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CRM Idol 2012: The Second Season is Here! Cue the Music.

Okay, I'm done teasing.  Without further ado, welcome to CRM Idol 2012.   The submission period opens today.  We are pumped and we are ready to roll this year. Without saying this to hype it (mostly), we think that this, our second season, will be more exciting and bigger than last year - and have more impact.

Face it, last year, we did it by the seat of its pants, improvising as we went, changing the rules - well, tweaking them when they needed to be tweaked. For example, realizing that we need a semi-finalist round which wasn't in the original plan or the original announcement.  But we are WAY past that stage now. We have a great strategy, the program is solid, the participation on the judges' side is up from 45 to 75 this year with more and more influencers joining the effort.

So what's different?  The submission process has dramatically altered. We realized last year with the overwhelming response we got that we had as many people on the waiting list as we had participating. We thought it probably wasn't exactly fair, though it was necessary, that about 60 companies didn't get a chance even though they were able to submit in a timely way but not the fastest.

So this year, we've eliminated "first come first serve." The submission period starts today and closes at 6pm Pacific Time on May 25.  There are no exceptions after that date. Rather than first come first serve, the Brain Trust - the original primary judges will select the contestants - 40 from the Americas; 20 from EMEA, and new to CRM Idol 2012, 20 from Asia/Australia.

The trick is that this year an email declaration won't do. There is a submission form that you can get and must get at the CRM Idol website.  You'll note not only are the same stuff as last year there but also a few new items. EVERY single thing, including financial information, must be disclosed.  The financials will be kept confidential; we are not asking for documentation, we just need a true number from you so we can assess eligibility.  If you're reluctant to do that, please don't apply.   See below for the application procedure.  I don't want to bore you with more details here.

This is exciting and there is some actual measurable benefit for you, if you are an emerging technology company less than 7 years old and with under $12 million in revenue (requirements are up at the CRM Idol website).  For example, on the most dramatic side, 3 CRM Idol contestants were acquired. In the case of one, we were explicitly told that their position in CRM Idol was a part of the valuation.  We have been told by countless other contestants that their experience with CRM Idol, which puts them in front of the most experienced and influential people in the CRM and related industries changed the nature of how they do business today.   Heady stuff for us at least.  And valuable for you.

Don't forget we have the mentoring program that comes along with it.  The extended judges are assigned a contestant company and work with them to prepare the briefing/demo (changes there too. See the site) that they need to impress us primary judges as to why you are the without a doubt the worlds greatest company.

Plus the prizes -ranging from free consulting, to free lead gen webinars to free software/services to pitches to VC firms, with more added every day, - are worth it by themselves, even if you don't interact much with the species.

So suit up, companies. Here's what you gotta do.

1. Go to the CRM Idol website starting right now.
2. Read over the rules on the site.
3. Register on the site.
4. Follow the instructions that are provided after you register
5. You will be sent the candidacy form.
6. Fill it out COMPLETELY. Refusal to answer any question are immediate disqualification. If we see something left out, we'll ask you to fill it out.
7. When you have completed the form, send it to submit2012@crmidol.com ONLY.  If you send me or any judge the form or to any other CRM Idol address, it will be discarded. Seriously. If you have any technical difficulties accessing the address (e.g. bounced email) you can contact me and let me know of the problem at paul-greenberg3@the56group.com.  Don't send me your submission.  Just let me that you're having a problem.
8. May 25, 2012 at 6:00pm Pacific Time U.S. is the final deadline for submission. No late submissions will be accepted.
9. Watch the site and the twitter hashtag #crmidol, Twitter ID @crmidol and the Facebook page for updates.
10. On June 1, here and in the other media venues and of course on the site, we'll announce the contestants.

This is going to be a blast! Okay, so we're not Steven Tyler, Randi Jackson and of course, the inimitable J.Lo.  So what? We are who we are.

And we are ready for you.

Are you ready for CRM Idol 2012?

Choice, Circumstance, Context: The Hilton Hotel & The Vagaries of the Customer Experience

For whatever reasons, the hospitality and travel industries are amazing for providing an endless fount of stories. These stories could almost be called, in a strategic sense, individually customized services discussions - but that resonate with other people. Of course, while it does feel like these are stories of things that happened to YOU - and you only, truth be told, they really are easy to understand. Travel experiences (hotels, airplanes, trains) are built around what is a very emotional set of events. There are expectations that are pretty redundant from event to event, occurrence to occurrence. The expected quality of the service or event is about the same from venue to venue. In the case of a hotel it would typically be:

1. Easy check in
2. Recognition of elite status if you have it
3. courtesy regardless of status including things like eye contact
4. working room keys
5. clean rooms
6. working appliances in the rooms
7. efficient room service
8. Many other things
9. customer friendly design
10. Easy checkout

Needless to say, I can go on and on. But, its these things that as more than a sum total, that make up components of a customer's experience at a hotel. What the hotel chooses to do at these impact points can make or break how a customer thinks about the hotel, or more importantly feels about the hotel. If the bad is not just coincidental but is perceived as either a company policy or bad conscious choice, then there is a higher premium placed on the impact of the experience for the customer. I'm going to skewer the Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan - use them as an example of exactly that - bad choice that seems to be either conscious policy or poor on the spot decisionmaking. Unlike the Ritz Carleton, or much of the Marriott chain, The Hilton, at least to me, has no more than a generic customer experience strategy. Walking in to the Hilton, my overall expectation was that it would satisfy my needs, not exceed them, because that is minimum standard that all hotels operate on, and I can expect faithfully when I check in the note. But this particular Hilton, made some small bad choices that led to a horrible experience, which because it was repeated with others in one fashion or another, had a bad business outcome.

Why Was I at the Hilton in NY?

