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CRM Idol 2011: The SMB Vendors Jump to the Fore #1B

Its now 2pm ET and, right on time, here (and on ZDNet) are the next two reviews for CRM Idol - Soluciones S.A. and Jaguar TPM. Same rules apply. Please do me a favor and comment on what you think.  You may be able to affect the semi-finalist choices if you do.

Here we go...

Soluciones S.A.

Soluciones S.A., an Argentinian based company and creator of Engage Business Solutions, is a well matured company focused on CRM solutions for both the Spanish Speaking Latin American and Brazilian markets.  The company was founded in 1989 with offices and partners in Mexico City, Uruguay, Chile, Ecuador and Brazil.

Soluciones S.A. has a network of partnerships and alliances that include companies like Oracle, Microstrategy, SPSS, Microsoft, Atos, Telefonica and Deloitte. With a staff of 60 employees, Soluciones manages the product development, software sales and professional services in the entire region.

Engage Business Solutions (EBS) main focus is to provide efficiency, profitability and competitiveness to the unique Latin American market. They have been accomplishing this by providing a solution that has BPM, CRM, Collections and Analytics - an all-inclusive solution. EBS solution targets small business as well as large enterprise in Latin American, from banks and to insurance and from cable to telecommunication companies.

Their main market is the financial industry which represents 40% of their customers. Other industries where they have key customers are insurance, telecommunications, government and automotive. They have an impressive list of customers that represent who is who of banks in Latin America like Banco Columbia, Banco Fallabela, Banco Comafi, GE Consumer Finance, Banco Ripley, Meridian Financial, BBVA and others. DirecTV is also one of their showcased customers in Latin America.

When the CRM decision is local to the market, they compete very well with CRM vendors like Siebel and Microsoft, since EBS offers local best practices in CRM and especially in Collections. Also, their integrated BPM technology and the local pricing are very attractive to many Latin American companies.

The EBS solution provides the traditional CRM modules such as marketing, sales and service, but it also provide loyalty, collections and BI modules - all integrated. This includes functionality to manage different touch-points with consumers such as call center, web, branches, mobile and CTI. One unique factor is that EBS is tailored for the B2C market more than the B2B market.

Their technical architecture provides a complete data integration between the application and integration layers. In terms of middleware they are capable of connecting to MQ Series and Web Services, among others. MQ Series is a popular option in Latin America for integration services, especially in the financial industry. Additionally, EBS is database independent; it can work with most popular databases.

One of the key benefits of EBS is their Business Applications Library. They have created 100s of business applications to manage all types of processes from credit validation to collections and from marketing to sales. The library includes processes, forms, metrics and formulas. These business applications are based on local and regional best practices. This is a unique competitive advantage against their competition and a benefit for their customers.

The solution also provides 50 predefined reports and dashboards using an embedded OLAP engine, including metrics such as RFM, Time Analysis, Collections, Customer Scores and Geographical Analysis, among many others.

Soluciones S.A. have found a good niche in the Latin American market due to the fact that they can serve the large enterprise and small business markets in a B2C environment, and most important in the financial industry.  They can help large enterprise with complex processes in the typical Latin American environment. This is a unique differentiator.  The know-how of the region is an excellent competitive advantage.

Today, most of their customers are using EBS under the on-premise model. However, they currently have a SaaS solution for small businesses.  They see some challenges ahead such as replicating their success in Argentina in other countries, increasing their partner network and moving to the Cloud.

Their user interface is designed for call center reps and only provides Spanish and Portuguese support. The user interface really needs improvement; it is not that user friendly and looks like a client/server or mainframe screen deployed in a web interface. This look and feel could be fine for the Latin American market, but if they eventually want to enter the market in United States, EBS will need to improve some key aspects of the user interface and support the English language.

If you are a multinational company with operations in Latin America, EBS should be in your short list of CRM vendors. They have the local know-how, the local best practices and the local support. Soluciones S.A. is a matured CRM vendor with great opportunities ahead and worth considering.

Jaguar TPM

Founded in 2009, JaguarTPM is a management consulting and systems integration firm focused on CRM and trade promotion management solutions for consumer products companies.  Cofounders John Mazan and Rick Davies bring extensive CPG industry experience in strategy and implementation from leading firms such as IBM, KPMG, and McKinsey & Company.

According to research provided by JaguarTPM, there are approximately sixty-six thousand consumer products firms in the US, employing fourteen million people, and accounts for $2.5 trillion in annual revenues.  According to various reports, these companies spend anywhere from 10-30% of revenue on trade promotions.  JaguarTPM is focusing their efforts on providing small and midsized CPG companies the ability to compete for distributors and retailers with an integrated set of trade promotion management (TPM) and CRM tools larger competitors typically have at their disposal, but at a fraction of the cost of high-end solutions from vendors like Oracle and SAP.

Lack of integrated planning between trade promotion planning, volume forecasting and account management is a key challenge of TPM. Most TPM systems require a substantial investment in human resources and IT. JaguarTPM's main objective is to bring down barriers to implementing a systematic approach to managing TPM from both a sales promotion and financial management perspective - at the SMB level.  Prices start at $150 per user per month.

Built on top of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, JaguarTPM leverages account management, contact management and reporting capabilities from that platform, and integrates a complete trade promotions management module specifically for the CPG industry.  Their industry template focuses on adding/extending the following capabilities:

• Account and contact management customized for handling relationships with both distributors and retailers
• Product Planning at the SKU or product group level
• Volume Forecasting (performing "what if" analysis for adjustments)
• Trade Promotion Activity Planning
• Integrated trade promotion with forecasting
• Merchandise retail execution (information on how retailers place/showcase products)
• Distributor Portal integrated with Dynamics CRM to allow distribution partners capability to provide depletion information back to manufacturer allowing for more accurate forecasting

The company is currently working on a customer service extension called JaguarQ.  The extension will not only manage the quality of product delivery to distributors and retailers, but also look at consumer side service.

JaguarQ will take into account lot number, and the product location. If a call comes in and says something was wrong with a product, (e.g. found a product defect) a set of workflows will kick off to see who needs to be contacted and what procedures need to be followed.

Additionally they are exploring the concept of having QR codes as part of the packaging so that someone can take a picture, send it in, which will allow users to tell how the product got there, when it got there, where it is in the distribution channel, and how long it's been there.

JaguarTPM can be deployed as an on-premise solution, or over the cloud.  Originally they looked at building their solution on top of "cloud-only" solutions, but some of their larger customers preferred the option of having an on-premise or a cloud-based service.

Although they are a Microsoft Certified Gold partner, JaguarTPM does not target Dynamics CRM customers, and doesn't focus their business on reselling Microsoft products.  They also don't look to Microsoft as a channel for leads. Due to their experience and expertise, they view themselves as a TPM/CRM solution for CPG, and not primarily as a reseller.

Even though Oracle and SAP are the main players in the space, particularly at the high end of the CPG market, JaguarTPM's price point should be attractive to companies growing their product catalogue and distributor/retailer network.  Educating the SMB market, in addition to providing an integrated CRM/TPM solution will be key to JaguarTPM building a successful niche in this area.

Also, JaguarTPM believes more CPG manufacturers view social networking as an interesting avenue to create opportunities for direct conversations with consumers to offer trade promotions to them Tighter integration with social will provide for richer conversations between vendors and consumers enabling vendors and retailers to better manage promotional dollars. This would allow manufacturers to gain valuable customer insights in order to create more attractive products and offerings to distribute.  JaguarTPM sees this as a potential selling point that could drive interest at the SMB level for an integrated approach to CRM and TPM.

JaguarTPM's deep experience and expertise in the CPG space, coupled with their focus on small and midsized organizations, is a combination worth paying attention to.  The solution makes it possible for smaller manufacturers to have a much better handle on trade promotion activities, as well as a better system for managing key relationships with distributors and retailers.  And as their need to spread promotion dollars into more products over a wider distribution network, JaguarTPM's integrated approach to this challenge should make it an option worth considering.

CRM Idol 2011: The SMB Vendors Jump To the Fore #1A

From now on through the next few weeks, I'm going to bombard you with the reviews that an esteemed panel of judges (well, esteemed except me) are writing for the companies that are participating in the CRM Idol 2011: The Open Season competition. This thing has burgeoned into something rather large - at least within the confines of the CRM industry - and is a chance for small companies who are attempting to penetrate the CRM, SCRM and related markets (despite the proclamations of its death) and are being given a stage to be declared after an easy-to-enter, hard-to-win CRM Idol 2011 - the best of a heavy vetted lot of small companies with a real future.

Even those who don't win deserve their day in the sun. So in addition to these reviews being published on the CRM Idol website, we would like to get them to you guys to read elsewhere too.  And to comment on them.

See what's going to happen is that there will be semi-finalists chosen and your comments on the website, on our blogs, at the press sites that are covering the reviews (more on this later this week) will matter in the selection of those semi-finalists.

What I'm going to do is to get these out to you as I get them.  Roughly, 2-4 a day will be published and some days even more than that.  Please spend time reading them, looking at these companies, give me  your thinking on these companies in the comments section of this blog, PGreenblog, or the CRM Idol website or all three.

The First Reviews

Each review has been signed off by all the CRM Idol Primary Judges - currently for the Americas and in early September for EMEA.   So these are all jointly done in effect.  They represent a distillation of the understanding of the companies and their products from the principals who did the demos and briefing with us throughout last week and through the end of this week. This time 39 in all, due to a withdrawal of one company for inescapable reasons.

What you'll see here right now is four companies: Phaseware, Performance Solutions S.A., this morning and Soluciones S.A. and Jaguar TPM later this afternoon.  I hope that you'll not only learn something of these companies but respond with what you think.

Thanks for taking the time.

Phaseware

Phaseware was co-founded in 2005 by Randall Nelson (CEO) and Hoyt Mann (president) two industry veterans who first worked together at RamQuest Software.  The company made its first sale in 2006 and achieved profitability in 2007.  Phaseware dedicates itself to providing customer service solutions to SMB companies in the five million to twenty million dollar revenue range.  Phaseware has just ten employees serving more than one hundred thirty five customers.

Phaseware has no outside capital and plans to continue its organic growth focusing on a variety of industries including software, medical device hardware and outsources services.  Phaseware goes to market in two modes on-premise and on-demand using the same code base a trait enabled by the Microsoft platform.  The customer base is roughly evenly divided between premise based (55%) and cloud (45%) and the company enjoys high levels of customer retention, which it describes as being in the "upper 90 percent" range.

One reason Phaseware can run so lean is that it relies on a Microsoft stack including .net for application development.  The company leverages the Microsoft partnership for its foundation and focuses on customer service and feature development.

The Phaseware product suite consists of five related products.

Self Service Center (customer web portal).  This customer portal offers a clean and serviceable though somewhat dated user interface enabling customers to search for information in the vendor knowledgebase.  Customers can generate a service ticket through the web interface to initiate a deeper service process.

Knowledge Base. Phaseware uses Microsoft Silverlight for content management for documents FAQs and articles.  The knowledgebase is accessible through the Self Service Center as well as the Tracker products.

Integrated Chat. There are two chat channels available in the system including one for vendor to customer communication and another for supervisor to agent for training and monitoring purposes.

Event Engine (business rules automation). Phaseware put a great deal of effort into the product to enable its customers to define business rules for processing customer requests.  Ad hoc search boxes in the system enable customers and vendor agents to drill into customer, product and other parameters to identify issues and their resolutions.

Tracker and Tracker on Demand (agent desktops). The company offers two agent desktops (Tracker) for remote and premise based agents.  Through Tracker agents can define business processes using the rules engine and customize business processes.  Users also have the ability to design and manipulate screen design to better reflect their work styles.

The system comes with a full array of functionality designed to make the agent productive and provide a quality customer experience.  Some functions and features include alerts,  automatic case escalation, targeted email, customer forums, auto reminders to customers and automatic report distribution.

Phaseware fits its niche well and prides itself on its customer care responding to its customers within a two hour window (using its own products).  Its close alliance with Microsoft and dedication to the platform help ensure the Phaseware can continually bring its customers a steady stream of updates and enhancements.  Looking ahead, Phaseware is well situated to continue improving its product line selling into a broad market for SMB customer care and customer service systems and growing organically.

Performance Solutions S.A.

Performance Solutions S.A. creators of the customer service product suite Blitz, was founded in 2006 in Lima Peru by its current managing director, Marcia Garcia-Smith.  They have 16 team members who include a number of employees and contractors who are working for Performance Solutions.  As with most of the competitors in CRM Idol, only a small number of the team members are employees who function as part of a team consisting of those employees and contractors and the management of the company. In fact, the employees on the demo call went out of their way "we don't work for Maria. We work with Maria," something that Maria confirmed, which indicates a closely knit organization with a relaxed and somewhat (please note the use of somewhat here) non-hierarchical organizational culture.

The company is bootstrapped, funded primarily by Ms. Garcia-Smith and one member of her family.  There are no outside funds.

They have about 20 customers that are distributed across multiple verticals including financial services, telco, airlines, and health services. Their market has been until very recently strictly focused in Latin America with customers primarily in Peru and also Colombia, Ecuador, Chile and Argentina, although the latter four countries has been more consulting customers than product/solutions directed customers.  But in the last several months, they've had their first English speaking customer in the United States, which led them to accelerate their program to get to the U.S. market, which as we'll see shortly has implications for their product that are quite important.

To date their regional customers has been widely scattered among banks, retail stores/chains, insurance, hospitals, airlines and a government agency.  What makes it a bit unusual is that they also have a strong "vertical" area in economic groups - Latin American based family-owned businesses that control a variety of interests.  For example, one economic group using Blitz controls 120 companies of varying sizes.

What remains a bit unclear, besides their interest in going to market in the United States, is their future go to market strategy because they have such general penetration in the Peruvian market in particular, though still a small customer base and because the customers in the other countries are primarily consulting customers.

Their portfolio, called, all in all Blitz, consists of two products and what they call a "platform.  It is geared to customer care centers, an increasingly crowded market and one that takes in general exceptional performance and a high level of differentiation to make any real progress in all in all.  But the products are very focused around some particularly interesting capabilities so that there is a decent chance, with some caveats, that they can do well in this busy marketplace.

Business Model

Their business model, according to their own literature: "Blitz is a platform that has a complete set of tools to help Business SERVICE & SUPPORT their customer base, in a BOUTIQUE CONSULTING mode. (Their capitalization)."  This is something we find confusing given their line of reasoning to us which was more supportive of a solutions based model more akin selling the products; provide professional services to implement them.  Strategic consulting did not seem to be something that they were terribly interested in.

Additionally, another point of confusion in the model is in the following excerpt from their differentiators:

"•Twitter, Facebook, emails, mobile enabled and Portal Self-Servicing as well as those traditional Call Center and Sales Force Support...."

We saw no evidence of sales force support in their offering, though a highly customizable offering can, we're sure provide that with some work.

Product

Blitz is a customer service product suite that consists of three offerings:  two products - a Self-Service portal; a Channel Manager and what they call a platform -CRM Service and Support Workflows.

Their entire portfolio is built on a Microsoft SQL and .NET framework with an MVC architecture that allows them to port the products to DB2 and Oracle databases if need be.  Their roadmap is geared in a few directions in 2012 and beyond with an increased use of webservices and cloud APIs, many already used in their Channel Manager product. These not only allow for better mobile offerings beyond their current Blackberry effort, but stronger integration with other CRM products like salesforce, SugarCRM and vTiger - three they specifically named.

What they do have to their great credit is a highly and somewhat easily configurable platform and product set that allows deep customization, which, given the disparate kinds of customers they have is a definite and important quality of their portfolio.

While they have three offerings, they are clearly focused on Channel Manager, the one product that the judges had a chance to see in depth in the course of the demonstration.  Channel Manager functions as more than just an aggregator of social and traditional contact center channels.  It allows the agents to not only record the interactions, and view them on screens that are clean and easy to read, but also to respond to the queries, questions and problems and ties the customer's interactions to any service level agreements they have with the companies they are communicating, with. One great strength of Channel Manager is the ability handle social inputs such as Facebook and Twitter and more traditional channels such as email in a matter of fact way - as part of the agent's life, rather than something that stands out as a "wow isn't this cool" set of screens every time it pops up.  It reflects a recognition (that we applaud) that social channels are just that - channels, no more, no less and they are used for more inputs from and insights into customers.

We didn't see evidence of any way to handle phone calls which might have been an oversight in the demo, so we'll just leave it as a comment.

They have a small analytics set with a simple, easy to access and use personal dashboard that provides some basic, though not much more than that, metrics for an agent or manager's perusal. Here's a screenshot to give you an idea of what this looks like.

What still remains a little unclear is their scalability to the larger enterprises in the U.S. market which are considerably larger than the larger enterprises in LATAM.   However, they do claim to have their enterprise product now and ready.

Final Thoughts

The Blitz Channel Manager, the only product we're qualified to speak of, is a well thought out LATAM focused customer service product that on the one hand, suits their current market but has some challenges for North American markets.  The biggest challenge is the obvious one. As of now, they have only a Spanish version, though they recently acquired their first U.S. customer, putting them on the spot to complete the English version in the near future.

Their roadmap is prudent yet ambitious, not only incorporating some re-architecture of their product around Websphere, depending on an opportunity to partner with IBM.  More definitive is their future inclusion of other channels and capabilities into their product suite, particularly SMS, Online Chat, fax-to-email and native Mobile to go with both the social and traditional channels they already incorporate.

