Thoughts on Social CRM, E2.0 and Cloud Computing by Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. - Part 3

Knowledge Management critical in Social CRM

By Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. | Published: June 16, 2010

In my previous post titled Social Media: The New Front End of CRM System, I highlighted how Social Media has empowered customers like never before as they discuss about brands/products and their likes/dislikes on Social Media channels. This presents an invaluable and “never before” opportunity to learn from customers in real-time. For this, companies need to Listen and Learn from what customers are saying and Engage them in meaningful conversations.

It is no longer enough just to have a database as in traditional CRM systems since companies don’t control content and format of information. We need Knowledge-base to effectively learn from customers and engage them on Social Media channel.

Social Media channels can generate tremendous amount of information and customers decide the format and content of information. It is no longer enough just to have a database as in traditional CRM systems since companies don’t control content and format of information. We need Knowledge-base to effectively learn from customers and engage them on Social Media channel. Social Media monitoring is not enough and companies need to invest in Knowledge Management tools to continuously learn and evolve. Knowledge Management comprises of ‘a range of strategies and practices used to identify, create, represent, distribute and enable adoption of insights and experiences’.

Social Media monitoring is not enough and companies need to invest in Knowledge Management tools to continuously learn and evolve.

Knowledge Management tools are critical in learning from customers and adapting to change. And unless companies learn and adapt on the basis of inputs received from their customers, it is very difficult to engage them and build trust and brand loyalty, the essence of Social CRM. Only companies that learn and evolve continuously, and engage and respond to their customers’ needs will thrive in Social Age.

What do you think? Do you agree that Knowledge Management is critical in Social CRM? Or you think that is not the case. Please do share your thoughts. Look forward to hearing from you:

Social Media: The New Front End of CRM System

By Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. | Published: June 16, 2010

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems have undergone a fascinating technological transformation over the last decade, starting as client-server apps, followed by web-enabled CRM apps (where users can access CRM application over internet using their web browsers).

But in spite of this technological transformation and progress in system architecture, all CRM systems essentially record transactional information using pre-determined fields on the screen (front-end) to capture information in the database, and company is in total control of conversation (should I say interrogation) with customer at every stage.

Thanks to rapid expansion of reach and effectiveness of Social Media channels, this is about to change. Social Media has empowered customers like never before as they can discuss about brands/products on Social Media channels and companies have no control over what customers are saying about their brands/products. This discussion is visible to all including other customers, potential customers and competitors.

The best any marketer can do is to Listen and Learn from what customers are saying and Engage them in meaningful conversations. In other words, treat Social Media channels as the front-end of CRM system, capture all relevant information from Social Media channels in the database and use Predictive Analytics and Knowledge Management tools to derive insights and help in decision making.

What is important to note here is that “Social” is not a middle-ware or another layer in the architecture of CRM systems, but is the front-end of CRM system, where customers decide the format and content of information.

What is important to note here is that “Social” is not a middle-ware or another layer in the architecture of CRM systems, but is the front-end of CRM system, where customers decide the format and content of information.

It is responsibility of the company to record and store all relevant information from Social Media channels and derive value from it by using Predictive Analytics and Knowledge Management tools for effectively engaging customers.

What do you think? Do you agree that Social Media is the new front-end of the CRM system? Or is it middle-ware? Please do share your thoughts:

Why Social Media will drive adoption of SaaS CRM

By Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. | Published: June 6, 2010

SaaS CRM (Software as a Service) has been around for a while. Salesforce.com, one of the largest service providers in SaaS CRM space has been around for more than ten years and has been listed on NYSE for almost six years now. I can still recall the day Salesforce.com was listed on NYSE, having seen a giant banner with the letters “CRM” (ticker symbol of Salesforce.com) on NYSE building on that day on my way to work in lower Manhattan, where I was working as a CRM Program Manager for a Fortune Top 10 client (on how many occasions you get to see “CRM” banner on NYSE building!)

Very difficult, if not impossible, for any CRM vendor to incorporate all new channels and feeds “locally” for every installation of CRM system.

But inspite of the fact that SaaS CRM has been around for a decade, it is not as popular or widespread as what some might have expected it to be by now. I think this is about to change. As I noted in my previous post, four independent trends, namely Social Media, Smart Phones, Predictive Analytics and SaaS are now converging to bring about a Paradigm Shift in CRM.