Simple. It was for the CRM Evolution conference for 2011, which for the first time was at the Hilton on Avenue of the Americas, which, incidentally, is called 6th Ave, by any proper New Yorker. The conference, which lasted from August 8-11, pulled together a broad spectrum of very high powered influentials in CRM and smattering of social influencers, a significant number of vendors, the largest group of practitioners in the conference history. The unofficial number of attendees for the conference, which I heard from one of the principals was 500 in total. I chair the conference annually,and as long as the good burghers from Infotoday ask me back, I will be back. On a sidenote: They did ask me back for 2012, which I happily accepted. I really like chairing this conference). To put everything in a nutshell: The conference was a significant success, the Hilton Hotel wasn't. The Hilton was this year's venue and the reason for it was that both Internet connectivity and the treatment of meals was supposed to be a step up from the Marriott Marquis - site of the last several conferences. Let's just say it was and it wasn't.

The story….

My wife and I blew into town a couple of days early to catch Wicked at the George Gershwin Theater on 51st St where it has been running for eight years. I'll digress for a second and tell you this: outside of an iconic performance of "Man of LaMancha" which is seared into my soul for all eternity, this may have been the best musical that I've ever seen with only "Billy Elliott" competing and I've seen dozens of musicals. Okay, back from the commercial. In any case, this was a first for me, staying at this particular Hilton in NY. I've stayed at Hiltons and some I've liked and some have left little impression on me, but none has really gotten me p.oed before. Until now.

What Happened?

I'm going to number this sequentially.

1. As the conference chair, my hotel stay was placed on the conference master account. When I checked in with my wife, as I've done with literally every other hotel I ever have stayed at in the last 3 years or so, I gave my rewards program (Hilton Honors) number. They said to me, "Oh, well, because you're on the master account, you can't have the points." I found this a little puzzling, since I've literally NEVER run into that at any hotel I've stayed at including Hiltons and any Marriotts, nor has it been a problem on airlines. So I asked about it. He said, corporate" and let it go and didn't really want to talk about it. Bad start to a stay.
2. My wife and I then went to go to our rooms and I couldn't find the elevator for a minute so we went and asked a desk that seemed to be a bell captains or something like that but, like every other desk in the lobby where there was no real place to sit (except for the bar and its extension), the desks were unlabeled. A young guy there told us where the elevator was, asked for our room, offered 500 points. That seemed odd since I didn't tell him that we hadn't been given the points - until he hit us up for a resort properties seminar in the hotel the next day. Eventually, we managed to escape to the elevator.
3. When we arrived at the room, imagine our surprise that we had two double beds! Let's just say that we were obviously a married couple at the front desk. Even if they couldn't tell that we were married, they called us Mr. and Mrs. Greenberg, so you have to assume they knew that. They didn't give us a choice, nor did they say, "I'm sorry but the only room available had two double beds, is that okay?" Nada was said at all.
4. We decided to roll with the punches, and put on the lights in the room, which seemed unnaturally dark, probably due to the buildings outside blocking light, but hell, this is NY, what would we expect? Except that one of the lamps didn't work - the bulb kept fritzing out and then back on and out again. So we called customer service, which picked up after about 3 minutes. They sent someone up 10 minutes later and he checked and said, "the lamp has to be replaced." About 30 minutes later, there was a message flashing on the phone that I listened to which said, "sorry about the lamp. Someone will be up tonight or no later than tomorrow morning to replace it." Well, I guess the morning extends to about 2pm in Hilton time, because it wasn't replaced when we got back the following day from a traipse around the city to get ready to go to Wicked - and only because I called customer service again and told them it better be replaced by the time it got dark.
5. In parallel with all this, I needed to get Internet connectivity and, since I'm not elite at the Hilton, I realized that I would have to pay something. Well, imagine my surprise when I found out that if I wanted wireless connectivity it had three levels with actual high speed, which is typically what I need going for a stellar $18.99 a day. But the other two choices which racketed down to $13.99 by their own standard were considerably lower, making me think that what should have been one choice - high speed, for whatever price they want it to be - since its their prerogative - was a much smarter idea than the way they presented their Internet options. Though not a biggie.
6. That first night, we decided to order in because we were tired and went with room service as an option. After 5 minutes, room service picked up and promised our order in 30 minutes "or less." Forty-five minutes later, I called and said, "where's the order?" They promised it in ten minutes. Twenty-five minutes later it showed up. Food wasn't bad though.
7. Next day, I got ready to take a shower and I couldn't pull the handle out. After a futile call to customer service since we were trying to leave within the hour, I found the problem. Someone (I presume a kid) had jammed a stick underneath the handle blocking it from being pulled fully out. I broke the stick and it was fine. I would have thought they'd have checked the shower and used the water to wash the shower floor before we got there but I guess not.
8. Without giving you too much detail, lets just say it took them SEVEN HOURS to solve an important problem in the bathroom in addition to the one I solved with the shower. Yah. Seven hours after they promised they'd be right up. We left came back 6 hours later. It hadn't been taken care of, even though I had called them prior to leaving. It still took 2 more customer service calls to get them to solve it an hour after we got back.
9. We asked the person who cleaned our room to not do something. She agreed easily. Ten minutes later, when we returned to the room, it had been done. Ten minutes after we asked her to not do it.
10. The elevators closed really fast on people trying to get in and out. Sometimes by the time people got out, it was already closing. Seems to be a minor annoyance, yes? It would have been.
11. When we checked out, no one asked how our stay was - which might have been a good thing under the circumstances. It was a no eye contact, room number, see ya kind of checkout. Again, minor? Not by that time.