What seems to be a little skewed or at least unclear, is their business model or what they present as their business model. Consulting is not the course of action we recommend for them but rather a solutions-focused model that uses professional services to implement them. If that is the way they go to market, then they need to align their messaging much more appropriately to their business model.  Additionally, it would be valuable for this small company to pursue some partnership for additional exposure to the U.S. market once they complete their English edition.

What is clear is that they have a very good product that is what it claims. It's easy to use, yet customizable to a degree that is laudable. What is also truly smart is their treatment of social channels as no more than another set of channels for agents or managers to use in their quest to provide customer service effectively.  Their roadmap for the future with the incorporation of text, online chat etc. shows that in spades.

(Later today, Soluciones S.A. and Jaguar TPM.  Check back at 2pm ET.....)

Finally…CRM Idol 2011: The Open Season Is Here! Welcome to…Wherever We Are

PG Note: The post you see below represents the “official” launch of CRM Idol 2011 and is one that all eight primary judges endorse. For me personally, this is my “angelic” side – the side of me that wants to support an industry that has been good to me. On my more edgy side, some of the reason that this was hatched was because of PR agents who basically don’t do their homework and pitch me all day long without an inkling about me as an actual human. They think I’m an influential CRM cyborg. Dealing with that from the other side, Brent Leary and I will be launching a music video in a few months from Playaz Productions. Heh. Heh.

But the side of me that’s grateful to an industry and friends and those companies that actually have honored me by listening to me blather all these years, is enthralled by the idea that we may be able to give back to all of you through CRM Idol. So, thank you for everything over the years and welcome to CRM Idol 2011: the Open Season!!)

 

 

Okay, everyone this is the big one. CRM Idol 2011: The Open Season is here and we’re ready to take your companies and find out which one of you in the Americas and which one of you in EMEA is not the next CRM Idol but the FIRST CRM Idol.

The Idea

Most of what we’re trying to do was outlined in the pre-announcement announcement of CRM Idol last week. But it bears some repeating:

Small companies – at least in the CRM software related world – and that means social software world, in this case, too – abound. There are thousands of companies out there that are possibly innovative, possibly commercially viable in a big way, possibly the next big thing. But, as we said, there are thousands of them. And, no matter how great your product is, if no one knows about it, well, then, oops. Not a good thing.

These small companies are all making efforts to get into the ecosystem that could benefit them – one which includes investors, influencers, technology/strategic partners, media connections, etc. While getting support from this powerful ecosystem is by no means a guarantee of success, it can be enormously helpful in getting well down the road there. But, those small companies are often thwarted in that effort by either really bad PR people, or just the incredible amount of companies out there trying to reach into the ecosystem who are pummeling the small amount of influencers, etc. every week with requests to demo or talk.

Now, to be fair to the influencers, they are human beings with lives that aren’t built around supporting this one company that really thinks they are it. All they know is that each of them is getting between 20-50 requests a week to take a demo or conversation with someone who owns or represents a company they’ve never heard of and never talked to yet. In addition to those that they know. Often enough, they are pitched by a public relations person who is either inexperienced or not really good at their job who makes no effort to find anything out about the person that they are pitching to. So the influencer, journalist, venture capitalist gets a generic curve thrown at them that doesn’t even break over the plate – guaranteeing that the email is going to be discarded as a matter of course before the first paragraph is even read. Or it could be that on a particular day the influencer got 10 pitches and had a headache and didn’t want to see any of them.

As unfair as generic pitches and high volumes of noise are to the influencers in the highly desirable ecosystem we are chatting about here, it is a problem because what are probably a lot of good companies are never given a chance to move ahead because of the difficulties inherent in the process and the vagaries of bad luck on any given day.

Which is why CRM Idol 2011: The Open Season exists.

The concept is simple, small companies out there. If you meet the submission criteria outlined below, you will be given the opportunity, first come first serve, to secure a time slot on a specific day that will put you in front of some of the most influential people in the CRM/SCRM world. They will spend an hour with you in a demo to hear about your technology product – software only – and they will write a jointly signed review of what they saw of you – that will be published in multiple venues as soon as its written. It can be a good review, a bad one, a mix or indifferent. There’s risk on your part to be taken here. But it is something that you need to be aware of. The reviews will go up as soon as the 5 judge sign off on the final content. They won’t be exhaustive reviews but they will be opinionated and fair.

Forty companies from the Americas and twenty companies from EMEA (that means ONLY Europe, the Middle East and Africa) will get a shot at this – again first come first serve (more later on what that means). Of the 40 in the Americas, 4 finalists will be chosen. (NOTE: There will be an APAC edition hopefully late in the year or if not, early 2012, depending on the success of these two events. Sorry, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, et.al. Logistics made it impossible at this juncture.) Out of the 20 in EMEA, 3 finalists will be chosen. Each of the finalists will be REQUIRED to do a ten minute video about their company and the product. Not a repeat of the demo but a video. Note I used the word REQUIRED here. Let me put it this way. If you make the finals and don’t do the video, we will publicly skewer your company. Know why? Because our judges are giving up what little free time they actually have in a summer to do this and it will take us 4 hours a day for 3 business weeks to do it. So if you can’t or won’t put in the effort to do the video, don’t bother to apply. Seriously. We’re trying to help out here and we want you guys all to succeed but it’s a two way street.

Okay, that rant out of the way. Once the finalists are chosen and the videos done, they will be posted online in multiple media outlets. They will be voted on in two ways:

1. Popular vote – see, crowdsourcing is important. All the votes for the one winner from the Americas and the one winner from EMEA will be tallied from the public sites – in aggregate. That’s 50% of the vote.
2. Extended Judges Panels – as you can see below, we may have assembled the greatest panels of judges – both leading vendors and influencers ever assembled in the history of CRM – not to be hyperbolic or anything. Each judge will select a specific winner in each of the Americas and EMEA from the 7 finalists. That’s the other 50% of the vote. The original judges will be voting as panel members.

The winners in each will get a major array of prizes, some of which are below, and be declared “CRM Idol 2011 Winner.”

Not too shabby is it? Vast amounts of media attention even if you don’t make the finals. If you make the finals at all, some prizes to you. The winners get everything that the ecosystem can offer but guaranteed success. But they do get all the accoutrements they need to support their increased likelihood of it.

That way, you small companies out there who have been victimized by bad approaches or just circumstance have the opportunity to bypass all of that and make something happen. It’s up to you to take the reins in hand but once you do, you have at least a serious chance at making yourself successful.

The Criteria

This competition is for small companies in the CRMish/SocialCRMish world. – see the categories below for some guidelines though please feel free to make the case if you don’t see yourself in the guidelines.

1. You have to have software that is commercially available by the time of the demo – that would be in August – again see below. No betas, alphas, release candidates allowed. If we find that you’re not commercially available, and you have a time slot, you’re out and someone else will fill the slot. So please be sure that you can verify the claim if you want to participate.
2. You have to have 3 referenceable customers that, if we care to, we can contact and ask about you.
3. You have to have revenue under $12 million U.S. your last fiscal year. As far as disclosure goes, you have the choice of making the claim that you do – though that will have to be stated in your submission and we’ll trust you or you can disclose your revenue in the submission with the knowledge that only the permanent judges will know what it is. If you make the claim, please be prepared to back it up if we ask. Your call on how.
4. You have to be willing to make a ten minute video if you get to the finals. More on that later.
5. You have to fit a category – though there is some leeway there.

The Categories

The categories that we’ve identified to start are:

1. Traditional CRM Suites
2. Social CRM
3. Sales - Sales Force Automation, Sales Optimization, Sales Effectiveness
4. Marketing – Marketing Automation, Revenue Performance Management, Social Marketing, Email Marketing, Enterprise Marketing Management, Database Marketing
5. Customer Service – all permutations
6. Mobile CRM
7. Customer Experience Management
8. Social Media Monitoring – requires the possibility of integrating with a CRM technology
9. Customer Analytics – including text/sentiment analytics; voice based analytics; social media analytics, influencer scoring, etc.
10. Enterprise Feedback Management
11. Innovation Management
12. Community Platforms
13. Enterprise 2.0 – collaboration, activity streams etc.
14. Social Business
15. Knowledge Management – this one requires the possibility of integrating with CRM systems
16. Vendor Relationship Management
17. Partner Relationship Management

Once again, if you don’t see yourself in this list, don’t worry.  Just make the case as to why you have some customer-facing possibilities and the likelihood is that we’ll be cool with it. We’re trying to make this easier for you, not hard.

The Rules

They are numbered to be entirely clear.

Submissions

1. There will be 40 slots made available in the Americas and 20 in EMEA.
2. The submission will be by email ONLY to: nextbigthing@crmidol.com. (See below to see this again and what to do if there are problems). Any other attempt at submission will be rejected out of hand with the problem exception mentioned below.
3. The submissions will occur starting today – Monday, April 25 and will continue until Friday May 13 or until all slots are filled, whichever is first (watch #crmidol on twitter for updates on that as it occurs). On May 13, should any slots be left, the remaining specific dates and times will be made publicly available and another final round of submissions for those remaining slots will occur from May 13 through May 20. After that the submissions will be closed.
4. Each submission will include the following:
   1. Your company contact and named person contact information Two date and time specific slot requests. ONLY two. If your slots are not available, you’re out of luck until May 14 – and then you can resubmit to any time slots that are publicly announced as still available. Though there is no guarantee that there will be any available slots at that time. (see below for examples of how to submit the dates/times)
   2. The category you feel you fit into - or if you don’t but think that you qualify – why.
   3. A description of what the product is/the company is. Be persuasive here that you meet the criteria, not that you have a great product. This is merely a qualifying discussion. URLs cannot be used as substitutes for this description. The submission needs to be all inclusive. However, they can be used as supporting documentation.
   4. The names of the three (3) referenceable customers – the company, the contact and the way to communicate with them – minimum of email and phone, please.
   5. A statement that says that you meet the revenue requirement along the lines of “our company states truthfully that our revenues in our last fiscal year 2010 were under $12 million U.S”. OR you can state the actual number with the knowledge that the primary judges in each of the Americas and EMEA will treat it as under non-disclosure. But please be aware those designated primary judges below will see the actual figures if you choose to reveal them.
   6. A statement that says, “if (you) make the finals, you are committed to making a 10 minute video for submission and public viewing as part of the conditions for entry.” Word it anyway you prefer but make the commitment clear.
5. If you are accepted, you’ll be notified privately but it will be posted that you’ve been accepted on the Twitter #crmidol stream. The time will only be sent to you privately. Just your acceptance will be posted. Please allow some time between your submission and the posting of it to the hashtag and your private notification, since we all still have to work for a living.
6. If you don’t include everything specified in the rules for submission, it means automatic disqualification and you cannot resubmit.

The Demo

The demo has few rules. Just be prepared to a. explain your company; b. show your product – live please c. answer questions from the influencers/experts.  Not much more than that. I’m sure many of you are experienced at this already so wed don’t have to tell you this, but just in case… A site for the demos with login etc. will be announced to the timeslot owners in early August.

The Video

The standards for the video will be mentioned to the finalists once they are named. To rest any unease, you won’t be required to spend lots of money to get it done. How much you spend and on what will be up to you as will the content and how you present it. We’ll issue guidelines when the time gets near, including how the video is going to be distributed for posting and voting.

The Judges

Here are the lists of all the judges. As you can see, we have what is likely to be the heaviest hitting list in the history of anything done in CRM when it comes to awards or competitions. Click on their names to get to their LinkedIn bios. They are in alphabetical order.

Primary Judges

The Americas

These five judges will handle the 40 entries for the Americas which consists of the United States, Canada, South and Central America.  They will all be involved in the one hour reviews each of the days over the two weeks and will jointly sign off on each review which will be posted to multiple media sites. They will also solely choose the four finalists for the Americas.

1. Paul Greenberg – Managing Principal, The 56 Group, LLC
2. Jesus Hoyos – Managing Partner, JesusHoyos.com, LLC
3. Esteban Kolsky – Principal and Founder, Thinkjar LLC
4. Brent Leary – Managing Partner, CRM Essentials
5. Denis Pombriant – CEO, Beagle Research Group

EMEA

These four judges will handle the 20 entries from Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia etc.  They will all be involved in the each of the 1 hour demos/discussions from Sept 5 through 9 and will write and jointly sign off on each review which will be posted to multiple media sites. They will also solely choose the three finalists for EMEA.

1. Laurence Buchanan – Vice President, CRM & Social CRM, EMEA, Capgemini
2. Silvana Buljan – Founder & Managing Director, Buljan & Partners
3. Paul Greenberg – see above
4. Mark Tamis – Social Business Strategist, NET-7

Mentors

This is an exciting part of CRM Idol 2011. Each of these fine human beings has volunteered a day of their time – two during the finals and one with the winners – to provide the benefit of their experience to the contestants.  What they will do is noted by their name. This is an awesome idea that Anthony Lye actually cooked up. Each of these mentors has decades of experience in the software and venture capital world and is considered a leader in the CRM space. So if you make it to the finals, you have the benefit of their knowledge and their valuable time.  Amazing.

1. Anthony Lye – Anthony will provide one day for the Americas finalists and one day for the EMEA finalists for consultation on how to best do the content for the contending videos and whatever other pertinent advice the finalists need. Anthony has had years of experience as a senior management person for enterprise CRM and a thought leader.
2. Joe Hughes – Joe will provide one day for the Americas finalists and one day for the EMEA finalists for consultation on how to best do the content for the contending videos and whatever other pertinent advice the finalists need. Joe has been a leader in the CRM space for as long as we can remember and one of the more foresighted when it comes to the value of Social CRM
3. Larry Augustin – This is a prize for the winner of EMEA and the winner of the Americas. Larry who has years of experience as an executive in the software space and has been a successful venture capitalist will work with the winner to prepare them for dealing with possible investors including doing a VC matching with the winners.

There will most likely be other mentors announced as the competition gets closer to the demo dates.  We might try to make some mentors available to prepare you if you need them for the one hour demos but that’s still up in the air. We’ll keep you posted.

Extended Judges Panels

The Influencer Panel

1. William Band – Vice President & Principal Analyst, CRM, Forrester Research
2. Jim Berkowitz – CEO, CRM Mastery
3. Bruce Culbert – Chief Service Officer, The Pedowitz Group
4. Zoli Erdos - Publisher/Editor, CloudAve and Enterprise Irregulars
5. Mike Fauscette – Group Vice President, Software Business Solutions, IDC
6. Josh Greenbaum – Principal, Enterprise Applications Consulting
7. Dr. Graham Hill – Partner, Optima Partners
8. Dennis Howlett - Buyer Advocate
9. Ian Jacobs – Senior Analyst, Customer Interaction, Ovum/Datamonitor
10. Michael Krigsman – CEO, Asuret
11. Marshall Lager – Managing Principal, Third Idea Consulting
12. Kate Leggett – Senior Analyst, CRM, Forrester Research
13. Maribel Lopez – Principal Analyst and VP, Constellation Research  Founder Lopez Research LLC
14. Jeremiah Owyang -Managing Partner, Altimeter Group
15. Sameer Patel – Managing Partner, Sovos Group
16. Scott Rogers – Customer Evangelist
17. Robert Scoble – Managing Director, Rackspace Hosting
18. Brian Solis – Principal, Altimeter Group
19. Dilip Soman – Professor of Marketing, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
20. Ray Wang – CEO, Constellation Research
21. Mary Wardley – Vice President, CRM Applications, IDC

The Vendor Panel

1. Larry Augustin – CEO, SugarCRM
2. Anthony Lye – Senior Vice President & GM, CRM, Oracle
3. Phil Fernandez – CEO, Marketo
4. John Hernandez – General Manager, Customer Care Business, Cisco
5. Jonathan Hornby – Director, Worldwide Marketing, SAS
6. Joseph Hughes - Senior Executive, CRM Service, Support and Social System Integration Lead, Accenture
7. Charlie Isaacs, VP, eServices and Social Media Strategy Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise
8. Vinay Iyer – Vice President, Marketing CRM, SAP
9. Katy Keim - CMO, Lithium
10. Marcel Lebrun,- CEO, Radian6
11. Mitch Lieberman, Vice President, Marketing, Sword-Ciboodle
12. Chris Morace- Senior Vice President, Business Development, Jive
13. Zach Nelson – CEO, NetSuite
14. Bill Patterson- Director, CRM Product Management, Microsoft
15. Dileep Srinivasan - AVP - CRM & Social CRM, Digital Marketing & MDM, Cognizant
16. John Taschek –Vice President, Market Strategy, Salesforce

The Journalist Panel

1. Elsa Basile – Director, Callcenternews (Argentina)
2. Barney Beal – Managing Editor, SearchCRM,
3. Anita Campbell – Publisher, SmallBizTrends.com
4. Robin Carey – CEO, Social Media Today
5. Neil Davey – Group Editor, Sift Media
6. David Myron – Editorial Director, CRM Magazine, Speech Technology Magazine
7. Valdir Ugalde – Board, Member, mundocontact (Mexico)
8. Anne Van Den Berg – Senior Editor, CustomerTalk (Netherlands)

 

Media Partners

You’ll note that we have 8 journalists on a panel of judges. Well, each of them represents a media partner that will be broadcasting the competition and posting the videos for voting in the finals for the popular vote.  They are an awesome array of the most influential media sites in social media, CRM, and small business as well as local influencers in CRM in Latin America and Europe.  They will be significant in the lives of the contestants, the finalists, and the winners giving each what may be an unprecedented breadth and depth of coverage. Their coverage will be supplemented by posts to the blogs and other sites that are owned by many of the judges so there will be significant reach for all 60 of the initial contenders.  Each of these partners will be getting exclusives from the judges and hopefully some of the companies too so that we can add a quality of coverage that would enhance the value to the SMBs participating. in all areas – CRM, social and small business directly.

