Thoughts on Social CRM, E2.0 and Cloud Computing by Harish Kotadia, Ph.D.

Cognitive Surplus and Social Business: Win-Win Strategy

By Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. | Published: July 25, 2010

Social Networking technology has made it incredibly easy and inexpensive for people to collaborate and work together irrespective of their physical location. Given the proliferation of high speed internet access from home and mobile devices, something unthinkable even a few years ago (remember those dial-up modems), we are increasingly going to see people from diverse backgrounds & geographies collaborate on a project and share their expertise, thanks to Social Networks.

This presents an excellent opportunity for business to tap into Cognitive Surplus, world’s spare brain power so to speak, and leverage it in a way that it is beneficial to all concerned.

This presents an excellent opportunity for business to tap into Cognitive Surplus, world’s spare brain power so to speak, and leverage it in a way that it is beneficial to all concerned (see this link for an excellent visualization of the size of Cognitive Surplus and refer to my earlier post titled Cognitive Surplus: Implications for Social CRM for more on the subject).

Quirky, a Social product development company is a very good example of not only collaborative work, but also of how influencers can be rewarded for their contribution (see the last column of any product’s page on Quirky’s online store for share of each influencer in total price of the product).

Watch the following videos to learn more about how Quirky taps into Cognitive Surplus of Influencers and rewards them for their contribution, a win-win strategy indeed.

Social Media and future of Advertising

By Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. | Published: July 23, 2010

What is the future of advertising in Social Age?

Well, we may get as many different answers as the number of Social Media gurus and Advertising pundits out there, which by the way is not a small number!

“Nature of commercial message is not going to look like a display ad, it’s going to provide functionality and a different kind of interface for the user to act on something. People in Social context don’t want to be interrupted, instead want continue to be engaged and want functionality that eases a task they are about to engage in”.

Watch this excellent panel discussion and listen to what four real experts have to say on this subject. The experts are:

Mark Pincus, Founder & CEO, Zynga
Jeff Weiner, CEO LinkedIn
Irwin Gotlieb, Global CEO, GroupM
Dick Costolo, COO, Twitter

I like what Irwin Gotlieb says: “Nature of commercial message is not going to look like a display ad, it’s going to provide functionality and a different kind of interface for the user to act on something. People in Social context don’t want to be interrupted, instead want continue to be engaged and want functionality that eases a task they are about to engage in.”

Enjoy the video and do share your thoughts on what advertising will look like in Social Age.

Old Spice: The best Social CRM campaign till date

By Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. | Published: July 19, 2010

In one of my earlier posts, I defined and explained Social CRM as “the business strategy of engaging customers through Social Media with goal of building trust and brand loyalty“. Loyalty being attitude towards a brand that inclines a customer to repurchase it and/or recommend it to others. Social CRM and Social Media are more about building trust and managing loyalty with customers than about managing relationships or transactions, which are focus areas of “traditional” CRM (for more, see this and this).

Social CRM is the business strategy of engaging customers through Social Media with goal of building trust and brand loyalty

Old Spice Social Media campaign that has generated tremendous buzz, not only in Social Media but in traditional media channels as well, is a great example of Social CRM campaign where Procter & Gamble, the company that owns the brand, has very effectively engaged customers (and prospects) through Social Media with goal of building trust and brand loyalty. Watch this excellent CNN video on the subject:

How IT Services Companies can Thrive in the Age of Cloud

By Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. | Published: July 11, 2010

After a disappointing 2009, a year in which global tech spending fell by 4.2 percent, IT Services companies are experiencing renewed demand for their services as global tech spending rebounds this year and is set to rise by 3.8 percent, and touch $1.5 trillion according to market researcher IDC (for more, read this Businessweek article Tech Spending Is Back. And It May Even Last.)

IT is undergoing its biggest changes since the advent of client/server computing in the 1980s. These changes are being driven by many factors, chief amongst them the emergence of a different model of computing – cloud computing. We are entering the Age of the Cloud.

But before settling down to Business As Usual model of pre-recession days, IT services companies should look at changing tech landscape and “Clouds” on tech horizon – Cloud Computing that is! In the words of Irving Wladawsky-Berger, “IT is undergoing its biggest changes since the advent of client/server computing in the 1980s. These changes are being driven by many factors, chief amongst them the emergence of a different model of computing – cloud computing. We are entering the Age of the Cloud.” (for more, read his excellent blog post titled IT in the Age of the Cloud)

In his post, Irving Wladawsky-Berger has quoted findings of study on The Future of Corporate IT by The Corporate Executive Board. After interviewing and surveying hundreds of IT and business leaders, this study concluded that “The IT function of 2015 will bear little resemblance to its current state. Many activities will devolve to business units, be consolidated with other central functions such as HR and Finance, or be externally sourced. Fewer than 25% of employees currently within IT will remain, while CIOs face the choice of expanding to lead a business shared service group, or seeing their position shrink to managing technology delivery.”

The Corporate Executive Board study has further identified five emerging shifts in IT value and role. These are:

Shift 1: Information Over Process
Shift 2: IT Embedded in Business Services
Shift 3: Externalized Service Delivery
Shift 4: Greater Business Partner Responsibility
Shift 5: Diminished Standalone IT Role

IT Services companies need to prepare for these emerging shifts and incredible opportunity they present by expanding their “Cloud” service offerings.

The IT function of 2015 will bear little resemblance to its current state. Many activities will devolve to business units, be consolidated with other central functions such as HR and Finance, or be externally sourced. Fewer than 25% of employees currently within IT will remain

Unlike product companies, one of the issues many IT service providers (and especially those that operate in the lower end of price spectrum) face is that their revenue is directly linked to “billable” headcount. And to grow their revenue beyond certain point, these companies need to have a “product” or “license” based revenue model rather than “headcount” based model. Cloud computing offers an excellent opportunity for IT services companies to develop service offerings that can be offered to client under Software as a Service (SaaS) model.

Talking specifically about CRM and Social CRM, IT Services companies should extend their CRM and BPO service offering to cloud based services in following areas:

Development of Engagement Platforms and Communities
Integration of “On-premise” CRM apps with “Cloud based” Social CRM apps for 360 degree “view of customer”
Cloud based Social Media Monitoring, Reporting and Analytics
Cloud based Social Media and Network Analytics solution

Affiliated Computer Services, a leading service provider recently launched “Community as a Strategy” – a suite of social CRM services that captures customer insights from social media sites to improve service and responsiveness of organizations. Other IT and BPO Service Providers should take notice of this development and follow ACS’ lead in this direction.

What do you think? How IT and BPO Service Providers can can Thrive in the Age of Cloud? Please do share your thoughts and opinion:

Cognitive Surplus: Implications for Social CRM

By Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. | Published: July 4, 2010

Clay Shirky is one of the leading thinkers on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies and is well known for his talks on Cognitive Surplus. He believes that loose collaboration enabled by new technologies (such as Social Media) can change the way society works with the aid of “spare” brainpower.

loose collaboration enabled by new technologies (such as Social Media) can change the way society works with the aid of “spare” brainpower.

Listen to to his inspiring TED@State talk about how cellphones, Twitter and Facebook can make history and his talk at TED@Cannes on how cognitive surplus will change the world. Thinkers and practitioner of Social CRM can learn many valuable lessons from these two TED Talks.

Enjoy the videos and share your thoughts and comments on how we can leverage Cognitive Surplus in business, especially marketing.