One additional factoid - David Myron, the jefe of CRM Magazine and sponsor of this conference told me that he's had more complaints about this hotel than in the three years preceding when the conference was at the Marriott Marquis, which was no great shakes either.

So, now, you have the chain of events. Let's look at what this means for thinking about customer experience - how it works in the minds of those that are customers - especially in emotional industries - like hospitality.

Choice, Circumstance, Context: The Concept

Customer experience is something that has been at the core of CRM since day one of its existence. Even though CRM had a decidedly left-brained bent and was based on a company's operational activities, at least its stated purpose was to improve the experience of the customer in his or her dealings with the company. It often failed at its stated purpose and instead, became identified with the use of technology to automate processes that would support the operationalization of sales, marketing or customer service. But its fundamental purpose never went away. Even disgruntled former CRM supporters admit that much these days. So when someone like me tries to place the Hilton experience in a CRM context, its always based on a simple reality. As an individual and as a CRM practitioner, what did Hilton do that p.oed me with the individual hat and how would I go about fixing it with my practitioner hat. What I've come to understand over the last several years, and like all of us, have probably always known, is that a few poor choices can enhance the negative feeling around what would be circumstantial instances because of the context that they were in when they occurred. To put it in terms that the Gunning-Fog Index would probably prefer:

When companies make consciously stupid decisions on how they are going to treat customers - when they have a choice - the negative impact of other bad things is amplified greatly. Why? Because they are framed by dissatisfaction to begin with.

That is simply what we mean by choice, circumstance and context. Do wrong with the things you have control over, and the bad things you don't have control over will bite you in the butt that much harder, because of the ill will you've generally fostered. Think about it this way. What if:

1. The Hilton had given me the points, which I had come to expect because of my experiences with other chains and even other Hiltons
2. They had asked me and my wife about their decision to give us two double beds, which is ordinary courtesy
3. The guy had just directed us to the elevator without trying to pitch us.

Three choices that the Hilton made in the early part of the checkin experience. Think about it. If you had a benign or good early experience, how would you have felt about a lamp that was out when you got there? If you weren't already irritated, would you have even paid attention to and thought about the ridiculous pricing tiers for Internet connectivity? The lamp wouldn't have been a source of irritation, it would have been a service request. The 3 tiers might not even have come to your attention beyond making a choice. It wouldn't have meant much at all. Now, the room service was a problem. Choice? No. Circumstance? More than that. But because of the three little irritations at the beginning setting the context, the room service lateness became a major irritation. What's interesting here is how they might have remedied it - and didn't.

Another story.

I was at the Marriott Marquis in San Francisco for salesforce's Dreamforce 2011 conference last week. I was in the bar with Accenture CRM practice leaders and ordered some food. It took more than 30 minutes. When I talked to the bar attendant about it, she went and found out what was wrong, took care of it, had the food out in 5 minutes, and without any expectation on my part of anything else said, "I'm not charging you for it." Wow. Thank you. I like this place. Contrast that to the Hilton, who should have offered something. Free dessert, no charge, a free drink from the menu or something as an apology rather than the "I'm sorry" that they offered the first time it was late and the second "I'm sorry" the second time it was late. But they didn't. So rather than rectify a situation, they exacerbated the irritation that had been building due to the lateness of the food twice and in the context of a bad initial experience that day. Remember, the effects of small bad experiences in emotional industries like hospitality tend to be cumulative, not singular.

The Business Outcome of Bad Experience

So now you say, meh, what was that all about? All that explanation for so little a result? Let me tell you the business impact. As a result of an experience like this repeated multiple times in different forms (ask Ray Wang about his experience at the bar), CRM Evolution is no longer going to be at the Hilton. For the next three years, CRM Evolution is going to be back at the Marriott Marquis. Customer experience is, and always was, the foundation of CRM - and the business outcomes that are what makes it something that we've always thought important. But there is only so much of the customer's individual experience that is controllable by the choices that the company makes. But making those small choices and being sure that they are made as repeatable ones and at the same time, providing the environment to support the smart decisions so that the employees are making the right decisions by nature. Then other circumstantial things become less problematic because the contesxt is good. And then, maybe CRM Evolution stays at the Hilton. Ray, bartender story

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.

Meetup? Embarking on a 41,000 mile Tour

Okay. Here's my calendar for the next six weeks if anyone wants to hook up. I have some already planned (meetings, meetups, meat eating) for at least Oracle Open World but I'm cool with hooking up with those who want to. How to go about this will be after the list.

From:

October 6 - 10: Speaking at the Million Dollar Roundtable. I'll be at the Grand Hyatt Resort and Spa in Kauai.

October 12-14 - Speaking and being an analyst/blogger at Oracle OpenWorld. I'll be at the Grand Hyatt Union Square in San Francisco

October 25-28 - Speaking at RightNow User Conference. I'll be at the Broadmoor Resort in Colorado Springs CO

November 4-6 - Speaking at FMC CRM Conference. I'll be in Bogota Colombia at a hotel as yet unknown.

November 8-12 - I'll be speaking at the CRM Association of the Benelux Nations annual conference. I'll be at a hotel as yet unknown in Amsterdam, Netherlands

November 18-20 - I'll be wearing my analyst/journalist hat at Dreamforce and attending the Center for American Progress New Media Advisory Board meeting. I'll be at an as of yet indeterminate hotel.

December 7-8 - I'll be wearing my analyst/journalist garb at the SAP Business Influencer Conference. I'll be at the Park Plaza Hotel in Boston, MA.