We expect to add more media partners as we continue on throughout the competition.

The current partners and links to their sites (in alphabetical order, like every list here):

1. Call Center News (Argentina)
2. CRM Magazine/DestinationCRM
3. CustomerTalk (Netherlands)
4. Mundocontact (Mexico)
5. MyCustomer.com/Sift Media
6. SearchCRM
7. Social Media Today
8. SmallBizTrends.com

 

The Prizes…So Far

These are the prizes as of launch today. There are several others in the works that will be announced as the contest rolls out.

All Finalists

All 7 finalists will get to choose one day of consulting from the list of Influencer consultants below. The order of choice will be based on the popular vote on the video which will be kept confidential but used for the choosing. There will be more consultants added to the list as contest moves forward.

The Americas and EMEA Winners

Each winner will get to choose four prizes from the list.  Note – in the case where multiple prizes are being offered by a single vendor – the vendor counts as a single prize with all the items as part of that.

1. Accenture
   1. A full day workshop with CRM leaders in Accenture for possible partnership and/or possible investment.
2. Capgemini (for EMEA winners only)
   1. A half day workshop with Patrick James, Global VP CRM and Laurence Buchanan to explore joint go to market opportunities and help you refine and test your value proposition.
3. Social Media Today
   1. A blog post featuring the winner of the contest to run on both The Customer Collective and Social Media Today
   2. A single blast to the Social Media Today opt-in list (approximately 50,000 names) which will conform to their minimum standards (valued at $10,500)
4. Microsoft
1. 12 mos. of CRM Online Free for developing extensions to CRM
2. 12 mos. of Windows Azure Free for developing web-based portals and BI solutions
3. Access to the Office 365 Beta for building collaborative applications and services
4. Guaranteed access to exclusive Business and Technical On-Ramp program funded by Microsoft to accelerate entry
   and access to the Microsoft ecosystem
5. SugarCRM
   1. Free 10 user subscription to SugarCRM Professional or Enterprise
   2. Membership in the Sugar Exchange and free consulting on product integration with SugarCRM
   3. CEO Larry Augustin, a successful venture capitalist in his own right, does a mentoring & VC matchmaking session with the winners
6. Brian Solis
   1. One hour internal webinar on how to use SCRM and social media to your advantage
7. Paul Greenberg
   1. One hour pro bono external webinar on a subject TBD for lead gen, mindshare, etc.
8. Ray Wang
   1. One hour pro bono external webinar on a subject TBD for lead gen, mindshare, etc.
9. Sameer Patel
   1. One hour pro bono external webinar on a subject TBD for lead gen, mindshare, etc.
10. Influencer Consulting– free strategic consulting for 1 day or 8 hours from a variety of judges (in person travel expenses to be covered by winners)
    1. Esteban Kolsky (in person only)
    2. Paul Greenberg (on phone or in person)
    3. Denis Pombriant (on phone or in person)
    4. Mark Tamis (on phone or in person)
    5. Jesus Hoyos (on phone or in person)
    6. Brent Leary (on phone or in person)

 

The Times, Dates, Hashtag and Email

Okay here’s the hardcore stuff:

1. The hashtag is #crmidol
2. The email for submission is nextbigthing@crmidol.com
   1. If you have a problem submitting to that email send your submission and a report of the specific problem to pgreenbe@gmail.com

 

Dates and Times Table for the Americas and EMEA

We’ve put together an easy little table with all the relevant dates and times that you’ll need as you progress through the competition.

 

Dates/Times	Americas	EMEA
Submission Dates	August 15-19; August 22-26	September 5-9
Submission Times	3pm ET; 4pm ET; 5pm ET; 6pm ET	3pm GMT; 4pm GMT; 5pm GMT; 6pm GMT
Finalist Video Submission Date	September 30	October 14
Winner Announcement	October 17	October 31

 

 

 

 

A Note or Two

A little bit of unfinished stuff that will sort itself out as time goes forward.

• There will likely be a CRM Idol site (Joomla based) coming in the next month or so that will be an aggregate site for all the media outlets and streams.  However, this remains a work in progress that’s still under discussion.
• There will be more mentors and prizes added and possibly a judge or two.
• For now ongoing news will be found at the twitter hashtag #crimidol.

In Closing

That’s about it. Now its time to bring it. First come, first serve. See you, maybe as the 1st ever CRM Idol, in Vegas, Hollywood. London or on the Social Web. Somewhere anyway.

 

CRM IDOL 2011 IS NOW OFFICIALLY UNDERWAY

Looking Back at 2010 - In 2010

Forecast season is upon us. Yeah, yeah, Christmas and Thanksgiving season too, but this is forecast season. Did you ever think about the etymology of forecast? I think this is broken down the following way. Fore - as in comes to the front. Cast as in wizardry and witchcraft and casting a spell - in other words, about the same level of science that goes into some sort of predictive model. Forecast. Voila. I'm sure that any true philologist will be utterly entranced by my discussion of this word's proper roots. In order to make room for my 2011 forecasts and so that you can understand the profoundly scientific methodology and approach that I'm taking in this effort, I've once again refined my what I see as rather brilliant (in the sense of light blinding me so completely I can't see anything) formula for the future that I am willing to share with you under any of the creative commons licenses you care to apply to it. Here it is with a complete revision history - changes/improvements are in bold red. 2009: The Original eu + gw (l*bl)/i = fw, where eu = eye use; gw = guesswork; l=luck; bl=blind luck; i=intuition and fw = forecast wisdom. 2010: 20x Improvement in Accuracy (eu*cl) + gw(l*bl)*ts/20 = fw where eu = eye use; cl = contact lenses; gw = guesswork; l = luck; bl = blind luck; ts = total speculation; and 20 of course equals the amount to decrease the inefficiency by because I want to. Key improvement for 2010: By adding contact lenses, and replacing intuition with total speculation divided by 20, we decrease the inefficiencies by 20x, thus improving the accuracy by 20x. Logical. I'm so proud. 2011: Increased But Conservative Long Term Forecasting Accuracy (eu*cl*(ew/2)) + gw(l*bl)*ts/20 = fw/2 where eu= eye use; cl = contact lenses; ew = extended wear contact lenses; gw = guesswork; l = luck; bl = blind luck; ts = total speculation; and 20 of course equals the amount to decrease the inefficiency by. Key improvement for 2011: By making the contact lenses extended wear, the long term accuracy of the forecast increases. Once again, a breakthrough in forecasting methodology, unparalleled in the 18th century. What do you mean this is the 21st century? Yeah right. I believe THAT. I'm leaving. Get me my horse. One final note before we move onto the look back. I invoke the Pundit Immunity Clause. For those of you who don't know it, it reads in its newly rewritten 2011 version:

"All pundits are immune from the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and slings and arrows fired at them by outraged patrons when their forecasts go south. Despite the failures, We are still permitted complete access to all Pundits Lounges at airports across the world even when the failure rate exceeds 80% But if it exceeds 90% the wi-fi is no longer free."

See, we have skin in the game. Ha.

Okay, now the time to look back at how I did in 2010 - even though the year isn't over. Honestly, enough of it is over and I am so over the year that I think there will be little change post-Thanksgiving. But then again, that's a forecast isn't it?

The format: The 2010 forecast and then my assessment of how I did - which needless to say is totally biased, since I'm assessing me. Unlike my forecast for 2011 which will be split between ZDNet and PGreenblog so I can publish both halves on the same day, this will be on both blogs - but in full on each. The Watch List will be multiple posts and also duplicated not split on both blogs. So be there or be square as some unknown wag once said.

Okay, I've probably exhausted both all my means to procrastinate and all your good will, so I guess we'd better get down to it. I present to you - the look back at 2010 and how I did. The ratings are in the same format as last year - mostly. The ones that show I already miss the baseball season. As always, the highlighted particular forecast, my written assessment of how I did with it and some ratings designed for all audiences of all types to understand. The numbers in the front of the forecast was my confidence in how likely the forecast was to be on a scale of 1-10.

The 2011 Look Back at 2010

(7)Social Marketing technologies and strategies emerge as important aspects of corporate thinking - IF you took this at the surface of it - meaning that you read it with the emotion of the first sentence I think I could probably claim a major victory. But, in the interests of honestly, transparency, authenticity, and all 2010 social buzzwords, in the actual piece I saw an explosion of social marketing in 2010 and that didn't happen. 2010 saw the integration of features and functions that could be called "social" into existing marketing automation suites like Eloqua, or Oracle in their loyalty marketing programs, or even email marketing applications like Silverpop added powerful sharing features etc. Customer interaction engines, like Infor's Epiphany, added dynamic engines that monitored customer's live digital behaviors and adjusted marketing offers accordingly for example. While not strictly social marketing when it comes to sharing or campaigns on major social sites like Facebook per se, these customer interaction engines are monitoring behavior of the explicit social customer, deriving live insights and then using them to push real time marketing offers. We did see, on the strategy side, a huge upsurge of interest in how to develop strategies and programs that took advantage of the social customer's historic behaviors. In fact, Marketing Sherpa, in their 2010 Social Media Marketing Benchmark Survey, that every industry across the board planned on increasing their budget for social marketing this year. Almost no one in any industry was going to decrease it. So, in that regard I was pretty damned right. Almost. Sorta. RATING: Double to left field, one run scores, but Gardner holds up at third. Left-Brainer: 3.75/5.0; Right Brainer: "Not...too....shabby" (Adam Sandler, Hannukah Song)

(9)Mobile CRM becomes a top priority for business and technology vendors - even more than 2009. It did just that. But I'm not sure what it got us. For example, SAP, in 2009, had a commitment to a partnership with Sybase's iAnywhere platform - now they own it because they bought Sybase. The mobile platform is worth about $400 million of the acquisition. Salesforce has a mobile Chatter application which consolidates activity streams to whatever mobile device floats your boat. REST APIs are being developed or have been developed by companies like Oracle so that Siebel and the iPad can work together, etc. who are ordinarily focused around service oriented architectures (SOA), are usually created for mobile applications. Not only that, the operating systems on the table are now digging deeply into RIM's once dominant market share, making the variety of platforms out there - even including Windows 7 Phone, peeps - intriguing for enterprise software cos. I'm not going to say much more since I need something for my actual forecast which will once again predict this - but suffice to say there is no question that the interest rose in mobile everywhere. In fact, Nielsen says that mobile is the fastest growing technology in history when it comes to usage. So there. RATING: There's a line drive to right field, its off the top of the wall! Jeter rounds second he's heading to 3^rd....and he's in there with a triple! Left-Brainer: 4.25/5.0; Right Brainer: "No time for losers, we are the champions...to the end." (Queen, We are the Champions)

(7)Technology companies embrace "social" versions of multiple parts of the enterprise value chain including (and especially) CRM, SCM, and maybe even ERP. This kind of depends on how I interpret it. IF (and I use the word IF in HUGE capital letters) , you take the other parts of the enterprise - the parts behind the firewall - and call "social" the collaboration features, then I'm spot on. Though frankly, the debate over Enterprise 2.0 and Social Business, which is about as smart a debate as the one that we had as to what SCRM was, meaning not, might derail what I'm saying. But that aside, companies across the globe in the B2C space more than B2B but in both are working in in internal communities. Oracle, recognizing that this is a true trend, has done an amazing job by integrating enterprise collaboration into their Fusion applications. It's not a plug in or something awkward. It is seamlessly integrated throughout the applications regardless of which app we're talking about - HCM a.k.a. human resources or CRM or Supply Chain. This is in recognition of the social nature of businesses that is now in its early to maturing stages.

But on the other hand, Social ERP? Nah. Not yet. So how'd I'd do? Depends on the whole "glass half empty or half full" thing. RATING: A fly ball deep right, to the wall and...caught. But Granderson tags up and scores from third easily. Left-Brainer: 3.00/5.0 Right Brainer: "I'm sorry, but i'm just thinking of the right words to say(I Promise You; I know they don't sound the way I planned them to be (I Promise You); But if you wait around a while I'll make you fall for me(I Promise You); I promise , I promise you I will." (I Promise You I Will, When in Rome (thank you Martin Schneider)

(8)Companies are moving toward creating ecosystems to fill out social CRM portfolios -Looking aback on this one, I suppose this was my way of saying, companies are looking to integrate to provide best of breed solutions since most companies - technology companies that is - are realizing that they can't do it alone. That said, vendors like CDC Software came out with the opening stages of a suite - that would be Pivotal SCRM - and other vendors like Oracle and salesforce.com are slowly and somewhat piecemeal, putting the full monte in place, so technology partner ecosystems aren't the only game in town. But the social vendors like Lithium, Radian6 etc. are all realizing that they need to integrate with traditional CRM systems and InsideView continued its relentless drive to integrate with everything including the basil plants that are growing inside varying foodies homes - and they've been a happy success accordingly with integrations to most of the CRM standards out there. So I'm still right but the suite side, which I sorta poo-pooed and Gartner predicted was the way to go with this statement "Gartner believes that by year-end 2011...disparate approaches will combine to form social CRM suites.", is also on the table. RATING: There's a drive down the left field line into the corner and it bounces into the stands for a ground rule double for Posada, leading off the third inning. Left-Brainer: 3.75/5.0. Right Brainer: 'They were right, I was wrong; True love didn't last long; As the June light turns to moonlight; I'll be on my way, hey." (I'll Be On My Way, The Beatles)

(9)Open Source as a factor in CRM will no longer be a differentiator -I nailed this one. When was the last time you heard that open source was a key criterion in the selection of an enterprise CRM package. Even when it was a selection criterion for small business, it was because it was cheap, not because it was open source. Even SugarCRM doesn't emphasize anywhere nearly as much as they used to. RATING: There's a long drive....at the wall....at the track....see YA! A 3 run homer for Mark Teixeira and the Yankees take the lead. Left Brainer: 4.5/5.0 Right Brainer: "Step to the rhythm of a sho-nuff winner (winner) i been here before (yo!) i ain't no beginner (word)..." (Too Legit to Quit, M.C. Hammer)

(7)Customer service becomes the leading pillar from traditional CRM to adopt Social CRM practices and behaviors and technologies - I was right when I said, "In a certain way, this is a trend that doesn't matter much, since the value of Social CRM strategy is built around what your company and customers need in particular to engage - which may or may not be customer service."

The reality here is that customer service has been the driver for most Social CRM initiatives, primarily due to the social customer's proclivity toward activism. They either call you with their problems or queries - a customer service problem or they complain about you on social networks and in communities that you don't control - a customer service problem. Either way, the new channels are forcing companies to rethink how they perform their customer service operations. For example, Intuit is training core customer service reps in how to facilitate community activities or how to respond to problems on Twitter. This is not uncommon. Its no coincidence that the new players in SCRM are entering through customer service - check out Cisco's recent announcement of Cisco Finesse along with Social Miner. Get it? Customer service IS it. RATING: Another deep drive....GONE! Robby Cano, dontcha know, puts a ball that has to be 400 feet or more into the left centerfield seats and it's a three run homer for Robby. Left Brainers: 4.75/5.0 Right Brainers: "Oh,oh,oh,oh,oh,oh,oh,oh;I'm,I'm,I'm,I'm,I'm really,really Hot,Hot,Hot,Hot,Hot." (I'm Really Hot, Missy Elliot)

(9)Public Sector CRM becomes pre-eminent and actually helps drive the private sector. Weeeeell, not exactly. I guess I was still awash in optimism about the still somewhat fresh Obama administration. But its amazing what bureaucracy can do and as the saying truly does go, "old habits die hard." For example, as Brian Komar, Executive Director of Outreach for the Center of American Progress told me in a recent conversation - the culture didn't change and thus even with new media directors up the wazoo at the White House, sites like Recovery.gov, which had a chance to be an important site for constituent knowledge and involvement, put up data rather than told stories. In other words, with a few exceptions like Casey Coleman, GSA CIO and several of her ilk, the public sector has been bogged down despite large numbers of social initiatives by multiple agencies. But there are two things to be aware of. First, the public sector is still a big market for SCRM-ish things. The desire for constituent engagement remains. The intent is still there. It just hasn't unseated the entrenched practices in the way that it needed to for it to be successful. Second, the locus of public sector initiative is shifting from the federal government to the state and local level where the bureaucracies are still onerous but ultimately far less toxic. So I didn't do too well on this one, so I will hang my head. I was so certain. And so not right. RATING: The runner on third, representing the tying run, leads off. Cervelli swings and misses, he struck out, stranding the tying run on third. Left Brainer - 2.5/5.0 Right Brainer: "I'm cryin'. I'm cryyyyyyyyyyyyyin." ( I am the Walrus, the Beatles)

(8)Cloud Computing skyrockets to forefront of interest as #1 choice for business infrastructure/platform. This was a pretty bold prediction only partially mitigated by the (8) I gave it rather than a (10). Cloud computing most certainly has become an important priority with even the largest enterprises considering a move of some of their systems and operations to the cloud. The number of excellent cloud providers is increasing from Amazon to now the full blown cloud platform Microsoft Azure. Even Oracle, the bastion of on-premise history, announced in a painful way, the Exalogic box, a cloud based server that provides companies with a private cloud capability with a price starting at $1.075 million. Salesforce.com's third quarterly earnings call was so wildly success that its stock price rose 18% the day after the call - largely, according to pundits due to their deep commitment to the cloud services that they provide. In fact, cloud services are estimated to reach $45 billion by 2013 by IDC, up from 2009's $17 billion. RATING: Sabbathia winds up, the pitch...a called strike three. Inning over. Three up, three down. Left Brainers: 4.25/5.0 Right Brainers: "They say I'm crazy but I have a good time; I'm just looking for clues at the scene of the crime; Life's been good to me so far." (Life's Been Good, The Eagles)

