Remembering Steve Jobs (1955-2011)

By Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. | Published: October 7, 2011

Life of Steven Paul Jobs (popularly called Steve Jobs), the co-founder, former Chairman and CEO of Apple Computers, who died recently has been described in glorious terms. In the past few days, much has been written about his life and legacy, and I don’t think I can add anything new to what has already been said.

But I will definitely add this, Steve Jobs was more than an innovator and a visionary. He was not Thomas Edison of our times as many have said. I think he was an artist – a Michelangelo or a Leonardo da Vinci of our times. Technology was his canvas and iMac, iPod, iPhone and IPad his masterpieces. He approached technology with an artist’s “open” mindset rather than a technologist’s or scientist’s “Do’s and Don’ts” conditioned approach. As a result, what he achieved is truly breathtaking and his creations speak for themselves. I don’t think we are going to see any one similar to him in our life-time. It is often said that those whom the gods love die young. This surely seems to be true in case for Steve Jobs.

During Stanford University’s commencement speech in 2005, he said that “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” So true. If only we can find a little bit of Steve Jobs within our heart and soul, our life will be so much richer and fulfilling!

Finally, to end this post I want to share this Bloomberg video on life and work of Steve Jobs. I am sure you will find it informative and inspiring. In case if you don’t see embedded video below, please click on this link for the video.

Rest in Peace Steve, you will be missed! You made it possible for me to video chat with my friends and family members on the other side of world at push of a button from a device that a 3 year old or a 85 year old person, and all age groups in between, find it not only easy to use, but also enjoy using it.

Social CRM Case Study: Netflix Vs. Blockbuster

By Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. | Published: October 3, 2011

In one of my previous post titled Social Media: The New Front End of CRM System, I highlighted that 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 brand. Moreover, as this discussion is “public” – visible to all, including other customers, potential customers and competitors, it is critical that companies engage their customers on social media, else their competitors will and damage to the brand will be immense.

Well, we have a great case study on this subject. Netflix, Inc., the provider of online video streaming and DVD by mail service seems to have misjudged the negative impact of price increase and other service changes they announced “unilaterally” this summer and as a result dissatisfied customers have leveraged social media tools to express their disapproval (for more, read this).

But instead of fighting fire with fire and using Social Media channels to engage customers for building trust and loyalty, Netflix has maintained a low profile on Social Media channels. Guess what? Blockbuster, a competitor of Netflix has seized the initiative by engaging Netflix’s customers using Social Media channels. Blockbuster not only offered a “30 day free trial geared at Netflix customer” on Twitter but also “started a new Twitter contest promising a free year of service for the four best Netflix breakup stories” (for more, read this).

Key takeaway from Netflix’s CRM crisis is that it pays to engage customers on Social Media channels because if you don’t, your competitor will. In that case, you will not only be sorry about not engaging your customers but as a double whammy, will also be sorry about your competitor leveraging the opportunity and walking away with your customers.

Life for companies that don’t care about their customers is tough indeed in Social Age. Don’t you think so?

Netflix’s self-made CRM crisis and how Social CRM can help

By Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. | Published: September 24, 2011

Netflix, Inc., the provider of online video streaming and DVD by mail service, has fallen from customers’ grace hard and fast. Once a darling of its customers, Netflix management seems to have misjudged the negative impact of price increase and other service changes they announced “unilaterally” this summer and as a result have lost many customers.

Netflix’s CRM fiasco underscores the importance of not taking your customers for granted, especially in this day and age of Social Media. Dissatisfied customers can not only take their business elsewhere, but can also leverage Social Media tools to express their disapproval in a way that can have big impact on other customers and towards the brand. Just see the impact of Social Media firestorm generated by this CRM fiasco on Netflix stock for example (see this link).

Social media has empowered customers like never before to connect and communicate with other like minded individuals ‘publicly’ and the last thing any marketer should be doing in this Social Media age is to take important decisions impacting customers unilaterally and without explaining the rationale or motives behind such decisions. In other words, customers expect to be involved in such decision making or atleast expect a rationale explanation before any changes are made.

So what can Netflix do to recover from self-made CRM crisis. Answer is to fight fire with fire, that is use Social Media channels to engage customers and build (should I say regain) trust and loyalty (for more, see definition of Social CRM here).

For example, how about using Youtube to explain why these changes were made in the first place. How about using Facebook and blog postings to respond to customers’ criticism about price hike and services changes already announced. Key is taking customers’ into confidence in such a way that they feel that they have been involved in taking important decisions concerning the service they receive and pay for. Netflix doesn’t have to respond to comments from each and every customer, but if they respond to few customers in a fair and transparent way, other customers would appreciate and would be much more supportive of Netflix’s position.