Let's hook up one of the following ways:

Twitter: send me a direct message (NOT a public reply or message) at http://www.twitter/pgreenbe

Facebook: send me a message (don't write on the Wall) at http://facebook.com/pgreenbe

Email: drop me a line at paul-greenberg3@comcast.net

Cell: call or text at 703-338-0232. (If you call, please pay attention to time zones in this one. Hawaii is 6 hours behind ET)

Given that I know that you're heavily concentrated in SF when it comes to my stops, just know that I'm nearly booked for Oracle Open World but can hook up for an alcohol-fueled or an alcohol-free chat at some times there. Wide open everywhere else.

I'd LOVE to meet some of you who are only known to me by your handles. Please do me the honor of your time.

Technorati : CRM, CRM 2.0, Social CRM
Del.icio.us : CRM, CRM 2.0, Social CRM

March Madness - Non-NCAA: Copious CRM Tidbits - News, Personal, References, Coolness

March has been one of the more incredible months for sheer action when it came to the world of CRM. First, every CRM-related company, large, small or medium had some announcements that were actually significant; then the social gang decided to get in on the CRM action, declaring Twitter "Social CRM" and some of the CRM oldies but goodies decided to get in on the social "thang" trying to find ways of figuring out how good ol' operational CRM fit in - or didn't. I was busy as....hell throughout the month rockin' through 5 cities (counting NY twice) and doing 5 speaking engagements - and moving my miles for 2009 up to nearly 30,000 already. I even went to Chicago and did two....webinars. Plus I have a really great business-personal announcement too. Which those of you who use Twitter - a.k.a. Social CRM-NOT, or Facebook will already know. AND some really good stuff got published that I'm going to point you to.

So, we action, drama, intimacy and love here, people. Let's get this party started.

Get This Party Started

Okay, I figured that I'd get this party started with a "Get This Party Started" by Pink video - though clearly the video isn't Pink's official one. If you'd rather see Pink's version, click on this to go to it.

First the Personal Business Stuff

The most exciting thing - for me at least - being a narcissistic sort of being - is that I've been asked to be the Chairman of the CRM Magazine conference this year. This year meaning in 2009 - and on August 24-26 in NY. And, I accepted. I'm totally pumped for this. We're already just about done with the speakers and their slots and will be announcing them this coming week (I think). Sponsors are next on my agenda so all you vendors out there, pony up, babies!! You won't be disappointed - or maybe you will - I can't speak for you. I have to admit, I have a few trepidations because I've never chaired a conference before and I'm finding out that its a LOT of work. A LOT. A WHOLE F-ING LOT. But its a blast because I get to work with David Myron, and Josh Weinberger and Marshall Lager and the whole CRM Magazine crew - and they are a crew. They are also incredibly cool to hang out with. Believe me. No wait. Don't believe me. Come to NY (what a segue!), get a conference ticket and see for yourself. The only thing I'll tell you about the conference right now is that there is going to be a Live Performance of CRM Playaz at the conference with me, Brent Leary and some selected guests. I'll post links to this as soon as I have them.

I just finished a slew of presentations ranging from the Linkage Conference on Customer Value in FL, to a private presentation for GLG Group private equity and hedge fund customers to webinars for InsideView and Sword Ciboodle and finally an incredibly well produced, classy effort by Liminal Group, run by the inimitable Scudder Fowler. The latter event which I did in NY at the knockout beautiful Asia Society - amazing venue - was co-sponsored by Sage, who of course you know well from their CRM products and partnered with both CRM Magazine and InsideCRM. Josh Weinberger did an astonishing series of tweets via that ever-controversial CHANNEL (not social CRM application) Twitter that just rocked (or as Gen Yers and pretend Gen Yers like me say RAWKED). Here's the current way to access the four of them that could be accessed - needless to say though of course if it were needless I wouldn't say it - dumbest expression in history - which is why I'll keep using it. Where was I? Oh yeah, The GLG one can't be seen and I can't find the Linkage one (but I'm working on it) but here's the links to all the others and the appropriate notes.

In order of appearance (click on image to go to the appropriate page) (Again, these are for archived presentations - ignore the registration note on the images)

Sword Ciboodle Webinar: Serving them right: Maximizing the value of customers in a downturn - and beyond

InsideView Webinar: Real Customer Insights and Strategies in the Year of the YoYo

Liminal Group:

This is a rebroadcast (a very high quality one) of my presentation on The Era of the Social Customer. Also presenting at this event are Dave Van Toor, SVP of Sage CRM, who I've spoken of on these pages, and Penelope Trunk, a Gen X Business Leader who is an expert in managing Gen Y in the workplace. Here's a link to a sample of my stuff at this conference.

NOTE. This one costs $25.00 to see the entire rebroadcast. But, if you type in CRM20 its 20% off - meaning $20.00. The times and dates are:

Thursday, April 16, 2009 - 12pm - 2pm ET

Thursday, April 23, 2009 - 12pm - 2pm ET

Worth it. really. Click on the diagram and see the page for details and registration.

PERSONAL BUSINESS ANNOUNCEMENT

This one has me psyched! I've been honored with the chairmanship of the DestinationCRM/CRM Magazine national confab in August this year. That means that I get to speak, be MC, play around, put together the speakers lists (we have over 130 submissions/requests to speak), develop the program, play around, help drive sponsors and attendance and, play around. We have so many speakers of note and quality that we have three tracks this year. I'll keep you posted but for now just let me tell you that:

1. Its August 24-26, 2009
2. Its in NYC at the Marriott Marquis
3. There are marquis names speaking (what a segue)
4. I don't have the pricing but do have the sponsorship package.
5. I'm totally pumped about this.

Know why I'm pumped? I get to work with some of my favorite people in the world of CRM (and, in the world for that matter). That would be David Myron, who is the Editor in Chief; Josh Weinberger, who is the Managing Editor; and Marshall Lager, who is the Senior Editor. Truthfully, that's even more appealing than the conference itself, which is entirely exciting. They are wonderful people who are just a joy to hang with.