(6)Niche success in Outlook-based social CRM in 2010 - I don't need to spend a lot of time on this one. For some reason, there is still a lot of interest in Outlook integration. Aside from the most obvious players i.e. Microsoft to smaller Outlook based leaders like Avidian, the larger companies continue to support Outlook integration. Oracle announced the integration of Oracle CRM on Demand with Outlook. Pivotal integrates with Outlook, even salesforce.com integrates with Outlook now. What more can I say? The reason I was right about this even beyond my imagination is that Outlook is as familiar as the cast of Glee on late night talk shows. RATING: There's a line drive that clears the right field fence and Nick Swisher puts a game winning, walkoff home run into the right field stands in the 14^th inning. The Yankees win. Thhhhhhhhhe Yankeeeeess WIN! Left Brainer: 4.75/5.0 Right Brainer: "I'm king of the hill, top of the heap" (New York, New York, Frank Sinatra)

(8)Governance, compliance, regulation begin to increase presence as transparency, open initiatives grow Look at what I said about the Public Sector. Multiply by minus three and you have my results for this year. Open initiatives grew and were stalled. Transparency in government didn't get a whole lot further than it did in 2009. Sigh. RATING: There's a high popup behind the plate, Mauer throws off the mask and he makes the play, ending the rally, ending the game. Left Brainer: 2.0/5.0. Right Brainer: "Nobody don't want me; I'm so sad so lonely; But I'm always landing on my feet." (So Sad, So Lonely, Matchbox 20)

(6)Enterprise 2.0 and Social CRM will begin to merge as a concept and strategy; integrate as technologies and toolsets -Not only has this process begun, but I got to keynote the Enterprise 2.0 2010 Santa Clara conference about convergence of none other than....E20 and SCRM! The merger of the two became enough of a subject to justify that speech and an SCRM track co-chaired by the inestimably smart Sameer Patel and me at a conference which has never thought about that before. In addition, companies like Socialtext, the enterprise level wiki provider announced an integration with salesforce.com. On the other side of the fence, salesforce.com blew away even there own estimation of the success of their enterprise collaboration tool Chatter with, according to salesforce on its third quarter earnings call, over 2/3 of their customers adopting it. Couple that with the integration of collaboration tools with Oracle Fusion apps, including CRM and we are seeing a trend here that I think will only escalate in 2011. Oh, yeahhhhhh! RATING. At the wall, at the track, SEE-YA! A-Rod puts one into the upper deck in left field. That's GOT to be 450 feet. That might be the 5^th home run for the Yankees today. Left Brainers: 4.5/5.0 Right Brainers: "Now that's the way (Uh-Huh, uh-huh), We like It (Uh-Huh,uh-huh); That's the way (uh-huh,uh-huh) We like it (That's the Way We Like It, DJ Cool)"

(7)REST continues to gain especially because of mobile opportunities What can I say? When I'm wrong, I'm dead wrong. When I'm right, I'm killin' it. This is another one that I killed. Pretty much all the significant vendors have announced REST APIs, even when their architecture is based on a service oriented architecture. Think SAP here. Oracle here. Everyone here. Because mobile is so hot, and the REST API is used to connect and pass information to mobile platforms, REST is what is being hammered out in the high tech development steelworks. RATING: Gardner drives one into the right centerfield gap. He's got at least a triple...wait, he's going to try to score, the throw to the plate and he's....SAFE! An inside the park home run for Brett Gardner as the Yankees continue their assault on the... (fill in your least favorite team - unless you're a Yankees hater) Left Brainers: 4.5/5.0 Right Brainers: "I didn't know I was pretty,'Til I took a look at you; An' I'm rollin'Yeah Yeah Yeah I'm a' rollin'." (Rollin', Maria Daines)

(10 Gazillion)Yankees repeat in 2010 as world champions - F---ing Rangers. RATING: The pitch to Miranda, STRIKE THREE and Cervelli's going...he's OUT! A strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play. Left Brainers: 0.0/5.0 Right Brainers: "Too many teardrops for one heart to carry on" (96 Tears, Question Mark and the Mysterians) OR "You telling lies thinking I can't see; You don't cry cos you're laughing at me; I'm down (I'm really down); I'm down (I'm down (I'm really down); How can you laugh when you know I'm down; (How can you laugh) When you know I'm down." (I'm Down, The Beatles)

Overall, I've made famous little boy dictum status. When I was good, I was very, very good, but when I was bad, I really stunk up the joint. This year is probably defined more by extremes than any other year in recent memory, but then again, when you hit 60, recent memory extends only as far as an hour ago. Who are you people again?

So that's it for the look back at 2010 even though 2010 isn't over quite yet. But its over enough for me. Now, next time you hear from me, minus an interim post perhaps or two, it will be with the forecast for 2011 - and there are some surprising trends that I'm beginning to pick up that I think will be of interest to you. Then the Watchlist.

Watchlist Update

On the Watchlist candidates... a brief update. I have 37 requests for inclusion that come directly from the companies or their advocates. So far, of the ones that I've gotten, there are two new ones that I'm including:

1. JitterJam
2. Spigit

There are 2-3 others under consideration. So the list is now bigger by two. We'll see where it takes us. Watch for further candidate announcements after. November 30. Or before.

One final note: Congratulations to my young social media star friend Maria Ogneva, She was married last week and that came on the heels of taking a new job as Director of Social Media at Nimble November 1. Great times for Maria and it couldn't happen to a nicer person.

See y'all later. BTW, you can use my forecasting formula if you want. At your own peril.

United Airlines - Redemption or More of the Usual

As you probably know, by now, I've been a none too happy United Airlines flyer for many years, usually working to the point I get to a Premier Executive status and then I start flying other airlines. I've spent a lot of time using United Airlines as cannon fodder for my "bad service experiences" posts because they have historically and by comparison to many other airlines - notably Virgin America, Southwest, the airline that they are now merging with Continental - suffered in that comparison. I've trashed United to probably hundreds of thousands of people over the past 7 or 8 years of speeches. One of my 2009 ZDNet blog posts where I wrote about United's egregiously bad behavior with me and others probably got more response than any other post I've ever done (except perhaps one other). But...I still fly United. I like to say that the reason I fly United is because I'm already so vested in the frequent flyer program that I just don't want to waste my investment. And, like many others, who immediately agree with me, that's true. But, if I'm going to be honest with myself and, also, all of you, there is a reason for that too. I like the extra legroom of Economy Plus. For those of you who don't know it, United on most of its major flights, has seats that have been designed to do no more than give the patrons who have their butts parked in them, 5" of extra legroom. The difference is something like 33" regular seat, 38" Economy plus. There are no further privileges than that. Its not business, its not first class. Its more legroom. That can make a huge difference to flight comfort, especially to a frequent traveler like me. Its the difference between being cramped and being relatively comfortable (its not perfect by far). Its the difference between not minding the flight and hating it. To get the Economy Plus seats, you either have to buy them at a nominal fee when they are available OR you have to have an Elite frequent flyer status. It keeps me coming back - as does preferred boarding and occasional upgrades. But it is Economy Plus that is my game changer. I've had that discussion with many others and they tell me the same thing. That extra legroom is what they like about United. The complaints far exceed the billing and cooing but the that extra comfort is a HUGE plus, not a small one. SO..... This is what I now hear, from a good source. United, of course, recently bought and is now in the process of merging with Continental. They have trumpeted this in ads and even on the safety video that precedes all flights. They have stated clearly to Elite flyers that for now things are the same but expect some changes as the merger continues to evolve. Interestingly, and you'll see why in a minute, they don't say "further benefits" nor do they say "positive" changes. Its all bland, neutral and entirely colorless. Know why? Because one of the changes being contemplated is the elimination of Economy Plus because Continental flights don't have it. Now I'm not sure whether that's the causal relationship, but that's the reason for the discussion. Now, we reach a nodal point for United. IF they eliminate Economy Plus they are doing it, once again, for cost efficiency's sake, not the customer's. A decision that has been made by them that way over and over and over again. Which is why their service experience is horrible and pales by comparison to Virgin America's, or Southwest's. IF they keep it and either retrofit Continental or just leave it as is, they will be doing what the customers' demand, not cost efficiency, which in their case would not only be seen as a total shock but an awesome surprise - probably garner then a great deal of customer good will. IF they eliminate Economy Plus, they will eliminate customers like me - and I will lead a campaign for that to happen. IF they keep it, I will congratulate them publicly on their first wise decision in awhile and keep on flying them - and maybe even encourage a few to fly United or to keep flying United. But I wonder if they've bothered to proactively query their customers about their thinking. No one is saying they have to kowtow to their best flyers - but getting their input would be a HUGE step forward for this airline. Not just going to their site to read what customers say, but an active campaign via Twitter, Facebook, email to top customers and ask for their input. PROACTIVE. That's spelled p-r-o...United, you get the picture, right? This is a chance for United to either redeem itself a bit and keep a service that many of their customers enjoy and expect - or be their usual model of service experience decrepitude and be non-responsive. I challenge them to talk to their customers before they make what they are probably not seeing is a decisive moment whether or not the next time I and others are writing blog posts, we're writing it from either a United jet....or a Virgin America jet. Their call.

Closing the Loop: A New Beginning

Mitch Lieberman, a SCRM thought leader, pointed out to me that I should release this post on July 6, 2010 because it would be one year to the day from my release of "The Stake in the Ground." What a cool idea. Thank you Mitch.

The headline is far more dramatic than the subject matter, sorry to say. But starting this month, now that the Gartner Customer 360 Summit is done, I'm going to be moving further in the direction I already had been planning to which will expand the scope of what I'm doing. I've been intending to make these moves since I finished the 4th edition of CRM at the Speed of Light. So I figured I'd tie up a few loose ends here, make a couple of incomplete announcements and then publicly set the bar to where I'd like to be, which I hope will make me publicly accountable too. If you don't care, don't read. If you do, read on.

Tying Up Loose Ends

Let me, if you don't mind, do some things in public that are G-rated, but important to me and, I would hope, important to the ongoing discussion around social CRM or Social CRM if it matters one way or the other to you.

The Social CRM Definition

Back in 2006 I created the CRM 2.0 wiki and recruited about 170 industry leaders and interested parties to help define what CRM 2.0 was. I thought at the time, naively as it seems to have turned out, that if the industry defined CRM 2.0 now Social CRM, then we wouldn't fall into the trap that we fell into with CRM when it came to self-aggrandizing definitions.

After about 3 years, I took all the extant material I could find, which incorporated all the research I did for the 4th edition of CRM at the Speed of Light, and all the materials from the wiki and I put together what I thought was a relatively democratic definition. I figured I had two years of research materials that were constantly being updated and ended up being an 800 page book. With the book materials, I had the benefit of 60 plus superstar experts in the industry who I respected giving their view on what Social CRM was in the context of their areas of expertise. I had the benefit of the participants who contributed to the wiki who were in the book in some cases and weren't in others. But, I thought, I had a fairly solid foundation for laying out a broad definition of what Social CRM was.

Based on that foundation, I presented the following definition that I published in its first iteration in my post last July "A Stake in the Ground on Social CRM", which, for good or bad, was accepted as a groundbreaking and seminal post - and the definition seemed to achieve some widespread acceptance.

Here it is:

"Social CRM is a philosophy and a business strategy, supported by a technology platform, business rules, processes and social characteristics, designed to engage the customer in a collaborative conversation in order to provide mutually beneficial value in a trusted and transparent business environment. It is the company's response to the customer's ownership of the conversation."

I thought and said frequently that I thought it was awkward, it introduced a couple of new concepts - such as social characteristics - one that I'll be writing on more frequently in the coming period - but that all in all it was a decent enough job for a first draft. Kind of, in my mind, a release to manufacturing level draft.

Jokingly - yes, jokingly - I identified the final sentence "its the company's response to the customer's ownership of the conversation" as the "tweetable definition." In retrospect that was a big mistake. But I'll get into that in a minute.

Over time, that tweetable definition evolved from ...the customer's ownership of the conversation", to "the customer's control of the conversation."

What has been utterly staggering, eye popping, mind blowing and any other expressive statement that fits the bill, is that the "I was just calling it tweetable as a joke" part of the definition led to a series of sometimes direct and other times thinly veiled attacks. Some of which are no problem - they are disagreements. Others which are clearly personal. But the focus is always on the tweetable definition, not the definition as a whole - which contains the tweetable sentence, folks. The tweetable "its the customer's control of the conversation, while meeting the 140 character brainpower limit requirement, is not the definition. Just thought I'd say it again for the 4th or 5th time in this piece.

Some examples:

• There was big to do about the notion of the customer's "control" of the conversation. WTF...? What that means, in the context of the definition as a whole is truly simple. The customer has ability to affect business of a company in a way that is outside company's control via channels the company doesn't own. Period. This is not some statement about a neo-fascist control of the entire business of a company by the customer. It doesn't mean that the customer has a dog collar around the business, pulling it around while saying "Hey business, you're my bitch now." How stupid would I be to think that? No business that I've spoken to thinks that "customer control" means that. As I've stated countless times, businesses still have their own operational requirements and corporate objectives to meet. Customer behavior has changed over the past 6 or 7 years as has customer expectations. The idea of the "social" customer is just recognition of that change. Businesses have to respond to the change or they will suffer. I wrote 800 pages on it with the 4th edition of CRM at the Speed of Light and I defy any of those who disagree with me to come up with anything I've said in those 800 pages or outside them that talks about some absolutist control by the customer over the business. Its simply recognition of a power shift toward the customer in who can affect who more.

  BTW, Mike Boysen's recent great post on the issue of customer control really is what is sparking me to deal with this.

• The veiled attacks are the worst but then again - for example someone using the sequence that went something like this (This is a paraphrase) "Seeing SCRM as a philosophy or a strategy is esoteric." This was one of those veiled attacks, since I'm the ONLY person who uses philosophy and strategy in a sequence at all. So that's a bit low. But what is really the key here is how ANYONE can possibly think that strategy is esoteric? That is a dangerously wrongheaded view. SCRM is a strategy for customer engagement - which no one but apparently one person I think would disagree is a key component of corporate strategy in the 21st century. Don't call it Social CRM if you don't want. Who cares? But recognize that outlooks, frameworks, programs, and strategies for engaging customers are necessary components of business thinking and operations for contemporary success.

There are many other definitions of Social CRM out there that are every bit as good or better than mine. Mike Fauscette's for example. Take the one that you want or the pieces from the ones that you want. Create your own if that's the way you roll. But I need to do two things so I can, one year after I said I was going to move on, move on for good to where I need to be. So let me say the following:

1. Forget focusing on the "tweetable definition" as if its the whole definition. I said that it was tweetable as a joke. That last sentence is a. intimately tied to the entire definition and b. is not a literal statement but one that is a concentrated metaphor, explained by the entire previous part of the definition. PLEASE do me the honor of thinking of it that way. Otherwise, I feel cheap (Sniff. Sniff...)
2. So, given that, and now that I have to get past the "tweetable definition" thingee, I've made a couple of small tweaks to the definition that a. serves it well, given what I now realize I should have said and b. Puts the tweetable definition to rest. Here 'tis.

   "Social CRM is a philosophy and a business strategy, supported by a technology platform, business rules, processes and social characteristics, designed to engage the customer in a collaborative conversation in order to provide mutually beneficial value in a trusted and transparent business environment. It is the company's programmatic response to the customer's control of the conversation."

   Note the small tweaks. First, control now "officially" replaces "ownership in the last sentence. Plus I've added the word "programmatic" to that same final sentence. The reason for that is I realized that what was missing in the definition was the idea of a defining yet dynamic framework for that engagement. A strategy is not enough. You have to institutionalize the strategy and create a framework to execute the plan - i.e. a program. That's not an unimportant change. Plus, as far as ownership v. control - the latter is simply a more accurate term. Hopefully that gives you more to chew on. Enough from me on that.

   What I Need to Say One More Time

   I said it a year ago and I'll say it again. We have a job to do. SCRM is now at least a mainstream discussion. It doesn't mean that its suitable for all companies; it doesn't replace CRM; it doesn't mean that if a company doesn't have a holistic SCRM program that encompasses every aspect of it, it's doing something wrong. Piecemeal or partial programs are perfectly appropriate for many companies - as long as the implications are understood. If you read CRM at the Speed of Light's most recent edition, you'll note that each chapter can be an entity unto itself. While the book is designed to be a holistic continuum that stitches all the pieces of an SCRM strategy into place, you can draw on the engagement strategy that would affect sales or marketing or customer service or the enterprise value chain, or the cultural effect and, I hope still get some benefit from that. I worked hard to make the book work that way. Realistically, just as in traditional CRM, few companies ever adopted an overall program that encompassed a complete picture. They tended to focus - and tend to focus - in one area be it sales or customer service. How you go about crafting the strategy for that one area - with a recognition of its impact on other areas of the company - is still part of SCRM planning. But there is nothing wrong with implementing "pure" traditional CRM or even "pure" social media. What you think you need to do, you should do. The best that folks like me and others of our ilk can do is show you the big picture, the use cases, the frameworks, the potential pitfalls, etc. and give you some guidance. As much as we have a whole group of folks out there in the CRM/SCRM world on a self-aggrandizing mission, the reality is that its your business and your decision on how you want to support your current and future customers.