Netflix can use this CRM crisis and turn it into a Social CRM success regaining its past glory (and stock price) if they can engage their customers on Social Media to (re)build Trust and Loyalty.

I want to end this post by sharing with you this excellent Bloomberg video on Netflix and profile of Reed Hastings, co-founder and chief executive officer of Netflix Inc. In case if you don’t see embedded video below, please click on this link for the video.

Social Media and the Rise of Consumer to Consumer (C2C) Marketing

By Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. | Published: September 11, 2011

I have seen several examples of marketers in both,  Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Consumer (B2C) segments, trying to use the same old B2B or B2C strategies when it comes to Social Media marketing. Marketers are failing to take advantage of unique characteristics of Social Networks by not modifying or re-engineering their business processes for Social Media and are merely “fitting” Social engine to their existing business processes instead and this is bound to fail. In fact, i wrote about this more than a year back in a post titled Social CRM: Thinking Outside the “Call Center” Box.

Companies must understand that Social Media channels empower customers to find & connect with other like minded individuals, interact with them in a “public” way and this is Consumer to Consumer interaction (C2C). Companies must leverage this C2C interaction for marketing rather than using B2B or B2C marketing techniques on consumers who are interacting with other consumers (C2C) on Social Media channels.

We need fresh outside the box thinking to take advantage of unique characteristics of Social Media and C2C interactions. For example, instead of trying to respond to each and every tweet or Facebook posting by customers, something not practical for a medium or large business, the emphasis should be on creating advocacy and building trust among consumers, keeping in mind the “Social Context” and C2C potential of the medium. No where this is more evident than in support communities, where brand advocates/loyal customers help other customers out by answering their questions or suggesting solution (C2C) rather than company Reps trying to answer all the question.

What do you think? Do you agree that marketers need to re-engineer their business processes to take advantage of Social Media’s C2C marketing potential or can they continue to use their “good old” B2B or B2C methods for Social media marketing?

 

Social CRM Market Size Undervalued?

By Harish Kotadia, Ph.D. | Published: September 7, 2011

Gartner, Inc., the Stamford, Connecticut based IT research and advisory firm recently reiterated its guidance that “market for Social CRM is on Pace to Surpass $1 Billion in Revenue by Year-End 2012″ (for more, see this). I have seen similar estimates regarding size of Social CRM market from other research and analyst firms in recent past.

Such crystal gazing for estimating market potential for Social CRM software and services reminds me of the story of two shoe salesmen in Africa trying to assess size of the market for shoes. One salesman reported that there is no potential for selling shoes as no one wears them. Second salesman reported that there is tremendous potential for selling shoes as no one wears them. It’s all in the perspective!

In my opinion, the magic revenue number of $ 1 Billion for Social CRM is an under-estimate and true size of the market or potential for Social CRM software and services is much higher than ‘just’ a billion dollar. This is because Social CRM is an indispensable part of any CRM system due to the fact that Social Media has empowered customers like never before, 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, marketers have to 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. As a result, CRM ain’t CRM if it isn’t Social!

And if CRM ain’t CRM if it isn’t Social, size of Social CRM market is equivalent to the size of CRM market in terms of number of installations (this includes large/enterprise class and SME/Small and Medium sized installations of CRM system). In terms of dollar amount, size of Social CRM market is equivalent to a substantial % of CRM market (atleast 25% of CRM market in my opinion). There is tremendous pent up demand for Social CRM software and services, not only among large enterprises but also small and medium ones. The only reason why it is not manifesting in terms of $$$ or revenue for Social CRM vendors is that software/services offered by existing vendors don’t address the pent up demand for Social CRM.

In other words, most Social CRM vendors don’t have a good product/service offering to address this demand. The moment any Social CRM software/services vendor offers a comprehensive solution for this pent up demand, marketers are going to lap it up the way customers lap up Apple’s iPad or iPhone for example. What I am trying to highlight here is that underlying demand for Social CRM software and services is very strong, but software vendors and service providers have not risen to the occasion to meet that demand and hence haven’t been able to tap into it. Hence to say that “market for Social CRM is on Pace to Surpass $1 Billion in Revenue by Year-End 2012″ does not truly reflect the size of Social CRM market. It is substantially more than $1 Billion in my opinion, in fact many times more than that.

What do you think? Do you agree with Gartner that “market for Social CRM is on Pace to Surpass $1 Billion in Revenue by Year-End 2012″ or you, like me think that it is substantially more than $1 Billion? Please take the following survey and share your opinion. (in case if survey question box is not visible below, you can Click here to take survey

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world’s leading questionnaire tool.

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  • About Dr. Harish Kotadia


  • Harish Kotadia, Ph.D.


  • 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 Social CRM, CRM Consulting Lead for Infosys Technologies. Views and opinion expressed in this blog are his own.






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