Here are several excerpts from an article by David Worthington about a new Forrester Research report, ‘Social CRM’ changing how processes are developed:
Social media has become the new soapbox, and public conversations about companies and products have changed how customer relationship management systems and business processes should be developed, according to a Forrester Research report published on Tuesday.
The report, entitled “Social CRM Goes Mainstream,” suggests that CRM solutions should now include technologies that support business processes for acquiring, retaining, targeting, understanding and collaborating socially with customers. Business process professionals should design their future plans around that vision, it says.
Forrester believes that the social Web is forcing business process professionals to expand their thinking beyond the traditional two-way channel of communication between enterprise and customers to also include the interactions that customers have among themselves.
“CRM is evolving from its traditional focus on optimizing customer-facing transactional processes to include the strategies and technologies to develop collaborative and social connections with customers, suppliers, and even competitors,” it states.
Forrester vice president and principal analyst William Band and senior analyst Natalie Petouhoff contributed to the report.The social trend has not gone unnoticed by CRM solutions makers, both new and old.
New York-based startup Bantam Live is building its CRM platform around social CRM, and Salesforce has introduced a new capability called Chatter to its subscribers.
Social CRM was initially adopted by large organizations such as Comcast and Zappos on the customer support side, but also gives businesses the ability to listen and respond to the voice of the customer, said Bantam CEO John Rourke. That ability has shifted social CRM back to where CRM started: sales and marketing, he said.
Salesforce announced the integration of social CRM into its platform at the Dreamforce Global Gathering 2009 in December. Chatter is a layer of functionality that infuses social information into its existing application, said Salesforce’s director of platform research Peter Coffee.
“The world’s leading experts on your product or service probably doesn’t work for you anymore,” he said. “A customer has been forced by demands on their job to find a way to stretch your product or service in ways you may never have anticipated…Innovation is not limited to the producer of a product or service, but becomes a democratized process in which entire communities participate directly.”
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Jim,
Great point about Social CRM. Everywhere in the industry the term Social CRM seems to be getting abused. Without doubt companies are adjusting their business processes to adapt to social media and customer service organizations are tuning in to how it can improve KPIs. It is an interaction channel that cannot be ignored. Right now, there is a lot of transformation in the CRM space, and Social CRM seems to be getting the most hype. Because of all the hype, I ask myself whether Social CRM is really accounting for the business processes or only focusing on the customer transaction/interaction. I believe the latter is short sighted and will lead to failed Social CRM implementations for companies. The “next generation” CRM solutions will enable companies to provide proactive customer service by integrating social media with existing business processes or capabilities to build new processes around social. This is where the real value is.
Brian Jameson
RiverStar Software
http://www.riverstarsoftware.com
http://www.twitter.com/river_star
This is very good. Social CRM is beginning a whole new wave of customer service and interaction that can change the face of how business is done.. Thanks for sharing
This discussion is where the real business is – where “social media” integrates into CRM and SFA. Relationship development and relationship management is where business really takes place. True, Social Media Marketing can encompass lead generation and “above the funnel” activity. Truly understanding where social networking and social technology fit into your prospect and customer interactions – and that this decision lies in their hands and not yours – is the centerpiece of “web 3.0.”