   That has a whole lot to do with at least my next phase, the one that I thought I would head into after I finished CRM at the Speed of Light, 4e. Took me a lot longer but I'm ready now. Much of what you see here will launch in August, some a little later.

   The Next Phase

   This is an expansion that has a purpose. I think its time to move the discussion to the level of "how do you do that?" Or, "how did you do that? But then again, I've thought that before too. A lot of good it did (that's kind of a Yiddish sarcasm).

   What has been incredibly exciting to me is that there is a significant body of knowledge out there waiting to be harvested that reflects the success of "SCRM thinking'. There are jobs that didn't exist in any significant way several years ago (e.g. community manager) that are now proliferating. There are books out on aspects of how to do pieces of SCRM from social marketing to traditional implementation to business strategy and SCRM is entering the curriculum as the foundation for some CRM courses. There are case studies that are examples of colossal success and monumental failure. These are companies that have attempted social solutions to customer service, sales, and marketing to one degree or the other.

   what I'm going to do is harvest that vast as yet untapped - or at least unorganized - knowledgebase and bring you the stories of success and failure from the perspective of the practitioner and/or the vendor and/or the strategist. In other words, I'm going to look at the real world attempts that are going on out there and then bring them into focus for those of you who are interested in learning from those who do - and those who teach.

   So my strategy for your engagement (and I hope enjoyment - nothing says I can't do this with a sense of humor) involves a program of expansion with a myriad of parts. Here's the plan.

   Two New Podcasts

   Thing is, I love podcasts and I think that we're spending an incredible amount of time blogging and little doing shows in this great medium. Aside from CRM Playaz, what do you listen to that reflects the CRM or SCRM industries? Name one. Well, my plan is to have two regular shows - one a revival of what I did a couple of years ago - Experience on the Edge and the other a new show called "The Real Deal."  Here's the plan:

   Experience on the Edge

   This show, replete with music and riffs will be my solo with a guest host occasionally. The idea will be similar to what it was when I last did it - in 2008 - which is an edgy take on the CRM industry including vendors - with their successes but also no holds barred razor barbs at them if need be. It will be in segments (still a little loose when it comes to what they will be but...) which will roughly break down to the

   1. The intro including music
   2. an opening commentary and what’s upcoming on the show 
   3. a discussion on news of the week
   4. Some thematic editorial
   5. Lists of Top 5 good or bad - hopefully listener submitted and finally
   6. a closing
   . This doesn't mean I won't completely deviate from the format and do a special show on something like attendance at a vendor show or something of topical interest. I will. I'll also have a guest host occasionally chosen by me from friends, interesting people or listeners.

   The Real Deal

   This one is a little more nebulous as far as the format goes. Rest assured, music will play a part in this one. No doubt. The big idea is that I will deal with how it is being done via case studies and who is doing it via interviews of people well known or not, who are doing the actual jobs or on the receiving end of the SCRM/CRM particulates. Will this show be segments - meaning say, a case study and then an interview associated with it? Maybe. Will it be a case study and an interview of some SCRM related person doing an SCRM related job? Maybe. Or something in between. Maybe. I haven't decided. Preferences out there can be put up as comments or sent to my email at paul-greenberg3@comcast.net.

   One thing of big general importance. These two podcasts are going to be carried exclusively (for now) on one or more of Robin Carey's Social Media Today properties. Why? Because I think they are terrific and not overwhelmed by the self-promotional efforts of some of the folks on the other properties. The SMT properties are compelling, get excellent traffic and are thematically clear. And Robin is just a great person, which has bearing on my decision. I'm thrilled and honored that they've agreed to do it.

   A New Blog - "Science of Business, Art of Life"

   I've made the statement many times that the only reason that CRM is interesting to me is that its the only science of business that attempts to reproduce an art of life. That would be the art that's involved in crafting good human relationships. CRM itself attempts to figure out an approach, a methodology and a program that will recreate how humans interact in good ways - but in what is a constrained business environment. This led me to thinking about the expansive nature of that statement "science of business, art of life" really is. It could be product reviews, business methodology, the underlying geometry of natural design, a discussion of psychology that extends beyond the usual Abraham Maslow "hierarchy of needs" that is out there once in awhile in a business environment. It could be how surrealism represented not only an artistic genre but a political movement. Etc. Hell, it could be about whatever it is feel like talking about - as long as the human psyche, human emotions, personal interactions and business consequences are somewhat involved. That gives me something of a wide range now, doesn't it?

   The idea is simply to write on big picture or smallest of the small issues in a lot less constrained way than, say, ZDNet or PGreenblog requires me. Katy Perry, anyone? No one? Okay, Woody Allen anyone?

   The CRM Playaz

   Needless to say, CRM Playaz remains near and near to my (and Brent's) heart. We're working on the best ways to take this full time to video. For example, we're thinking of doing a show using iPhone 4s Facetime video phone capability. Once. Otherwise, be prepared for a kick ass new "season" of our usual cogent but irreverent conversation including CEO Smackdown. More announcements later.

   Business Model Changes? Market Research/White Papers, Reviews etc.

   I've wanted to bring products to the market that were not the usual thought leader fare but more along the lines of market research. I've done it though I can't say, candidly, that I have a proscribed methodology that has a hyphenated name associated with it. What I do have is market knowledge and an extensive network and I know how to construct a valuable survey. That said, I'm going to partner with various people like Brent Leary, Esteban Kolsky, Denis Pombriant and perhaps the Altimeter Group folks (none of them know this BTW, but I can dream can't I?), to do joint market research projects - if, of course, they'll have me. And with others who might be interested - let me know this year folks if you can. I'll also "donate" my URL "www.socialcrmreview.com" to the endeavor so there will be site that can handle the content made available non-exclusively too. Things like case studies, or interesting (free) market trends analysis, or even potentially "for sale" information. This isn't a fully formulated idea but one that you can be assured I'll be involved with by 2011.

   SCRM and Government 2.0

   As the fall begins to hit and leaves begin to turn, you will be hearing more from me and my brother, who just did a star turn at the Gartner Customer 360 conference in his discussion on Virtual USA and SCRM in the Public Sector. We are going to put together an important venture to bridge the gap between Social CRM and the Government 2.0 crowds – and thinking.  Got you curious?  Stay tuned.  More pretty soon. Work is underway on the construction of our gameplan. 

   The University of Toronto CRM Center of Excellence/Institute for the Future of Business and the Customer

   This one is a big one to me. I've been asked to help spearhead the University of Toronto CRM Center of Excellence which will launch officially in the fall. I am on the Board of Advisors and am honored and excited to be a part of this. For those of you I've actually spoken to, this is a dream for me. Several years ago, I came up with the idea of creating what I was calling the Institute for the Future of Business and the Customer (IFBC). But I didn't really move ahead with it because I was so busy, I slated 2011 to make a serious attempt, though I did make several smaller and ultimately abortive attempts at it.

   Then along comes Frank Falcone, the Canadian CRM lead for Microsoft and boom, there is a permutation of what I've been wanting to get involved with for years! He convinced the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, to their incredible credit, to create a CRM Center of Excellence that would not only provide the curriculum of the future for CRM and SCRM, but also do the research to establish the frameworks, etc. in a neutral, agnostic environment. Wow. I will be heavily involved in this. More coming very very soon on this one.

   NOTE: While writing this I am watching Paul McCartney do a free live streaming AIDS prevention concert in Hyde Park in London. What amazes me is the power of music, McCartney and the Beatles. He sang "All My Lovin'" and then as he was, the cameras were panning over the audience and all these kids who could be his (and my) children or even with a stretch - grandchildren - are sitting there singing it word for word and CRYING - and I mean there were a lot of them crying, tears streaming down their face that weren't any older than maybe 25. They aren't old enough to remember the Beatles but such is the beautiful amalgam of music, history and emotions that it gets to the deepest part of the soul of any one of us as a human being, not as a member of a generation.

Following On More Than Friday: The Experts Worth Checking Out

Note: I'm actually on a vacation, just finishing an incredible cruise through the Mediterranean and now on Day 2 of a 3 day stay in Barcelona. All in all a dream vacation to tell you the truth. Best ever. But I HAD to finish this post. An addiction. If I left you out and I actually do follow you as an expert, I apologize and will update this list in the near future. Forgive me. I'm loving this trip to much to worry about the rest of it all. Also, please let me know who teaches you. Not just who you read but who teaches you something of value - and moves you forward. Either ZDNet or PGreenblog which will have this post will be great for the comments. Please.

There’s was this list going around a few weeks ago that seemed to be saying that somehow those on it were "the" SCRM Top 50 "experts." After seeing yet another list of another group of experts or influencers in CRM, I realized I'm having a problem with all of these lists. The problem isn't who's on the list, though about 20% of the people on it, I've never heard of - which is highly unlikely if they are influential. The bigger problem I have with lists like this is in this case is that a list like this is now calling the chosen ones on it, "experts." This particular list is saying that the top 50 SCRM experts are sorted by a combination of some sort of Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn followers, friends and other connections. Hopefully, the use of the word "experts" here was a poor unconscious choice of words, because I'm hard pressed to understand how these criteria are linked to expertise.

Look, I have a really hard time seeing a combination of Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn compadres as a measure of influence,much less expertise. How this T+F+L combo scrubbed with an algorithm or two qualifies someone as an expert, I'll never know. (hat tip to Groucho Marx). I just get the feeling that even beyond this list (no offense intended, list producers), we are reducing the value of expertise to something that means "someone will listen to you beyond your mom and/or dad." All it seems to need in the world of Social CRM is a comment in an #scrm hashtag or some SCRM related keyword in combination with retweets, Facebook wall posts and god-know-what on LinkedIn to be anointed the god of an industry. Now to the authors credit, they said in their post to not take the numerical order of the list seriously. Which I didn't.

Whatever.

It’s just not the way I roll. Or most of the people I know either.

Please forgive me if I sound somewhat grouchy, but I’m seeing lists like this everywhere that are based on some quantitative calculation that are then being acclaimed as definitive. Reality is that they aren’t definitive and they actually provide little value and more confusion than not.

Here’s my take on all of this. The value of an expert is that they are able to teach someone something in a way that the person learning can understand. In other words, not only do they have depth in a discipline or domain of some sort, but they also think about who their audience actually is and what they do and how they live and, most of all, how they think. The reality is that each person, regardless of their proximity to a particular demographic, thinks differently than the next person. They think in different metaphors. The expert – at least the experts that I think deserve that designation are those that think about that audience. They aren’t just people who spout stuff about a subject or who build up a big Twitter following or who have lots of Facebook friends. They are people who have an expertise that they can impart in the metaphors of their audience so that their audience really understands what they are trying to say. These are people who think about doing that too.

The people that I’m going to recommend here are those I look to for learning. They are the ones who actually teach me something. They don’t just rehash others stuff, they don’t spend their lives arguing their picayune niggling gripes about "definitions"; they aren’t in business to maneuver themselves into leadership positions. They don't backstab or spit at others due their own inadequacies. They've become experts because they've earned the recognition, not because they are trying to get it.

These experts have ideas that create the seeds of new concepts, or they provide unique frameworks in how they look at a subject, or they are able to advance a discussion in a way that didn’t seem possible twenty minutes before I read the article/post etc. They are thinkers who love ideas and love executing on the ideas. I look to different ones for different things. There are many others who I read that I enjoy but they aren’t the ones that consistently move me to another place in how I’m thinking about something. The ones that I’m highlighting are those that do make me think differently more often than not. I'm going to specify what each does - for me, at least. Others who aren’t on the list, please don’t take offense. Its quite possible I simply forgot to include you - and for that I blame a senior moment or two. Or I enjoy reading what you're saying and on occasion you too move me to new concepts and ways of thinking. But the ones here are the ones who consistently move me to change how I think and change what I think about, and they are my gods and goddesses.

I've listed them by category – The links to their name are to their blogs. Or barring that, to their twitter handle. They are in no particular order at all. All of these are regular or semi-regular bloggers or writers. These are not book authors who don't blog much. That means you won't see Joe Pine II or Lior Arussy here since they don't blog enough - even though they are expert when it comes to customer experience. Folks like them will get a separate post when I lay out the books that affected my life and impacted what I think in business. They also are not those who own the social sites or the aggregators, so you won't see Robin Carey or Bob Thompson here, both of whom are true influencers. Also, for those here, there are overlaps with some of these guys being experts in multiple categories but I’m only putting a person in one category. There is room for only so much knowledge between my ears before it fries my brain.

Social CRM

1. Ray Wang
- Ray is not only one of the most astute enterprise analysts I've ever met but he has a solid grasp of Social CRM and how to apply it in the real world which is something that is painfully needed in business now. He also has a heart of gold and a great head for business. He was voted the equivalent of the Analyst MVP two years running for good reason. He is one of the few must-always-read-even-if-you're-in-a-hurry pundits around.
2. Esteban Kolsky
- This man will frame you. Well, okay, so I'm taking some dramatic license here. He is a master at developing the kind of insights businesses need when it comes to SCRM and then creating frameworks that actually make some sense for businesses to apply. He does this on a solid intellectual foundation and a practical history as a former Gartner analyst. Plus he is really very funny.
3. Brent Leary
- He is the master at the application of SCRM to small business. Very few people can even understand how to apply CRM much less SCRM to small biz. Brent does both and straddles both worlds - CRM and small business as an influential. He can be found on the American Express Open Forum, BET, hanging out with Anita Campbell and of course among the glitterati of the CRM world too. Watch his real world examples of small business success carefully. Plus watch our show The CRM Playaz. Wicked.
4. Jeremiah Owyang
- A year and a half ago, Jeremiah was a social media rock star, now he's put the enterprise into his bucket and he's not only learned it but he's actually begun to master it. His insights into companies he's in touch with are not only priceless but actually usable when making technology decisions. I keep learning.
5. Denis Pombriant
- What can I say about Denis Pombriant. For all things SaaS, all things macroeconomic and all things SCRM, he's da man. He is the one who realized that salesforce.com was not only an upcoming company but would be something of a force of nature in the CRM and enterprise world. He called them a "disruptive innovation" when no one else did. Now he's talking about sustainable CRM companies - take heed.
6. Prem Kumar
- this guy is actually the chief SCRM evangelist at Cognizant - a company that is actually beginning to get it and Prem is a guy who totally gets it. He has a keen sense of the technology and a fine sense of the strategy.
7. Mitch Lieberman
- a former VP of SugarCRM, Mitch earned his way up to thought leader even when attached to a vendor. He is an astute analyst who sees SCRM with a depth of perception that most don't. What Mitch does uniquely is take an idea out there and then drive into it so deeply that you can see all the implications and questions that are contained in the idea. Plus he can do it with a sense of irony.
8. Martin Schneider
- Martin has achieved that rare consideration. He is a current vendor employee (senior director in fact) that actually transcends his company's particular interests. Not terribly surprising in his case, since Martin was a leading analyst in CRM prior to his sojourn at SugarCRM. (they seem to spawn these types at Sugar don't they?). He understands Social CRM strategy and writes short cogent pieces on what to be looking at when thinking "strategy." Not many do that - or write as well as Martin. Or can play in a rock band as well as Martin. He was even a pro at that!.
9. Mike Fauscette
- I've known Mike for 12 years (he co-authored my very first book with me on PeopleSoft in 1998) and he never ceases to amaze me. Currently the head of IDC's enterprise applications practice, he has perhaps the best grasp of social business in the industry and a laissez faire attitude that I love. He genuinely sees how business needs to run when it comes to CRM and SCRM because he was a practitioner himself and also worked for vendors. His experience is perhaps unparalleled among SCRM thought leaders. And that counts for a lot. Besides, the dude can really write.
10. Brian Vellmure
- Brian is a big idea kind of guy. Look to him when you want to know the difference between, say, traditional CRM and social CRM or understand a concept like. He makes it easy to understand and makes me think "why didn't I think of that?" constantly.
11. Michael Maoz
- Michael is the 800 pound gorilla of the 800 pound gorillas. He is the most utilized Gartner analyst, bar none, I hear tell, and there's a reason for that. He is foresighted - having figured on this social thing for the last 5-6 years. He is ruthlessly honest, not really worrying about anything but doing the best thing and the most honest thing for his clients. And he has a unique take on the social CRM world - one that's actually realistic, rather than some of the fantasies that are floating around. He is one of the few analysts who has truly gotten Social CRM and remained connected to an analyst firm. Michael is one of the Gartner analysts responsible for the new Social CRM Magic Quadrant that they are releasing, I think, at the Gartner 360 CRM Summit, that I'm speaking at multiple times - once with the subject of this particular paragraph. Coolio.
12. Mark Tamis
- Mark is a smart dude. He drills down deeply into concepts ranging from how strategies work (and differ in customer-driven enterprises to the depths of transparency and authenticity. He doesn't write enough but he writes really really well. Moves the needle.
13. Chris Carfi
- Funny, just as I'm writing this, Chris Carfi joined Edelman Digital as a leader of a group there that will handle Adobe and make sure they stay in the social age. There might be no one better suited than that. Chris is arguably the guy who coined the term "social customer" having developed his blog "The Social Customer" some 6 or 7 years ago; long before anyone else was even thinking of what that social customer might be. He is one of the few who started out in the social and CRM worlds simultaneously and managed to magically and accurately stitch the info. A long time compadre of mine who I think has miles to go before he sleeps in the words of the immortal Robert Browning.