Period.

Status of the Microsoft-Salesforce Shootout

I figured it was time to let you know where the MSFT-SFDC configuration Shootout stood since it seems to have disappeared. Seems to have might be the operant term here. Its alive and well. And proceeding. For those of you who don't remember, about a year ago, I was upset with Steve Ballmer's declaration about the badness and "non-existence" of salesforce.com's configuration tools and the goodness of the MSFT CRM configuration tools so I put it to the test. Microsoft and salesforce.com agreed to a configuration shootout with each of them providing a team who would build certain processes and tasks and an independent panel of judges would decide which one did it better. The results would be announced.

Well, the rules are done; the tasks/processes are done; both Microsoft and salesforce.com have had them for a couple of months (the slow response is my fault not theirs. I've been on the road. Both have been exceptionally cooperative). Next steps are the following:

1. Finalize the agreement between the companies on the rules with the judges.
2. Start the shootout
3. Judge
4. Declare winner
5. Publicize results.

I'm estimating that we're either going to do this in the next month or so - OR we'll announce the results at the DestinationCRM/CRM Magazine conference in August. That's a little bit self-serving on my part, but might still be a cool thing. Any preferences? Next 4-6 weeks? CRM conference? Who cares? Let me know and I'll bow to the will of the people.

Now...The News

There is a news plethora, panoply, and pandemic. Let's look at it.

• The Open Cloud Manifesto - To a ginormous thud, IBM announced an "Open Cloud Manifesto" which basically seems to be a response to Amazon, Google, salesforce.com and others leading the cloud computing market - such as it is at the moment. The OCM was notable for the presence of a few like SAP, Cisco, EMC and others, but even more notable by the absence of all the market leaders. For more on this by me and others go to my blog posting on ZDNET. Also, in that ZDNET posting, I left one important (and really good) take on it by Josh Greenbaum. His perspective is right on the money. His second to last paragraph: "This is truly a case of getting so far out in front of a nascent market that it starts looking a little silly. Can we please organize our efforts around defining value for customers, instead of moving quickly to create a vendor war over a market that still needs a lot more careful thinking and definition?" Amen, Brother Josh.
• Sage Announces SalesLogix Online Community - Sage continues its accelerating thrust into becoming a "practice what you preach and provide" CRM (enterprise) vendor. Yesterday, they announced a SalesLogix Online Community for SalesLogix customers that does what communities do - engages customers. This is another forward thinking move by Sage in their efforts (successful so far) to revamp so that they are what they eat. A great move and welcome one. Here's a video tutorial on how it works that's worth a look.
• Salesforce Adds Twitter to ServiceCloud - Aside from the sex appeal of this offering - kind of like Brad Pitt teaming up with Angelina "Twitter" Jolie after he's already been with Jennifer "Facebook" Aniston - this is a great move by salesforce.com because it provides a decentralized channel-friendly approach to their ServiceCloud offering. While this is not the first offering like this - SAP seized that ground months ago - what it does do is both provide a useful capability to the customer service offering, cement salesforce.com's credentials as a full CRM suite provider (in addition to their platform offerings) - though their marketing apps are still weak - as are most of the CRM suite providers' marketing apps - and, most importantly, add to their portfolio for innovation leadership. I'm going to be writing a ZDNET blog entry on this, but, suffice to say here, salesforce.com might be moving back into the leadership of a CRM 2.0/Social CRM offering with the integrations with external social networks, the Ideaforce. offerings, and a number of other pieces they've added to the puzzle in the last few months. I'm truly impressed. I was worried for awhile that they were becoming too conservative a company in the places they shouldn't be - but I'm starting to think I shouldn't have been concerned.
• NetSuite Joins PaaS Battle Royal - On March 19, NetSuite unveiled SuiteCloud, their Platform-as-a-Service offering, entering the already crowded fray. This took their already well regarded NS-BOS operating system and combined it with a number of new tools and the SuiteCloud Developers Network, a network similar to the SDN at SAP or the developers network at SugarCRM (is that also SDN?). What makes their offering interesting is that it builds upon the NetSuite suite that already exists and, unlike the PaaS offerings of most of the vendors, it covers the enterprise applications gamut - from ERP to CRM so to speak (STS). NS-BOS was already an unusual offering because of it's purpose - building vertically specific apps for NetSuite through mostly its partner channel. There is more news coming from these guys soon. Stay tuned here and ZDNET.
• Sage (Again?) Adds SalesLogix Today Appliance to Offerings - SalesLogix Today is an internet plug-and-play appliance which means its a pre-configured appliance with SalesLogix locked and loaded. While I can't say this is a bad idea, I also am not as excited about this one as I was about the Online Community. This simply puts them in the camp of Cast Iron for CRM offerings - and Cast Iron has a big lead there - with applications pre-loaded on their appliance for salesforce.com, NetSuite, RightNow, Oracle CRM OnDemand, Microsoft Dynamics CRM - all as SaaS offerings and a host of on-premise offerings too. Then again, Cast Iron doesn't offer SalesLogix..... All in all, won't be easy and I'm not sure of what a good value this is. I'm going to need to be convinced. Brent Leary has a box and is running a test. I'll report back when I hear what he has to say.
• WhasSUP, SAP? - SAP continued its smart mobile strategy (I wish they'd be as smart with SaaS) by forming a partnership with Sybase to create a mobile Business Suite 7. Sybase? Sybase? The database Sybase? The one that you haven't heard a word from forever? THAT Sybase? Yep. The very same. Interestingly Sybase has one of the most advanced mobile platforms on the planet with Sybase iAnywhere - their Sybase Unwired Platform (SUP). This allows you to take any mobile application and, get this, on the fly, adapt it to the mobile operating system or platform that any device has on it. So you can take an SAP CRM application that has been optimized for mobile delivery and send it to a Windows Mobile, Blackberry, iPhone and Nokia Symbian phone simultaneously and it will in real time (that's what on the fly means here, dudes) be usable on that phone's operating system. No special moves made. On the fly. Sybase's mobile platform has been named #1 by Gartner this year. SAP, in conjunction with their RIM partnership, is moving to take a strong position - and maybe even lead - in the mobile CRM/enterprise applications battle -which is a big, big deal. Obviously, time and results will indicate whether they are leading or not but right now, this is one smart move. And...Sybase? Sybase?
• Microsoft-Neighborhood America Integration: Social & CRM Integration Continues - This one is not suprising and surprising. Neighborhood America, one of my favorite companies in the world with great culture and a very, very good platform allied with Microsoft CRM Public Sector and integrated their social networking platform with Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Not surprising is that Neighborhood America is involved in a significant step forward for the CRM 2.0/Social CRM strategists out there. Surprising is that Microsoft took a huge, though a little tentative step and was the one who led the way. Not surprising though, is that it starts in the public sector. With the Obama Administration firmly committed to open standards, transparency and citizen participation, public sector is not only one of the natural places for CRM and social platforms to meet up but is of real importance in the restoration of faith in the government. Neighborhood America has a lot of background in public comment so they know something about the public sector. They also have the current president of the CRM Association on board, Michael Thomas, and they already had a proclivity towards CRM so their role in pushing forward in this integration is not at all a surprise to me. Microsoft on the other hand is just starting to feel its new innovation legs as they wobble back on land so they are a surprising player but a welcome one in the evolution toward CRM 2.0. To take a look at the initial integration go to the Microsoft Public Sector Idea Bank.
• Helpstream Named "Cool Vendor of 2009" by Gartner and 2009 Rising Star in Customer Service by CRM Magazine - What can I say here? I'm gonna crow a bit. I KNEW I was right. I had these guys pegged for something special for a good long time now. Top-flight application, ownership of the category Customer Service 2.0 or Community-driven Customer Service; great knowledge of what 21st century customers needed - and how companies needed to respond. Ate their own dogfood. Great management (personable too!) with guys like Tony Nemelka and Bob Warfield, among others. All in all, my closest thing to Application Nirvana 2.0. Now the rest of the world is figuring this out. I'm really happy for these guys. They deserve the recognition. Of course, now they have to keep deserving the recognition so to speak. Their Rising Star award isn't up online yet, but is out with the April 2009 CRM Magazine print edition.