In particular, Social Media will drive adoption of cloud computing/SaaS CRM going forward. Some of the key reasons why I think this is likely to happen are as follows:

Social Media channels (like Twitter and Facebook) generate tremendous volume of user generated content created by millions of users. Not possible for CRM system to import/store the data “locally”. This is unlike “traditional” CRM, where data was generated by few users and stored in “local” database. SaaS Model makes it possible to store information in the “cloud” (shared space) and access it from (Social) CRM application “on-demand”

Social Media space is changing and evolving rapidly. New Social Media channels and tools are being added almost every day. Very difficult, if not impossible, for any CRM vendor to incorporate all new channels and feeds “locally” for every installation of CRM system. Under the SaaS model, it is not difficult to add new Social Media channels/feeds to the “hosted” (Social) CRM application and make it available to users “on-demand”

Service Oriented Architecture and Cloud Computing not only make it easy to integrate applications, but also facilitate “plug and play” modules and add-ons that can dramatically reduce time and cost involved in extending functionality of the application. This can be of great help in Social CRM as Social Media space is changing and evolving rapidly.
“plug and play” modules and add-ons can dramatically reduce time and cost involved in extending functionality of the application.

CRM and Analytics application vendors such as Oracle, SAP and SAS should take note of this trend towards SaaS and should extend their service offerings to include CRM SaaS.

What do you think? Please do share your thoughts and comments on impact of Social Media on SaaS CRM.

CRM Paradigm Shift

By Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. | Published: May 30, 2010

Having watched the CRM (R)evolution for over a decade, I am very excited about the developments that have taken place over the last few years. Four important technological trends have the potential to fundamentally change the way organizations “manage” relationship with their customers and revolutionize CRM. These tech trends are:

All these four independent trends are now converging to bring about a Paradigm Shift in CRM.

“Managing” customer relationships till now involved recording “transactions” between company and the customer over phone, email and web-site besides “snail” mail and face-to-face exchanges and using the “historical” or “past” information to better serve the customers. Company was in total control of this conversation with customer at every stage. Information was recorded using pre-determined fields in the database, by company employees (or by contractors trained by the company) using script in CRM application controlled by the company. Thanks to the convergence of cloud computing, social media, predictive analytics and smart phones, this comfortable existence of marketers (and CIOs, CTOs as well) is about to come to an end.

Thanks to the convergence of cloud computing, social media, predictive analytics and smart phones, this comfortable existence of marketers (and CIOs, CTOs as well) is about to come to an end.

Social Media has empowered customers like never before and they can discuss about brands/products on Social Media channels. This discussion is visible to all including other customers, potential customers and competitors.

Smart Phones/Portable devices with high speed internet access, geo-location tools and camera have ensured that customers can use information gained from Social Networks and Internet to maximum advantage. For example, scanning product bar codes to ascertain the lowest price of a product in geographical vicinity.

Software as a Service (SaaS) has made “on-demand” full functionality CRM application possible, with no large scale investments requirement upfront. CRM system’s integration with multiple other systems was one of the biggest challenges, requiring substantial investment in terms of time and cost. No more, thanks to Cloud computing/SaaS model. It is possible to integrate SaaS and cloud applications with enterprise apps in days, what used to take weeks or even months earlier. This has further lowered entry barriers and made available complex, full featured CRM applications to small and medium sized firms – what so far was available to only companies with large IT/Marketing budgets, empowering smaller firms to compete with their larger rivals on equal footing.

And last but not least, predictive analytics has made it possible not only to analyse past customer behavior, but predict future behavior too based on statistical models. When combined with real-time Social Network data feed, it is THE killer app for next gen CRM system. Predictive analytics can help in identifying minor issues and help in taking corrective action before they become a crisis. For example, if a customer (or a group of customers) tweet about their dissatisfaction with a product or service, predictive analytics can help in identifying who among them are most likely to defect so that company can take corrective action before it is too late. Better still, if they happen to be customer(s) of a competitor, company can make an attractive offer and win them over. And thanks to SaaS model, this level of analytics functionality is available to small and medium sized companies with no large scale investments requirement upfront.

Given this CRM Paradigm Shift, how well your organization is prepared? Will it effectively engage “empowered” Social Customer? Will it compete against competitors who use low-cost “SaaS” model? Is your CRM system smart enough to predict customer behavior and help in taking corrective action before minor issues become crisis? Would love to hear from you on this Paradigm Shift.

8 Must Read Blog Posts on Social CRM

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

Social CRM is a very popular term these days on Social Networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. But in spite of all the buzz surrounding the term, there’s lot of confusion as to what it means and how it can help business.

To answer some of the questions, here is a list of eight must read blog posts on Social CRM. Happy Reading!

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Dr. Harish Kotadia has about ten years’ work experience as a hands-on CRM Program and Project Manager implementing CRM solutions for Fortune 500 clients in the US.

He also has about five years’ work experience as a Research Executive in Marketing Research and Consulting industry working for leading MR organizations.

Dr. Harish currently lives in Dallas, Texas, USA and works as a Consultant focusing on Social CRM, E2.0 and Analytics. Views and opinion expressed are his own.
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"Thoughts on Social CRM and Analytics" by Dr. Harish Kotadia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available by contacting the author .