CRM

1. Bill Band
- Bill Band, who has had years and years of industry experience is not an expert on Social CRM though he fully understands it. But when you're looking at traditional CRM and its practicalities and how those practicalities are evolving; well, there aren't many who can give you the step by step than Bill does. Forrester is lucky to have him frankly. I only wish he blogged more than he does.
2. Jim Berkowitz
- Jim is the "tool guy" for CRM. Want to get a unique take on vendor capabilities when it comes to enterprise software? JB is your man and reading him is the plan, Stan. (that so dates me.). Jim spends incredible amounts of time understanding how features and functions can be valued when it comes to enterprise software and the businesses that are going to apply it. If you're trying to understand the selection process, he's your man. If you want to know what tools to use, he's your man.
3. Mike Boysen
- Mike Boysen is an iconoclast. A kind of retro-iconoclast who places a great deal of emphasis on what works and what doesn't when it comes to CRM. While he's not convinced that SCRM is going to be the harvest of bountiful plenty that most of us think, he is convinced that it has it's place in the world of traditional CRM where he is an expert - and an expert with a wry sense of humor. A very wry sense of humor. Land on earth is the location for Mike and how he moves the discussion on CRM forward.
4. Don Peppers & Martha Rogers
- I'm only putting them under this category because they are key business strategists who have shaped the industry for decades and continue to make their mark - and I'm not sure where else to put them. They have been a team forever and they have a quality company that comes from quality thinking - and a quality staff. Not only have they been the creators of 1 to 1 relationship marketing - the forerunner of personalized insight and interaction, but they also sparked the industry discussion with their notion of Return on Customer (ROC) - which transcends ROI. Whether you agree with them or not on this (I do with modifications), they moved the needle and continue to do so with their 1to1 publications.

The Enterprise

1. Josh Greenbaum
- Josh is tough. Really tough. I've heard him at vendor conferences asking what are perhaps the toughest questions that vendors will get at any time during the conference. But the answers are translated by Josh in ways that provide what is one of the most coherent voices in the industry when it comes to interpreting the complexity of large enterprise software vendors and the practitioners implementations of the large "stuff."
2. Michael Krigsman
- Michael has a unique role in the world of experts and influencers. He documents failure so that success can be learned. What he's able to do, which no one else can, is identify problems that have damaged other companies and then provide a foundation for not committing the same mistakes twice. He is thorough, thoughtful and has the good of the industry and interested parties in and around it at heart. He is a must follow who helps the industry.
3. Vinnie Mirchandani
- Vinnie is best known for his blog "Deal Architect" (see name link) which covers all things topical and enterprise; but he is best represented by his other blog - New Florence, New Renaissance and his new John Wiley published book out at the end of this month - The New Polymath: Profiles in Compound-Technology Innovations - which takes a look at innovation and transformation in the business world from the perspective of a renaissance of new ideas. If he weren't a Tampa Bay Rays fan, he'd be perfect.
4. Dennis Howlett
- Dennis is a man of ascerbic wit, passionate belief and devastatingly accurate insight into the enterprise - and he has NO problem saying what he thinks often with a very sharp tongue. He scares companies but actually makes his readers (among them me) think. He is a powerful influencer who understands the enterprise software industry better than most - especially the financial/ERP end of it - and has the chops to prove it.

Co-Creation/Innovation

1. Graham Hill
- Graham is always one step ahead - he is an innovative and brilliant thinker, a no holds barred fighter for new business ideas and someone who makes you think, not about social business 101 but about social business 202. Thing is, he isn't just academic either. He has years and years of experience of doing this for companies. Years. Light years. Check out his Social Business Manifesto from last November, his very last Cust0merThink post. A critical post.
2. Wim Rampen
- Eighteen months ago, I didn't know Wim. Now I do. I'm glad i do, because he is also a key thinker in the co-creation/innovation, social business 202 world. Guy has a brain that must run hot because he is always applying the lessons of co-creation to real life. Not easy to do, given the infrequency of success that the combination has. But he is an optimistic guy who is a forward thinker that simply should be read.

Enterprise 2.0

1. Sameer Patel
- Sameer is an enterprise software industry veteran, who is not only one of the best writers on collaboration out there but also a keen observer of what's going on when it comes to trends. He is someone who gets down to the core of an issue or digs out a strength where others may just gloss over it. He is one of the clearest voices and strongest influences in the Enterprise 2.0 space.
2. Dion Hinchcliffe
- Dion is a superstar. Joining the Dachis Group in April hasn't changed a thing when it comes to his incredibly comprehensive, cogent blog posts - often for ZDNet (see blog link at name). He is someone who blogs less often but when he does, his blog postings are blockbusters. They establish frameworks, interconnections (e.g. between Enterprise 2.0 and SCRM), maturity models, technology models, you name it. What is astounding is how clearly he does it. He is a serious must read in this space. Deep, deep knowledge. Plus an aggregator of resources of the first order.
3. Oliver Marks
- Oliver, who is partnered with Sameer Patel in the E20 space is also someone who you need to read. He is an astute thinker who covers issues in the collaboration space as often as he covers techniques and approaches. Someone who gets down to the core and is scrupulously honest in his assessments with no agenda but reality.
4. Andrew McAfee
- While I'm always called the Godfather of CRM, Andrew McAfee is the father of the Enterprise 2.0 - and has been since his 2006 publication in the Sloan Management Review of Enterprise 2.0: The Dawn of Emergent Collaboration. Honestly, aside from his deep commitment to the Boston Red Sox, the man has nothing wrong with him. He is the guy who created the SLATE model of E20 (see the article) and made the idea of using social tools internally at a company, not just interesting, but de rigueur. Someone that you must pay attention to because what he says in his writings and books is just right and provocative. Just get a load of his latest blog posting on the iPad, which is awesome, ascerbic, funny and pointedly right. He sits on the curve in a way that makes the curve move ahead of itself. If you catch my drift. But that Red Sox thing.....

Journalists

This category bears explanation. These are the journalists, some who blog, some who write regularly for publications - all of whom have a leadership position in the CRM and SCRM world one way or the other. Each of them is a terrific writer as well as an original thinker. Each of them, to one degree or another, falls into that hazy space between journalist and analyst, meaning they are journalists with a well formulated opinion. Their advantage over analysts is that they write better. You should follow them. You have to. You NEED to. You want to. When I snap my fingers, you will. AND you will feel refreshed, as if you came out of a deep and satisfying sleep.

Oh yeah, since they aren't all bloggers regularly, I'm going to point you to their articles if need be in the link of their name.

1. Josh Weinberger
- Josh is flat out brillant, insightful, always on top of the CRM/SCRM industry and actually practically conversant with all the tools of the trade, ranging from the software that runs businesses to the B2C stuff we are now discovering might have business value such as Foursquare. Read anything you can of his. Just do it.
2. Chris Bucholtz
- Chris Bucholz makes the industry a bit stronger for his range of knowledge, his writing skills and his sense of humor. He is actually the former editor of InsideCRM now the editor and chief writer for Aplicor's Forecasting Cloud - a compendium of daily writings in CRM, ScRM and even some ERP as of late. But don't let his cogent thinking get buried in all the other writing. Even if he wrote alone it would be worth it.
3. Ginger Conlon
- Ginger is someone who tries to keep her profile low (she is currently editorial director of 1to1 Publications) but can't because she is so good at thinking about things. I asked her to contribute to CRM at the Speed of Light's 4th edition, because I think so highly of her. She is a veteran of the industry, though not very old, with a background as editor-in-chief of CRM Magazine in her past. AND she gets all the social stuff. All of it.
4. Marshall Lager
- Marshall is something unique in the CRM industry. A great writer, with a rapier wit who has made the transition from pure journalist to analyst/consultant without losing an iota of his writing skills - making him well qualified to get across the ideas that he has to.
5. David Sims
- This guy might well be the most literate journalist with an opinion in the enterprise software world - and possibly the funniest. Thing about David, who has been writing for years - for TMC as a columnist and blogger, CustomerThink, etc. is that he has strong opinions and is an original thinker, but he does it with a literary humor that both enhances and masks the insight. He is SO worth reading. I've been a devoted fan (and friend) for years of this man. You should be (both) too.
6. David Myron
- David is a tone setter. As jefé of CRM Magazine, and one or two other Infotoday properties, he is not only doing what superb editors-in-chief do (don't forget I have a degree and an editorial work history in journalism, so I know what it takes to be an editor-in-chief), juggling all the time, but his editorial content sets not only the magazine's pace, but often sets the industry's pace. Be aware, be very aware of what David says.

Analytics, Measurement

1. Michael Wu
- Michael is the Principal Scientist of Analytics (for real) for Lithium and its rare I read someone who understands analytics better and more...analytically than Michael. For example, he actually is looking at what makes for identification of a true influencer - rather than the gross oversimplification that's going on now with T+F+L = Superman as the going industry standard. He shows me something new in the world of analytics, without any overt Lithiumesque interest in the writings. Most recently he is distinguishing between communities and social networks in a two part post. Part 1 and Part 2. Gotta read this dude.
2. Jim Sterne
- Not only is Jim Sterne one of the granddaddies (metaphorical, peeps, metaphorical) of Web analytics - and the president of the Web Analytics Association, but he is now a pioneer in social media analytics, the current author of a successful book in the field called "Social Media Metrics: How to Measure and Optimize Your Marketing Investment" and is a constant presence in the refining of these newly developed metrics.
3. Dr. V. Kumar
- Even though he's really more of an author than a blogger - in fact, I don't think he has a blog, I'm going to break my protocol and include him here because he had such a seminal influence on my thinking when it came to the measurement of advocacy. I always knew that Net Promoter Score, while a good start, was hardly sufficient for measuring the social customer's power in and value to business. When he extended Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) to include Customer Referral Value (CRV) among other measures and asked four questions with number 1 being NPS - would you recommend this company to someone you know - I thought - 'ohhh-kay". But it was question 2 that was both an epiphany and a "duh" moment - "Did you recommend this company to someone you know?" that I knew that I loved this man. He is a distinguished marketing professor at Georgia State University, the executive director of the GSU Center for Brand Experience Excellence and a must read. His book is "Managing CUstomers for Profit" and its a great start to a new version of measure for social business.

Social Media

1. Brian Solis
- Hard not to think of Brian. He's a vibrant, visible presence and what I've always called one of the "Big 3" of social...whatever. (The other two are the aforementioned Jeremiah Owyang and Chris Brogan). He's easily one of most influential and most respected guys in the world of social media and is spending serious time putting thinking about Social CRM and what he sees as a successor to it, SRM. While I can't say I can fully buy into the SRM side of it, I do fully buy into Brian. Also, he is so active in social media that people forget that he is a highly successful PR guy and his blog PR 2.0 is actually fascinating. Plus he has a new book out called Engage: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web which is a social marketing book more than a social media one. And really, really good.
2. Paul Gillin
- I've known Paul since he was the Executive Editor of SearchCRM about 7 or 8 years now. Not only is he an expert in CRM, but he is also an expert in social media from a standpoint that few others are. First, he has a B2B knowledge that is unparalleled in social media. Second, his expertise is eminently practical. Meaning he is not theorizing on definitions of things, he is telling you how to do something. Want to blog? Here's how, here is the supporting arguments on its behalf to your left brained boss, your right brained boss and your colleagues. Here are what you can and can't do...you get the picture. He has two books out now, The New Influencers: A Marketer's Guide to the New Social Media and Secrets of Social Media Marketing: How to Use Online Conversations and Customer Communities to Turbo-Charge Your Business! and a third coming in January 2011 on social marketing.He is also the only columnist I read religiously in B2B Magazine - even with my secular behavior.

Sales

1. Anneke Seley
-Anneke wrote a book on Sales 2.0 and she blogs on sales 2.0 and she knows sales 2.0 better than you do. She is a long time industry veteran with insight and is a delightful person. You'd think the latter is enough to make you want to make you read her blog but, honestly, her insights are the real reason.

Customer Service

1. Natalie Petouhoff
- I've known Dr. Nat for years. Many years. Though she's a lot younger than me. She is formidable. Tres formidable. While she is currently heading up all social media efforts at Weber Shandwick (good move, WS), she is still one of the foremost experts in "social" customer service that you will find in the world. She has a solid research background and methodology, an intuitive sense of what's right when it comes to treating customers well that overlays that, and is just a good person who is able to turn that goodness into something substantial and interesting. I'm not sure where her new position will take her, but I'll follow.

Marketing

I can't say that I really can find anyone that rocks my boat here though there are many that I read ardently. I think this is a transformational period and there's a lot of both good stuff and noise out there but I can't clearly distinguish one from the other yet, so I'm going to leave this category alone. Though some of my social media experts are also marketing guys - so just reiterate them.

Public Sector/Politics

1. Andrew Rasiej
- This guy is amazing. He not only runs PDF - the Personal Democracy Forum - one of the most influential progressive institutions in the country - with an activist bent - but also is one of the jefés of TechPresident, which could be the most significant political blog in the country. He's also a true New Yorker - acerbic and honest and an ardent Yankees fan. A perfect person.
2. Alan Weber
- This guy, now at Altimeter Group with Ray Wang, Charlene Li, Jeremiah Owyang and a host of other superstars, has serious chops when it comes to the comings and goings of the public sector and the future of government as it links to the new technology paradigms. I have to say that I almost envy his depth of knowledge, ability to extract information from sources and his analytical skills. Public sector ain't easy to decipher yet, somehow he does it.
3. Alan Rosenblatt
- Alan is the Associate Director for Internet Advocacy at the Center for American Progress - the most powerful progressive think tank in Washington DC (I sit on their New Media Board of Advisors). Alan is also a tireless champion for constituency engagement utilizing the new social tools to empower citizens. He blogs for multiple sites including TechPresident, the CAP blogs and the Huffington Post. The man has mad advocacy knowledge and skills and if advocacy is something you think is important, whether in politics or business, then Alan is your man. Just read him, and if you meet him, offer him a single malt and you'll get the conversation you're looking for.

Mobile

1. Sheryl Kingstone - Sheryl works for Yankee Group. She is the Yankee Group star (no disrespect to any other Yankee Group analysts when I say this). She is the analyst most responsible for "the Anytime Anywhere Enterprise" that Yankee espouses - which of course includes a mobile component. Sheryl has been one of my ongoing beacons for mobile trends for as long as I can remember -which of course means since she was about 6 years old. I trust her thinking and judgment.
2. Michael Gartenberg
- Michael has been a bastion of mobile insight forever and a little longer. He is now at Altimeter, was at Forrester and was always someone that people just listened to. Among them me. For me, in the mobile world, he (and Sheryl) are it. 'Nuff said.

Others

These are those who either defy classification or who's category doesn't include that many but are exceptional thinkers who are actually ahead of the curve.

1. Doc Searls
- Doc is in his own category - and that would be Vendor Relationship Management (VRM). In principle, VRM is an important addition to the scholarship of social business. It helps define the customer's individual behavior when it comes to all businesses that he/she interacts with - in reality or potentially. It dovetails from my standpoint with what I call the personal value chain of an individual customer. Doc, one of the authors of the seminal Cluetrain Manifesto, drives VRM like no one else. Whether or not it becomes the "movement" (the labor movement for customers) it should be, remains to be seen. But what doesn't remain to be seen is Doc Searl's importance in the social business landscape.
2. Thomas Vander Wal
- What can I say about Thomas Vander Wal? He is the father of folksonomy and social tagging. He is the person who developed the social stack that I use for my discussion of social characteristics in enterprise software (that is software mimicking human behavior). He is constantly evolving new ideas on how to humanize the software and business processes that are supporting 21st century business so that business is able to gain greater insight into their customer base. YO'd be wise to read him because if you do, you'll be ahead of the curve - one that your business needs to be ahead of.
3. Lisa Stone
I love this woman (you know what I mean). She is a co-founder of Blogher, recently named one of 2010's 100 most creative people in America by Fast Company and one of the most generally astute bloggers anywhere. I am a fan who simply loves what she does. Its also nice that she's the significant other my my dear friend and influencer mentioned above Chris Carfi, making me thrilled to know them individually and as a couple.

Vendors Who Have Blogs that Transcend Pitches

I'm not going to go into a breakdown of each of these except to say that please check them out. Each of them has a unique perspective that's interesting and transcends their merely mortal business interests, though clearly doesn't ignore them. In the case of SAP, they have so many blogs that I've chosen the properties of SMT that they are the chief sponsors for and have some of their staff writing for. Also, interestingly enough, I'm noticing that the blogs that I do follow in marketing are mostly vendor blogs. Not sure what to make of that except that the marketing industry is still working it all out.

Okay. All in all, I've got the links for you. Click and read. Follow the yellow brick road.

1. Lithium
2. Attensity
3. SAP
4. Infusionsoft
5. Eloqua
6. Radian6 - in this case, look at the bottom of the page for their extensive list of blogs and podcasts
7. SugarCRM
8. Aplicor

Dissecting the Man Purse - A Real Life Customer Experience Map

For many years, I've been been a customer, nay, an advocate of a company out of San Francisco, called Waterfield Designs. They sell things like cases and messenger bags and vertical messenger bags a.k.a. man purses. They are super-stylish, incredibly utilitarian and definitely expensive. But Waterfield's entire business model and customer approach has me wild about them as a customer and has me admiring them greatly as a professional CRM dude. The other day, I had the first glitch ever in our "relationship" but how they handled it is not only an instructive business case in doing things right - but also something I think merits some dissecting from the standpoint of how to view - and even map - a customer experience.