I'm done. See you guys with Episode #4 (later this week) of CRM Playaz. Got some announcements around that too. A bunch.

March Goes Out Like A Lion: PG Speaks - Again & Again & Again

This is just an egocentric informational...note....plea maybe? If you'll look to the right, you'll see my next three speaking engagements which follow the three I did this month so far. All of these fall within a week of each other so I figured that I'd better get ' on getting you signed up for these events - any one, two or three. Each has its own registration. Each has its own costs (webinars are free; NY speaking gig is not) - all worthy of a trip to your PC or to NYC (who wouldn't want to go to NYC?, he asked all innocent like) IF you're interested in how to improve the customer experience and retain customers in a downturn - then go to the Sword-Ciboodle webinar on March 18th and click here or on the CRM Magazine banner on the right IF you're interested in the use of social tools for selling and customer insight, check out the InsideView webinar on March 19 at 1:00 pm EDT here or register by clicking on the banner ad at right. IF you're looking for an understanding of the new business models driven by the social customer - even in a recessionary period - pony up and go to NYC and the Liminal Group speaking thing. This one also features HR industry rock star Penelope Trunk of the Brazen Careerist fame and Sage CRM general manager and great speaker in his own right - Dave Van Toor This one is actually worth the money. Click on this sentence or register by clicking on the right. That's it for now. Sign up. Go to something. Show me the love, people.

Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou

I'm proud to say that CRM Magazine, the Institutional Investor of the CRM industry, gave me one of their 2008 CRM Influencers awards yesterday. As I stood on the podium around the pool at the Water Cube in Beijing and bowed to get the gold medal and the national anthem played, proud to represent our country, I also shook my head when I realized that last kick kept me from the 200m freestyle world....oh, wait an f--ing minute. Too much of NBC, CBNC and MSNBC and Oxygen these last few days.

Sorry, got off track....or....off lane.

Yep. I was named one of the top influencers in CRM by CRM magazine yesterday along with some illustrious personages.

See, each year CRM Magazine gives out awards for this. They cover the Top Influencers - the consultants, analysts, authors etc. who impact the industry in some way. They also give us cool nicknames to identify how we influence the industry. Mine is now Paul "The Herald" Greenberg, though I was hoping for "The Closer" - Kyra Sedgewick has that one or "The Fixer" but Benjamin Bratt or Bernard Malamud have that one sewed up. So I'm either in the "hark the herald angel sings" realm or I'm one of those guys who toots that long horn and wears funny 14th century duds.

Its a real honor - especially because it comes from Josh Weinberger, Marshall Lager, David Myron and others at CRM Magazine. Its always nice to be recognized by your peers but especially so if you truly like the people recognizing you - and its not just a professional "thing." And I do.

Some of the others (not all, so forgive me those unmentioned) named are:

Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li - "The Swells" - for their incredible work on how social media/social networking works - their book Groundswell.

Bill "The Rock" McDermott - for not only his ability to continue the excellent work of Shai Agassi at SAP but then his capability to blaze his own path

Seth "The Big Thinker" Godin - for his clarity and his ability to not only generate but express big ideas - in a simple way.

