see it publicized anywhere. I've finally, thanks to Fast Company become acquainted with Live Labs and the really 21st century 2.0ish and even 3.0ish things that they are doing - and I hope that I see more on them to follow up the article. I think that the company as a whole needs to escalate on its engagement of the public and the influencers and the varying industries they are in so that they can overcome the "That's just Microsoft being Microsoft" (Manny fans take note) baggage that they're carrying. I also think its time for each division to not only stop biting the hands that reach out from other divisions but, given Microsoft's thinking on being the underlying framework for each person's work and home lives, they develop a working culture that encourages collaboration between the divisions, rather than competition. They have some of the finest minds in the technology world over there and several very good minds who are underappreciated. With their level of talent, their ability to weather storms and their potential for not just innovating but making sure they are known that way, as SAP now is for example for at least their customer facing applications, or Oracle, the same. But they have to do it now. They can't wait until Gen Y is old enough for people in general to say "Outlook interface? What's Outlook?" Do your work, Microsoft and follow through on what you have and make known what you're doing. We might all not be better off by that, but you'll be.