Their Approach

Waterfield Designs sells first rate products - for example, I have a messenger bag for a laptop from them, a case for a PSP, a Nintendo DS, a couple of laptop sleeves, and now a smart case for my iPad and a portable 10" vertical messenger bag a.k.a. a man purse....sorta. Here's the iPad stuff. Nice, huh? Not cheap - but nice. For example, the vertical messenger bag is a soft leather thing and about $190.00. But it fits my metrosexual image so well. It does. I'm a New Yorker...that explains it...really. Sensitive male. Sniff. Their business model is based on mass customization as seen by Joe Pine II, author of the seminal "The Experience Economy". You can piece together the item you want in the way that you want - with you picking the color, the attachable accessories, the size of the item, etc. While you don't exactly design the specific item, you can pick out the components in a way that is satisfying to you as a customer. There are a wide variety of components that can be somewhat mixed and matched. But they don't stop with this highly configurable - and incredibly stylish and satisfying approach. - They even handle shipping exceptionally well. First, they put a personal note that indicates they know at least your customer history if not personal details - sometimes as simple as "glad to have you with us again" signed by the owner of Waterfield Designs, Gary Waterfield (duh) with his first name. They even follow up with thanks - and then often ask for your customer feedback on their entire process. In other words, a company that gets the customer, engages the customer and provides the kind of feeling of good will that comes after a really great meal. The "yep, this is the way that you companies are SUPPOSED TO be dealing with me - and you do." The other side of the process is that they have always been timely - if they say they are going to ship on April 5, then they ship April 5. Interestingly, at least in my experience, they don't ship early - April 3 or 4 let's say - but they don't ship late. At least they didn't 'til this last go round. I actually had a problem with Waterfield Designs. Given my level of expectations from multiple interactions in the past - this wasn't exactly expected. Nor was how they handled it initially - but then again....you'll see.

The "Problem"

I ordered both the smartcase and portable ten inch vertical messenger bag henceforth known as MP for man-purse, within a couple of days of getting my spiffy new iPad on April 3. On the Waterfield Designs site there was no particular indication of a shipping problem or even potential one - in fact, no indication of anything but an ordinary shipping calendar for the MP or the smartcase. An ordinary shipping calendar meant usually a couple of days for preparation would do the trick and out into the post it would go. Which in this case meant roughly April 5 or 6.

Imagine my shock and dismay when I got a note from Waterfield Designs the next day apologizing for "overpromising and underperforming" and indicating that the shipping date for each item would be sometime in mid-May. Which to me was unacceptable because I was ordering them to use them for my rather extensive traveling. I wrote a note back to them talking about my disappointment in this what felt to be somewhat deceptive bit of news. The reason for that word "deceptive" was that I thought - and this was in the note - that the revised due dates should have been up on the SFbags.com site so that I could have made an intelligent decision on whether or not I wanted to proceed with the purchase. Beside my personal disappointment, professionally, the first rule of transparency in SCRM is that the customer is given enough information to make an intelligent decision on how they are going to interact with the company. This wasn't that.

The Response

Imagine my delight when the next day, the new information was up on the site. They had responded to me and I imagine others who had suggested that the appropriate information needed to be put up for perusal. Even better, two days after that I got an email for each product telling me they are shipping each of them on the 16th - that would be April 16th - a full month before their initial estimate - which meant that they had put production into overtime to solve this issue and make customers happy. And they did so - at least with me.

The Customer Experience

For the past four years, you've been reading my stuff on the social customer and Social CRM and all the new business models associated with it. But what remains central to all of CRM, be it traditional or social is the customer experience. Ultimately the success of a business is derived from the experience that customers have with it. We can talk about engagement all we want, or co-creation or "the conversation" but what we do it for remains remarkably simple - we want out customers to like us enough to continue to be our customers and do all those things that customer who like companies do - continue to buy and talk our businesses up. We achieve that with a healthy percentage of our customers and we'll be successful. As narrow-minded as shareholders can be - the value they expect and will get from the company is based on the same thing - whether or not they believe it or like it.

In order for our customers to like us, we have to do things that make them like us - like provide them with tools to control their relationship with us; or with a good deal that works for their particular interests; or with something else that simply makes them feel good. The value of a discount to a customer, for example, is that the discount makes the customer happy - not that they get 20% off. It's that the 20% off makes them satisfied in some way with their relationship to your company. Believe me, if you gave a customer 20% but insulted them or guilted them each time, they wouldn't hang around, deal or no deal. "Hey here's 20% off, valued customer" works far better than "Hey here's 30% off you thieving schmuck."

However, what goes into understanding how to provide that great customer experience is not a simple matter. For example, all my past experiences with Waterfield Designs, affects how I think about them, and, most importantly, what I expect of them each interaction. So here's how my historic expectations map out:

1. They will allow me to choose the components of the product I'm ordering
2. They will be personal and warm in their approach to me
3. They will ship within a day or two of the order
4. They will ship on the day that I expect
5. They will inform me of what I need to know each time I order something, using informative media such as videos to show me the product before I purchase and timely, useful information about the status of my product from production to delivery
6. They will be open to feedback about their products or whatever I care to give them feedback about

What's particularly cogent to this list is that it's built around the things that are important to me and even they are nuanced when it comes to level of importance. Also it is a sequence that I expect when I do something with Waterfield Designs. Certain aspects are expected and weigh heavily in my consideration (unconscious and conscious) of the experience and interactions I'm having with them. So, for example, that they treat me warmly and personally is something that is incredibly important - given my metrosexual inclinations. Also very important is that I have the information I need to make an intelligent decision about the purchases that I want to make - though I don't care as much if its in the form of a video or a picture or text information - though visuals here are nicer than not. How does this map look then when I weigh the importance of each part of my expectations. My human scale is not 1-5 here but

1. extremely important to me
2. very important to me
3. important enough to me
4. Either way, no biggie
5. don't care that much - well a tiny bit maybe
6. couldn't care less
7. Wish it would go away

So here's how the list in sequence reflects itself to me as a customer when it comes to the importance of the interaction.

1. They will allow me to choose the components of the product I'm ordering - very important to me.
2. They will be personal and warm in their approach to me - extremely important to me (hey, so maybe I'm a little insecure, okay?)
3. They will ship within a day or two of the order - very important to me
4. They will ship on the day that I expect - important enough to me
5. They will inform me of what I need to know each time I order something, using informative media such as videos to show me the product before I purchase and timely, useful information about the status of my product from production to delivery - this one is complicated. Having the information I need to make an intelligent decision is extremely important to me but what form its in is either way no biggie.
6. They will be open to feedback about their products or whatever I care to give them feedback about - extremely important to me as a professional, but very important to me as a customer

So what we've done so far is identify the interaction points and their relative importance to me which is how I weigh them. But there is another piece of when it comes to mapping a customer experience. Especially mine in my own eyes. Which is how well they meet expectations, given the weights that I give each of the interactions. There are three (at a high level) answers to this one: met expectations, exceeded expectations, failed to meet expectations. Each result, based on the interaction, the weight that I as an individual customer give it and my perception of whether or not they met, failed to meet or exceeded expectations, has a consequence in how I will interact with the company as a customer. What makes this interesting is that it might have little to do with whether or not the company met expectations against their own standards or benchmarks. My interactions are solely based on my perception of whether or not they did, not their standard. Again, as a customer, I'm in control of my relationship to this company and in control of the conversation about the company in channels that the company doesn't own. So perception can trump benchmarks here. Be forewarned. So how would this look if I take it the next step and see if they met, exceeded or failed to meet expectations. Since this is the sequence of interactions extended over time, this is a map of history.

1. They will allow me to choose the components of the product I'm ordering - very important to me. MET EXPECTATIONS
2. They will be personal and warm in their approach to me - extremely important to me (hey, so maybe I'm a little insecure, okay?) MET EXPECTATIONS
3. They will ship within a day or two of the order - very important to me MET EXPECTATIONS
4. They will ship on the day that I expect - important enough to me MET EXPECTATIONS
5. They will inform me of what I need to know each time I order something, using informative media such as videos to show me the product before I purchase and timely, useful information about the status of my product from production to delivery - this one is complicated. Having the information I need to make an intelligent decision is extremely important to me but what form its in is either way no biggie. MET EXPECTATIONS
6. They will be open to feedback about their products or whatever I care to give them feedback about - extremely important to me as a professional, but very important to me as a customer MET EXPECTATIONS

Keep in mind since this is an historic map of my interactions, applied weights, and expectations, what level of importance I attributed to each interaction is something that evolved over a continued series of these same interactions which affected my expectations. So, for example, when I first ordered from them, the warmth of their approach and their continuous communications with me to let me know where things stood were an unexpected delight and so exceeded the expectations I had of the company which were mentally benchmarked by my past experiences with companies like them - not them. But after a while, I began to expect that level of treatment which meant I expected to be delighted by their warmth and communications level. So customer delight weirdly enough just meets expectations because of the high standards that Waterfield Designs has - and thus the high level of expectations I have for them. But, if you think this high level of expectations is unfair to Waterfield Designs, think again. I'm paying them premium prices for their products as a result of all of this.

This is a dilemma when it comes to how to think about mapping a customer experience. Esteban Kolsky posted on the dilemma a few months ago when he took a look at whether or not a company should have exceeding customer expectations built into its DNA. His thinking was it should but of course the cost of exceeding those expectations can be high - very high if its "what you do" as a company. Stephen Vargo of co-creation fame, put it well in a comment to Esteban's post - you should plan on exceeding expectations but don't assume you should meet all their desires. That distinction is critical to planning how you are going to provide the products, services, tools and consumable experiences that you need to provide to exceed expectations - which of course changes the standard for what "met expectations" are. Whew.

Breaking History

In a way, what you see above is a mental and emotional map of my benchmarks against which I measure the relationship I have with Waterfield Designs. Those benchmarks are set against my considerably lower expectations in a relative context for all companies like them - and those are being measured against my entire history of interactions with all companies throughout all commerce. So when something breaks, what is it that I think or do and how is a company like Waterfield Designs supposed to respond? Here's the story in three sections.

What Happened?

You can read this part above. I ordered a smart case and an MP for my iPad with an expectation, given the history that I've had with Waterfield Designs ONLY (not other companies like it or other companies in general), that I would be able to order the appropriate (for me) components for the products, it would be shipped a day or two later, with a continuous set of valuable communications on its status and I would be given a feedback opportunity after its successful delivery in the time promised. That didn't happen. As you I received an email saying that due to a rare instance of overpromising and underperforming which was due to the unexpected demand for the products that I wouldn't be getting either of the products until about a month later. I sent them a not saying that this was unacceptable to me - due to my travel needs and it would force me to purchase some interim case at least to protect my iPad. I expressed my disappointment - exactly that - not more, not less and asked them to post the later dates on the site. In return I got a further note - and an apology - with information that a different version of the case was available though no change on the MP. And of course, I could change my order or get a refund if I chose to. Twenty-four hours later I received another email that said, that both items would be shipped in a week - on April 16 (instead of mid-May). When April 16 rolled around, both items were shipped that day and arrived two days later.

My Experience Meter

So how do you break down the customer experience here? Simple. I had a history with them of exceptional customer experience that meant they had to provide a high level of service and be incredibly responsive for them to just meet expectations. Keep in mind this is a course that the business chose when it decided how it needed to respond to customers successfully. No reason to feel sorry for them - or to think that customers have unreasonable expectations for them. They responded with textbook consistency by providing that high level of service in bad circumstances.

How? Here's how.

1. The order is placed based on all the ordering info available on the Sfbags.com at the time of the order
2. The email comes fully explaining what happened with an apology and a clear plan of what's going to happen next
3. After I wrote about my disappointment, another personal response quickly with alternative possibilities in the letter
4. While mulling the decision on what to do, an email arrives the next day that explains that April 16 is now the date, not mid-May

What they did was deal with the problem at the level of service that I expected based on the history I had with them.

Universal Factors

They already had a modicum of good will in the bank with me - due to their already great history and, up until then, flawless execution. So a first-time problem, however egregious in my customer eyes, was looked at with more kindly then it would be if it were some other company with lesser standards - meaning most other companies. That good will remained even though there were special circumstances that made this a worse problem - meaning I needed this stuff to help me with a busy travel schedule that was imminent.

Particulars of the Event - The Company Response

Even though this issue was created due to an unexpected product demand and production not ready to meet it, they still did everything right - even if it created an initial customer discomfort.

1. They honestly responded with the problem created, the cause of that and some specific information on how they were handling it, in a warm and personal fashion. There was nothing more intelligent to do. They met my historic expectations with their honesty.
2. Their fast personal response to me was also honest with specific alternatives suggested including a refund. Again, in line with my historic expectations.
3. They posted the new delivery (mid-May) information on the website as I had asked them to do at a minimum within hours of the request. Whether or not it was a response due to me or not was irrelevant. From my perspective, they had responded in the way that I asked, meaning treating my feedback seriously - which, given the problem, slightly exceed expectations.
4. Based on the obvious difficulties this "overpromising and underperforming" had created for them, they invested in escalating their production, which I imagine was done at a considerable cost - showing that customers were first in their eyes - and sent another communication stating that it was no longer mid-May but April 16. This was a specific date with a specific set of instructions on how they were going to communicate with me (us) when it shipped. This, needless to say, exceeded expectations and I was utterly delighted.
5. Finally, on April 16, I received emails saying the products had shipped, etc. and April 18 received the products. Here meeting expectations, given everything else, exceeded expectations.

The Net Net

Waterfield Designs combined an incredible consistency in how they handled communications, and provided a trustworthy and ultimately reliable response in line with my historic expectations. Thus, even with a problem, I'm more committed to this company than ever before. That's simple. I like them even more so I'll continue to work with them and buy from them and tout them. But think about all the factors that went into my experience with them in the midst of this problem. How I weighed my interactions against history and the current situation, and the level of expectations I placed on each interaction during this particular event. If they hadn't responded the way I expected and had delivered below expectations...well, sadly, with most customers, me included, the perception of the company is only as good as the last experience you had - with the background of history. With that in mind, my relationship to the company would have diminished but not ended due to the much longer good history. Instead they remained true to their thinking vis a vis customers and that not only solved the immediate problem in a "delightful" way but also strengthened the historic perception I had and have of the company. A win-win for them-them.

Lessons of The Customer Experience

So what can we glean from this lengthy breakdown - all stemming from my metrosexual inclinations. Sorry about that.

Businesses:

1. Would be wise to know and respond to their customers at personal level - not just as a segment or demographic.
2. Should not be just consistent but have a consistently authentic and transparent relationship to their customers. Honesty (and visibility into the company) is truly the best policy.
3. Should have a repeatable process for customer interactions and a protocol for responding to customers that meets the customers' expectations - and can be applied on a personal level if need be to a particular customer.
4. Should understand that the customer's responses and interactions are part of a complex but mappable set of perceptions, behaviors, attitudes, and history that the customer has with the company - and its worth mapping them to find out how to build the experience for their customers.
5. Should realize that each customer is deciding on the importance to them of each interaction which can vary from event to event - even if the interaction seems the same. So be sensitive to the context around the experience.
6. Should be smart enough, when there is a problem - or when there isn't - to respond to customers with continuous communications about what happened, is happening and what will happen in response. Never forget that customers value the knowledge they need to make intelligent decisions on how they are going to deal with you more than anything else.
7. Would be wise to maintain perspective when there is a problem. Deal with the problem with the idea that the result has to be a customer experience that at a minimum meets how the customer perceives it should be handled (note, I didn't say what the customer perceives they should be getting). If that can't be done, then be honest about what you will do. Ultimately that will improve the customer's experience immeasurably if handled well. Which is what counts.

BTW, the smartcase and the man purse are, as my friends Clare Dorrian of Sword-Ciboodle and Cecilie Amundsen of Redpill Linpro say, BRILLIANT.

Thinking it Through Some More: More on What Else? Social CRM

Bob Thompson raised a very important question in Jeremiah Owyang's Social CRM Pioneer group (public), which I suggest anyone who reads this post, should join. "Can You 'Do' Social CRM without Social Media/Networks?" It is a serious addition to the continued discussion that is going on enmasse throughout the social sphere about what Social CRM is. Bob's question in combination with other extraordinary conversations such as this one on Frederique Garzon's blog last week, and ones ongoing among the varying denizens of the Accidental Social CRM group, along with several other discussions, which I have to admit irritated the crap out of me due to their entirely self-serving, uncooperative nature, crystallized some of my thinking over the last few weeks and makes me want to saunter forth for a moment to lay out some things that I thought I would like to clarify - some of which I've either written about in CRM at the Speed of Light's 4th edition, or via my blogs, other pieces new or at least resituated from where I thought about it previously. So, if you're game, I'm game.

The Customer Ecosystem

I'm trying to figure out a way to make this seem emphatic without capitalizing all the letters. Lets see....Okay I think this might work. The business ecosystem is controlled by the customer. Period. That means its NOT controlled by the company and its NOT jointly controlled. The controller of this ecosystem is going to be whatever group drives demand and, currently that is I think, indisputably, the customer (if it isn't that - meaning you want to dispute it - prove it to me. Take my word for it - it would be tough.). While we call the the customer-boss the social customer, that doesn't mean that all customers are consciously social. Those who are social demand much more of the companies that they deal with including some way to communicate with that company transparently. That goes along with an expectation that the company is going to take action on the communications in some way too. Here is a somewhat simple, sorta catchy slide that outlines what the social customer is.