AND for the fourth year running my good buddy,
Brad "The Steady" Wilson - General Manager of Microsoft - for his get it done approach and engaging attitude and his ability to nuture and nurse the influencers and general public world while Microsoft Dynamics CRM was evolving.

But influencers was not the only category that the awards were given. There were the 2008 Rising Stars. I'm really pleased to say that nGenera was one of them. If you remember, in a prior blog post in May, I noted that nGenera was an important company because they were the first Web 2.0ish company to acquire a CRMish company - Talisma. But as I found out in subsequent interviews and after reading their materials, they are so much more than that. While their strategy is almost entirely "roll up" - they are focused around a total what could arguably be a CRM 2.0 solution - though still missing the transactional side for that one - with their acquisitions focused not only on the pure customer interaction side a la Talisma but talent management - e.g. internal customers a.k.a employees. The relatively obvious idea is that they are aimed at a complete enterprise ready solution that would essentially provide a collaborative environment between company, customers, and employees to enhance the lives and of course behaviors - e.g. purchasing or work habits - of all the humans involved in the total enterprise - all with the understanding that the customer ecosystem is the ruling environment at the moment - and all on demand. Amazing. AND CRM Magazine recognized them as one of the up and coming companies - rightfully so.

In any case, as Steve Martin said back in his rising star days, I'd like to thank each and every one of you for making this possible. ThankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouThankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouThankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouThankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouThankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouThankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouThankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouThankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouThankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouThankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouThankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouThankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouThankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou

Technorati : CRM, CRM 2.0, CRM Magazine
Del.icio.us : CRM, CRM 2.0, CRM Magazine

Yet another Excerpt: Chapter 2 CRM at the Speed of Light, 4th Edition

Well, time for another excerpt. This is such a lazy way to keep up the blog but the book is occupying me 24X7 at this point due to voracious deadlines from McGraw-Hill that I have to meet (though still not sure how). But I also like doing this because then you can give me feedback. This chapter is on the definition of CRM 2.0 as industry leaders see it. This is a set of 10 leaders who are giving me their perspective on the changes to CRM including (in alphabetical order):

1. Bill Band - VP and Principle CRM Analyst, Forrester Group
2. Marc Benioff - CEO, salesforce.com
3. Ginger Conlon - Editor-in-Chief, 1to1 Media
4. Bruce Culbert - CEO, iSymmetry; Managing Partner BPT Partners (with me)
5. Kim Kobza, President & CEO, Neighborhood America
6. Anthony Lye - SVP, Oracle CRM
7. Bill McDermott - President and CEO, SAP Americas and Asia Pacific
8. Joe Pine 2 - Author, The Experience Economy (1999) and Authenticity (2007)
9. Denis Pombriant - Managing Principle Beagle Research

I'm going to give you one of them to read.

Bill Band's. Bill is the guy who runs Forrester's CRM practice and knows what he's talkin' about.

For several reasons. He is one of the few analysts associated with a major analyst organization who is actually pushing a CRM 2.0 perspective - in his case - as CRM 2.0 - literally. He knows CRM really well and he knows the makeover it needs and this is a fresh perspective on it. I'm wondering what y'all think of his outlook. Comments would be more than welcome. I'm begging you for them. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeze.

Each of the 9 authors has a distinct take on this and they are REALLY interesting. REALLY interesting. REALLY, REALLY interesting.

I'm teasing you......

I'm going to release one other one from this chapter possibly. I'll let you know soon. From the non-CRM side next.

Here's the wordle for the entire chapter - all nine authors. Bill is right underneath.

Bill Band, Vice-President & Principal Analyst, CRM; Forrester Group

"Bill Band is a very, very astute guy. He's the Vice President & Principal Analyst for CRM at Forrester Research, Inc. which buys him some biz cred, but his astuteness is all his own. He is the first analyst I've seen that actually has produced works for a major analyst powerhouse on CRM 2.0 explicitly, which tells you something .

At Forrester, he covers CRM enterprise suites, CRM enterprise strategy, readiness and deployment - and now matters concerning CRM 2.0. He's also an author - has two books in the box - "Creating Value for Customers: Designing & Implementing A Total Corporate Strategy" and "Touchstones: Ten New Ideas Revolutionizing Business."

I'd be paying close attention to this entry because he is giving you in a nutshell what you need to think about so you don't go nuts when your customers come charging at you.

The stage is yours, Bill…

Collaboration Will Define "Next Generation" Customer Relationships

The concept of "managing" relationships with customers to achieve growth in sales and profits is maturing and expanding. CRM is evolving from a traditional focus on optimizing an organization's customer-facing transaction processes, to participating in external, collaborative networks comprised of customers, suppliers, and even competitors. Power is moving from institutions - like enterprises and governments ­­- to consumers and taxpayers. To thrive in an era of Social Computing, organizations must weave communities into their products and services, use employees and partners as marketers, and become part of a living fabric of brand loyalists.

The Need for Robust Transactional CRM Solutions Continues

Fundamental long-term trends underpin continued interest and investment in traditional "transactional" CRM solutions. The intense pressure on organizations to drive top-line growth drives the continued investment in customer-facing process improvement. For example, Forrester anticipates world-wide revenues for CRM solution providers will reach $11 billion 2010. What's behind the growth curve? Three business imperatives spur continued spending on traditional CRM solutions:

Drive to improve the customer experience. Customer-facing managers are taking a harder look at how new processes and services affect the end-customer experience. As companies add more interfaces to their growing portfolios of products and services, they are touching customers' lives more every day - and creating a growing opportunity to weave those touches into an overarching, branded customer experience that sets their offerings apart from the competition. CRM initiatives are being re-focused on creating experience-based differentiation: systematically integrating experience as a feature within the design of products and services.