We've seen the actions taken by companies in response to the social customer literally countless times for good and bad with bad being the recent Nestle's brouhaha and good being Procter and Gamble's ongoing work with VocalPoint, Connect & Develop and use social marketing (as in the Sparklebody spray example). Nestle is a great example of how savvy organizations can take advantage of the customer's control of the conversation. The incident which is well documented here began when the company decided, that Nestle's customers who were supporting Greenpeace's campaign protesting Nestle's use of palm oil for their Kit Kat candy bars, bought from an Indonesian company who were apparently involved in the decimation of the rain forest. If Nestles had been smart and had responded the way they could have, which was to issue a public statement "we stopped buying from them" - which they did. it would have all been over. Instead they violated social customer rule #1 - if you don't like it, don't delete it unless its truly offensive. Instead, they decided to delete all posts from the Nestles Facebook page that altered the Kit Kat logo to make it look like "Killers'. They compounded the action with a really snotty employee who responded to the complaints about deleting the messages with incredibly buttheaded sarcasm - and continued it for quite awhile. Naturally, the customers took hold of this, drove up the Facebook page fan membership to 96,000 mostly detractors and rammed the employee's snotnosed comments up his - nose. Even though Nestles had actually dealt with the problem by stopping their purchase, it didn't matter because they had attacked the social customers who came to one another's defense. Nestles created a firestorm they didn't have to. To see what Nestles might have done in this circumstance, read the Altimeter Group's Jeremiah Owyang on the approach that Nestles (and others) could take. The fundamental point is that the customer's command of the ecosystem is firm. Their are other countless examples of this - enough to make the case definitive. How the social customer communicates in this new environment is changing too. Nielsen's Online Research's “Global Faces on Networked Places” survey found in March 2009, for the first time ever, when it comes to those using the Internet, more of them are communicating via communities (66.8%) than via email (65.1%). You can extrapolate from here (I do). The social customer communicates in a world of one to many via multiple channels as frequently if not more frequently than even one to one communications, strengthening his or her ability to impact more than one person at a time. Let me clarify something else again. Not everyone in the world is a sophisticated social customer. In fact, I would venture to say that most of the people in the world aren't that sophisticated nor do they communicate much beyond the phone at this point. But even those who aren't "social customers", are affected by how they communicate via phone. There are 3.3 billion cell phones in the world and they are available inexpensively and even free to the poorest person in the poorest town. That means that communications via a phone - whether strictly as a voice-to-voice device or via other services like text messaging, is now untethered and allows for real time or near real time response, possibly in multiple ways. That means that even these non-savvy customers are being impacted by the communications revolution that's occurred and that has given the customer the ecosystem control. If you want more detail on the customer ecosystem, I'd humbly (though being a New Yorker, I'm not THAT humble) suggest you purchase and read my book. Or go to the McGraw Hill professional site and get the five free not-in-the-print-edition-and-no-need-to-register chapters here What this means for your business is significant. It means that you need to cede control to the customer's ownership of this conversation. In the past, where, even if you were at a customer-centric company, your company controlled how they communicated and responded to customers. That meant the marketing and messaging, the way and time in which you responded to customer service complaints and queries, the products and services that you provided, were all pretty much based on your company's operational objectives and business methods. What this cession of control means is that you recognize that, unlike the past, the channels of communications are now owned by the customer - and there are many that they can use to communicate that are outside your firewall. It also means that they have a series of demands that now have to be met or they can quite easily - much easier than ever before - take their business elsewhere - and get the same products or services they were looking for from a competitor of yours. It also means that they control how, when and what messages they want to hear from you - and when they do respond or proactively communicate with you they can do it in a way that your company can't control - because the effective communications channels are public. If they decide to communicate with you, they expect certain kinds of channels should be available to them - and if you don't provide them - they will communicate publicly instead. Of course, as I've repeatedly said, even with the customers' control of the conversation, your business still has control over its own internal operations. But how they need to be used in customer facing activities is what you've lost control of. For example, processes that the customer doesn't like, even if you do, will lose you their business if you don't change or replace them. Nonetheless, as a business you still have to set business goals, develop KPIs and other metrics that benefit your expected business result. You need to establish the processes that will make your business run effectively. But in this new world, you have to consider the effect that the customer has on the process and the effect that the process has on the customer. Sound strategy tells you that business process management is no longer agnostic. Its not coincidental that those vendors who had been strong BPM providers such as Sword-Ciboodle and Pegasystems are staking their claim in CRM now. They understand the trend and rather than resist it and hope that things are what they were, they are acceding the change and making the appropriate strategic adjustments to their products, services, etc. Make no mistake about it. If your business doesn't understand this, for example, they won't provide the level of transparency that the customer is now demanding to make an intelligent decision on how he wants to interact with your business. But if you do this, there are multiple opportunities to actually take what could be a vast problem and turn it into a vast advantage, actually giving you the opportunity to recruit advocates. Okay, treat this as the context.

The Strategy and Model Suggested by the Customer Ecosystem

I think there's one more thing before we get into Bob's question. I'd like to reseat the ongoing bigger discussion a little bit. A few points:

1. Social CRM is an extension of CRM, not a replacement so some of the tenets of traditional CRM remain as important as ever.
2. The true difference between CRM and Social CRM is the customer strategy associated with it, not the use of technology. Traditional CRM was a customer management strategy that was aimed at providing the programs to a business so that they could be more effective with their customers in providing them with the products and services that they needed. Social CRM is a customer strategy that aims at engaging the customer with the company in ways that allow each to make an intelligent decision on how they can interact with each other. This allows them to both transparently cooperate - and meet each other's needs. Make no mistake about it though - even though the benefits will be mutual, to make this work, the business organization has to be realistic and acknowledge that the customer is now in the driver's seat.
3. That also means that the new business model is different too. The traditional model associated with CRM was based around providing better products and services to the customer - and also good customer service. It was a sales driven model to some degree - thus the first mover in CRM technology was salesforce automation. It was also transaction-focused, driven by purchases. The new model is interaction-driven (though transactions still matter, obviously) and with that, the most interaction-directed pillar, customer service, is emerging not only as the primary of the three pillars of CRM, but as a wrapper around all interactions in business.
4. This new model is no longer based on just the constant improvement of products and services. At this stage businesses need to be aggregators of products, services, tools and consumable experiences - so that the customer has what they need to sculpt their own involvement with the company that they've chosen to be involved with.
5. In the longer term, the model will be (hopefully) a company that's sufficiently transparent, institutionally structured and culturally ready to collaborate and innovate directly with the customers. Obviously, this isn't the way that most customers will interact with all the companies that they have some interaction with. Many times we buy for immediate need and for convenience - and that mostly doesn't require deep or rich customer/company relationships. But it is the way that companies need to structure themselves, allowing for the fact that while social customers of the level I'm speaking of don't exist in the billions, those that do exist (could be hundreds of millions - given the ubiquity of internet connectivity, the near ubiquity of broadband connectivity and the findings that 74% of all adults on the web are active in some social network or another) have influence far beyond their individual purchases and there will only be more and more of them as time passes and tools to communicate cheapen - even as features get more sophisticated.
6. One thing that CRM and SCRM have completely in common is that no matter how you view these things, or define them, or implement them, they are based on the customer experience with the company and the perception of the experience by the customer. As I always say, "you don't have to have luxury, you only have to feel luxurious."

Okay, now on to Bob's most important question.

Can You "Do" Social CRM without Social Media/Networks

Emphatically yes. The same way that you could always do CRM without the use of a CRM technology system. Nothing has changed when it comes to whether technology needs to be used. Social CRM is a reflection and acknowledgement of the changes in customer behavior and the resulting demands on business institutions. It means that the company needs to figure out what the customer is demanding and how to utilize the new formats and channels that the customer is communicating in already. That's what makes it social, not social media. First a quick look at what at least I think when we're talking about when we talk about social media and what Bob T. makes clear in his question. There is a distinction between social media and social networks. Social media are tools (blogging, podcasting, client communications tool, etc) - and, as a matter of fact are different than social channels such as Facebook and Twitter. For example, Twitter is a communications channel while HootSuite, Tweetdeck, Seesmic etc. are tools that facilitate communication via Twitter outside Twitter's native client tool for communications via Twitter. I'm going to leave it at that. Social media doesn't have to be included in programs for customer engagement. That said, there is no reason to constantly disparage the use of technology or denigrate its importance to a Social CRM (or traditional CRM) program. In fact, for the first time in a long time, consumer technologies like cellphones/smartphones and various web tools are partially driving the changes to the customer's behavior because they are cheaply and easily available and eminently learnable, which makes these new modes of communication simpler than ever. Unlike in traditional CRM, where technology was strictly an enabler, not a driver, in SCRM, some technologies have been drivers of the transformation in the customer and are now becoming in part drivers of business change. I don't want to overemphasize this, but I do want to note it because its something that I personally wouldn't have supported several years ago. I do think that consumer technologies and social channels are impacting business in ways unheard of years ago. Look at the iPhone or Facebook or the growth of the social media monitoring space in a short couple of years. The use of a Facebook page (channel) or sentiment analysis tools to monitor brand activity outside the firewall can only be part of a strategy that's based on the programmatic requirements that a company has when it comes to gaining the kind of insight into the customer to provide them with the aggregate component I mention above. But if you can provide an extraordinary customer experience without them, then don't use them.

Doing It Without (Oh, Be-HAVE)

Several years ago, I met the CIO of a Latin American branch of a huge multinational corporation who told me that their competition was huge when it came to nabbing distributors for their products. Because most of their distributors were in small villages, there was no internet connectivity at all. So the only way they could communicate with most of their distributors who were mom-and-pop sized was via the phone or in person - and they sometimes didn't have phones. The only thing the the star distributors (small retailers) got as a reward was great signage. What could they do? Social CRM tools or CRM tools didn't do a thing in this situation. So here was the game plan I suggested.

1. Provide vacations and prizes for the best distributors that gave them something for their families, not just signage for the business
Produce a newsletter of some frequency that went out on the trucks that dropped the products (I said "treat the drivers as your internet") to the retailers. Make sure that the contests and stories about the winners in addition to useful tips and business news appeared in the newsletter.
2. Hire all the drivers locally, since they would then know the retailers in the surrounding area and it would strengthen the relationship.

You get the picture right? No internet, no social media, no SCRM technology, but a customer engagement strategy designed to give this company a real advantage due to the social bonds between retailers and the drivers and using the preferred communications channels of those customers. Here is another example that I've used many times. The Green Bay Packers - has been wildly and widely engaged with its direct customers - the town of Green Bay and many others outside there for more years than there has been a CRM, much less an SCRM. They have a social media presence which as you can see is minimally indifferent and apparently ineffective. But what they do have is a program for community engagement, which is a hallmark of SCRM. Their purpose is to turn those community members into advocates and nothing less than that - again, a hallmark of SCRM strategy. They've succeeded with a measurable ROI and no particular CRM or SCRM or social media tools making much of a difference to that strategy. The program is an engagement and advocacy program whether there are tools or not, and here, for the most part, there are not.

A Case Study In Social CRM Without Technology: The Green Bay Packers

View more presentations from Paul Greenberg.

That said, there's no reason to either laud the non-use of technology or the intensive use of it. One of the values that CRM technology has always had and this has carried over to SCRM related technologies - is that if they are used well, they make the implementation of the strategy easier than it otherwise would be and interestingly less costly. Or at least more effective. For example, imagine if there were internet connectivity in the example of the multinational in Mexico. If the retailers had been reasonably skilled at communicating via these channels with the tools, there would be a lot easier path to both communicating with them and understanding them better (think data captuer and analysis). Again, to answer this as best as I can, SCRM doesn't need social media nor does (did) CRM need systems to implement a program based on a particular customer strategy. Depending on the company, customer base, etc. what it takes to implement an effective program varies from company to company. Nothing changed there at all. Hopefully this helps. It helps me clarify my thinking, I have to say. Please do me a favor. The reason I didn't make this a comment in the Social CRM Pioneer group is because of its length and because there are other conversations going on about this beyond there. But rather than comment here, please do me a favor, click on this link here and put any comments you might have on what I say in the Social CRM Pioneer Group. I think that that would be appropriate and a good way to further the discussion. See ya later. I'm starting work on the CRM 2010 Watchlist "3 months revisit companies" and will be making a few other comments and additions to that list. Watch for the first post on the updates 2010 CRM Watchlist over the next few days. If you're interested, here's a link to a PDF of the entire Watchlist including Brent Learys SMB contributions that ZDNet has so kindly provided. (Registration necessary for download) Also, i'm going to be traveling a lot. You can find my calendar at Tripit, though you'll have to register and become part of my network to see it. If you want to meet up in one or two of these locations, let me know and if its at all doable, I would be honored to.

Enterprise 2.0: An Idea Whose Time and Annual Conference Have Come: Guest Post from Steve Wylie

I'm heading over to the Enterprise 2.0 conference in Boston on June 22. If you're interested in the social customer and how businesses should respond to them - and how workplace performance can be improved - this is the one conference you shouldn't miss all year. I mean that. Go. I'll hook up with you if you're there. Contact me via Twitter to set up some time. I'd love to make contact with you guys. Also, there are going to be a number of industry luminaries there like Ross Mayfield and Thomas Vander Wal and Mark Woolen from Oracle. Susan Scrupski of the Enterprise Irregulars and well, you name it, they're there. I'm going to be doing a panel sponsored by Radian6 on Social CRM with Brent Leary, Michael Thomas and Frank Eliason (the Comcast rocker) on the 24th from 5pm to 8pm. I'll publish the details soon.

To get across the fact that I really think you should bite bullets of time and money and come to this thing, I asked Steve Wylie, the GM and Conference Director for this knockout of a conference and all around good guy, to write a guest post because I don't think I'm persuasive enough and this guy has those needed mesmerizing powers to get you there - using rational thought as his hypnotic tool of choice. He is also the editor of the Enterprise 2.0 Blog, which means he can write a pretty mean posting to begin with. He'll give you an idea of why an Enterprise 2.0 event is even more cogent than ever.

SF-based Steve is an events industry veteran, having handled some of the biggest conferences around including the Interop mega-events in Las Vegas and New York. He is an IT industry veteran too, as the former program director for InteropNet, which ran a multi-vendor test lab geared to evaluate, improve and showcase early implementations of open-standard IT infrastructure technology.

I'm always amazed at what it takes to run an event. I think event planning is a magnificent and difficult venture. But Enterprise 2.0 is not just an event, but one with actual content - and plenty of networking. Oh, if you want to hang around with the rock stars of the social web, they hang there too. Here's where you can get more info on the conference.

I'd truly take advantage of this and make the effort to get there.

Take it away, Steve

The Next Phase of Enterprise 2.0 Adoption

Paul kindly invited me to share my thoughts on the Enterprise 2.0 market and provide some highlights for the upcoming Enterprise 2.0 Conference in Boston. As the conference chair, I've got a fairly unique perspective on the state of Enterprise 2.0 and some ideas on where we're headed. We're roughly three years along since Harvard Professor Andrew McAfee first described this new category of enterprise software and organizational strategy that he dubbed "Enterprise 2.0". Someone recently asked me what's changed in the Enterprise 2.0 market from that point to present day.

For starters, we really didn't have much of "a market" to speak of three years ago. At that first Enterprise 2.0 Conference we described a new vision for business applications that included some truly ground-breaking concepts. Attendees were largely business users and managers, frustrated with the disparity between fast-paced, consumer technology innovation and the dated applications being supported by corporate IT. At that first conference we were embarking on a radical journey to turn these business applications and the corporate culture around them upside down. We were ready to take on the world.

Fast forward three years and those early aspirations are now grounded in reality. Momentum is building for what is now truly an Enterprise 2.0 "market" and we're seeing many early signs of success. But while we've made tremendous progress in three years, Enterprise 2.0 concepts and applications are still striving to reach more wide-spread, enterprise-scale adoption. There is an abundance of use cases around small or department-level successes but far fewer examples of large-scale deployments - examples of Enterprise 2.0 concepts and applications that form part of an organization-wide fabric for productivity and communication. Why is that?

While we could argue that this is a very new market and that businesses take time to change, I also believe that Enterprise 2.0 will be challenged by large-scale adoption until corporate IT is fully on board. Early adoption has been largely driven by business users and department-level managers. They had a problem to solve and were fed up waiting for IT to provide the solutions they needed. They took matters into their own hands by finding workable, web-based solutions and even celebrated this new found freedom from IT. With a few exceptions, IT took a reactive posture to Enterprise 2.0 and viewed it as a threat to be managed, secured and even blocked in some cases.

Three years later and I see that posture changing for many IT leaders. We're entering a new era where forward-looking IT leaders embrace Enterprise 2.0 as a strategic advantage and as part of a cohesive, company-wide system. This change is an important ingredient to the next phase of Enterprise 2.0 adoption.

So what should you expect from this year's Enterprise 2.0 Conference? Expect to network with nearly 1500 people from over 40 countries. Expect our most comprehensive program to date with deep coverage of new topics like Social Media and Cloud Computing. Expect even more innovation from industry veterans and start-up vendors preparing for the next big thing. And expect to hear some really compelling case studies and speakers from organizations like the Obama Campaign, the US Army, Booz Allen Hamilton, Volvo and Jet Blue, all ready to share their experiences on how Enterprise 2.0 is transforming business - changing the world.

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