Necessity to re-engineer customer-facing business processes.Customer demand, market dynamics, and technology are driving CRM functionalities to more easily integrate with the enterprise resource management (ERP) and supply chain management (SCM) functions. The result: better support for end-to-end business processes, even those originating from customer-facing interactions.

Pressure to boost productivity of customer-facing workers. Sales, customer service, and marketing executives want application user interface and workflow designs that align with the working practices of day-to-day users. This desire for more user-friendly applications is driving interest in CRM application upgrades as vendors make better user interfaces (UIs) available in new releases.

Transactional CRM solutions will continue to be important to enable organizations as means to aggregate customer data, analyze that data, and automate workflows to optimize customer-facing business processes.

Social Computing Enable New Types of Customer Interactions

In addition to the trends sustaining the traditional concepts of CRM, the emergence of Web 2.0 technologies, and their consequent impact on consumer behavior, sets the stage for the concept of CRM expand and evolve. Web 2.0 began as a user-focused revolution, remaking the consumer Web into a landscape that is easy to use, efficient to navigate, populated by self-generated content (versus institutional publications) and driven by ad hoc and established communities of people with similar interests.

Forrester defines Social Computing to encompass these fast-growing peer-to-peer (P2P) activities like blogging, RSS, file sharing, open source software, podcasting, search engines, and user-generated content. Important technology changes underpin these Social Computing activities - each one acting as an impetus for new forms of individual behavior:

Storage and processors push power to the edge of the network. The exponential growth of processing power and storage capacity puts unprecedented computing power into the hands of users. With this power, not only can individuals do more for themselves - they can also do more to support one another. Sharing resources via file exchanges like, VoIP networks, and content networks allows nodes in the network -individuals - to sustain one another and rely less on institutional support.

Cheap hardware makes power accessible to the masses. Falling component prices and the wide availability of new and used hardware ensures that technology's impact on social behavior is not confined to technology optimists. The mainstream populace, not just the wealthy or educated, can tap into technology's power to change social mores.

Connective software accelerates social change. Powered by the growing use of open protocols like XML and RSS, new applications like instant messaging, widgets, voice over IP, and blogs make user-to-user connections smarter and more frequent. By eliminating the drag on communications velocity, social forces move more quickly.

In the future, the domain of CRM will include not only the management of "enterprise-to-customer" relationships, but also "enterprise-to-customer-to other customers" - in a network of collaborative relationships.

Customers Demand Collaborative Relationships

In Forrester's opinion, the consequences of the adoption of social computing technologies are three-fold:

Innovation will shift from top-down to bottom-up. Traditionally, institutions like governments, media outlets, retailers, and manufacturers have been the primary drivers of societal change, information dissemination, and new products. Institutions can and will play a role going forward. However, in an era of Social Computing, users will provide more input into the innovation process - in a more spontaneous, real-time, and participatory way.

Value will shift from ownership to experience. Once communities drive innovation, firms will respond by offering fuller-fledged experiences - blurring classic product and industry boundaries.

Power will shift from institutions to communities. As more companies facilitate experiences to satisfy customers, the result is inevitable: Power will migrate from institutional authorities to the communities they serve. Brand loyalists will exert more control over many facets of institutional strategy - from an entity's mission and corporate values to its products and marketing to its sourcing and outsourcing policies. As these communities gain power, they will challenge the authority of traditional institutions, forcing suppliers to engage with them in more collaborative styles.

As organizations are forced to sharpen their experienced-based differentiation strategies, those who sell products and services in a Social Computing environment must to learn and adopt new strategies and tools to harvest insight from an active community of buyers. Enterprises must learn how become legitimate and trusted participants in an ever more interconnected "society" of buyers, users, and suppliers. Collaborative customer relations will overtake transactional customer relations as the defining concept for customer relationship management."

Technorati : Bill Band, CRM 2.0, CRM at the Speed of Light, Forrester Group

Two in the Bag, One in the Hopper

Thought you might be interested. A couple of things that might be some value. First a quick look at CRM State of the Market in a webinar I did for RWD Technologies a few weeks ago.

Here's the slideshow.

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Here's a webinar I did on behalf of the CRM Association and the upcoming August 26-27 2nd Annual National Conference with Jeff Pedowitz last week.

This week on Wednesday the 25th, my first public webinar/discussion on CRM 2.0 strategy. There's some new thinking afoot and I'm gonna outline it. I'm doing this with SugarCRM and this will be interesting. Their format is discussion with a few slides. Really a great way to listen. Gotta love it.So register.

Technorati : CRM 2.0, CRM Association, CRM market, SugarCRM

Coming to a PC/MAC Near You

Okay, I got this webinar, see. RWD is sponsoring it and I'm going to put up the live links to it soon but I need y'all to register and come to it. Its June 3 at 2:00pm and in the cloud(s). (Ho. Ho. Ho.). I'm going to chat about the new trends in CRM and what I see out there and Gary Walker who is an SVP at RWD will talk about best practices and a good time will be had by all.

I'm going to discuss some new trends stuff I see out there that I haven't talked about in any of my writings yet and that will only be in the book when the book comes out. So if you can wait until December good for you. If not, come to the webinar and listen. Despite its 2.0 title, its not just about 2.0 stuff but about trends in CRM not related to Web 2.0. How about that?

Here's the info

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR IT!! NOW!!!! RIGHT AWAY!!!!

Please.

Update and note: Alper Tekin, CEO of AlfaPeople, kindly brought to my attention that I didn't give you the registration password to register for the webinar. Its "webinar" (without the quotes). Thank you Alper.

Technorati : CRM, CRM 2.0, RWD, enterprise content management