Choice of the day

 
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SAP Returns to Co-CEO Structure with Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe

by Eric Ehrmann on 02/08/2010 07:36   0 comments , 259 views
Categories: Social CRM
Tags: sap
Text of official SAP press bulletin. SAP sponsors The Social Customer, ed.

WALLDORF, Germany - February 07, 2010 - SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) announced today that the SAP Supervisory Board has reached a mutual agreement with CEO Léo Apotheker not to extend his contract as a member of the SAP Executive Board. Léo Apotheker has resigned as CEO and member of the SAP Executive Board effective immediately.

The SAP Executive Board, in agreement with the SAP Supervisory Board, has appointed two Co-CEOs: Bill McDermott, head of field organization and Jim Hagemann Snabe, head of product development, both already members of the SAP Executive Board.

In addition, Vishal Sikka, Chief Technology Officer, has been appointed to the SAP Executive Board. At the request of the SAP Supervisory Board, Hasso Plattner, Co-Founder of SAP and Chairman of the SAP Supervisory Board, will continue to play a strong role in advising the new leaders on technology and product development.

“The new setup of the SAP Executive Board will allow SAP to better align product innovation with customer needs. The new leadership team will continue to drive forward SAP’s strategy and focus on profitable growth, ... read more >>

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Social Media and the Impact on the Traditional Call Center

by Chad McDaniel on 02/06/2010 09:01   2 comments , 604 views
Categories: Best Practices, Customer Loyalty, Customer Service, Social CRM, Call Center Management
Tags: millenials call centers, call centers generational change

A recent survey was conducted on social media and the impact on the traditional call center.  You can review the results at:

http://www.justcareers.com/PressReleases/SocialMediaSurveyResults-TraditionalCallCenter.pptx

 

·         What does the data suggest? 

·         How should we be preparing for the social media revolution?

·         Can our company establish a real ROI with social media and the call center?

·         I manage call centers, now what?

 

Social media is being driven by "generational change"! Understanding what makes this generation tick is critical and how customers want to be communicated with.

 

Millenial’s are confident, team oriented, strong achievers, optimistic, highly moral, and first generation born with internet/web and cellular telephony. The mobile phone is the primary means of communications and prefer on demand connectivity!

 

Millenial’s are entering the workforce and it is the Millennial are driving change and make a ...

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Dear Occupant, I Value Our Relationship…..

by Dave Brock on 02/08/2010 06:52   0 comments , 94 views
Categories: Community Platforms, Social CRM
Tags: linkedin, spam management

I got this piece of LinkedIn Spam: 

Hello ,

 I’d like to connect to you to on my professional network on LinkedIn. I am a LinkedIn LION with over 4,500+ connections currently. I would be happy to connect so that we can mutually expand our network of potential contacts. Unfortunately LinkedIn has restricted the number of invitations I am able to send, so I am pushed to expand this way.   My profile is at: http://www.linkedin.com/in/Mr. X   If you are unable to open the above link just go to people search and put Mr. X.  Please feel free to send an invitation, I will always accept.   Send an invitation to: Mr. X@gmail.com     If you are not an open networker, I do apologize for this inconvenience.               If we are already connected, then ignore this mail.        All the best,  Mr. X

Don’t these deeply personal invitations to connect just warm your heart?  Doesn’t it make you feel good about the power of social networking?  Don’t you feel that your connection ...

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Forrester to Analysts that Have Their Own Blogs: Umm, No...Is Gartner Next?

by Jacob Morgan on 02/07/2010 07:40   4 comments , 205 views
Categories: Community Platforms
Tags: forrester, corporate blogging policy

According to Sage Circle, Forrester is telling all of their analysts that have their own personally branded research blogs that they must either take them down or re-direct them to the Forrester site. Apparently Forrester feels like they can provide more value to their clients if they aggregate all of the content into one space, that place of course being Forrester’s site.  My favorite comment on this issue came from Dave Mcclure who said:

“What is the downside for Forrester? Likely not much unless there is a big stink in the blogosphere…”

Seriously, you think that’s the only downside? How incredibly short-sighted. This is the corporate research equivalent of suicide.

Clearly, no analyst with a shred of talent or ambition will ever likely choose to work for Forrester, assuming this policy is enforced. Best of luck to the remaining losers who decide it’s a good idea to tuck tail between legs and go silently into the night to work as a faceless drone for FR. why not require everyone at FR commute to work by horse & buggy while you’re at it.

Forrester was absolutely idiotic for not taking more advantage of the incredible talent of folks like Charlene Li & Jeremiah .. ... read more >>

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Minimalist Marketing

by Todd Schnick on 02/06/2010 07:44   1 comment , 383 views
Categories: Best Practices, Customer Service, Social Business Process
Tags: minimalist marketing, books babauta

quietudeI recently stumbled upon Leo Babauta’s Mnmlist blog, a blog about minimalism and simplifying your life. It has been a profound find, as I am in the process of trying to simplify things in my cluttered life (and I simply LOVE the blog’s design).

But as I was spending time thinking about these things in the context of my life, I got to wondering if there is anything to applying the same concepts to our marketing efforts. Just as it seems to be the case with my crazy life, I oftentimes wonder if most entrepreneurs have a marketing program that is far too complex.

So, here are some minimalist ideas to think about and some important questions to ask yourself:

  1. Is your message too complicated? Make it easy for people to remember why you are special.
  2. Is your website too cluttered? When people visit your website, make it easy to learn what you do and easier to contact you to do it.
  3. Is your strategy on the social web too complex? Your simple online mission is to engage and serve others. That’s it.
  4. Is your target audience too scatter shot? Be laser focused on a niche. Don’t try to help everybody.
  5. Are you focused on simple storytelling? Do NOT try to communicate ...
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What will Drive Organizational Change Toward Service?

by Frank Eliason on 02/06/2010 04:28   0 comments , 416 views
Categories: Customer Loyalty, Customer Service
Tags: mangaing change, undercover boss, waste management

Many in the social media community feel that the Customer is gaining much more control over brands, and this alone will drive change.  I do not disagree, but I feel there are a number of factors that will drive this organizational shift.  Today I heard an interview with Larry O'Donnell, COO and President of Waste Management.  He was discussing a new show premiering on CBS after the Super Bowl on Sunday called Undercover Boss.  Here is the preview for the show:

I watched the preview, and all of a sudden I was proud to have Waste Management as my trash service.  Mainly because I felt a connection to both the employees and to Larry.  I have written many times before that most of us struggle managing upward, which means most leaders do not know the reality faced by our most important assets, our front line employee.  For years we have made cuts, implemented dumb policies and procedures, yet no one ever told us of the problem.  Not due to this show, but I think many factors will cause the "boss" to want to find out more directly from the front line.

A week or so ago I heard a company's earning announcement.  It was not good, .. ...

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Social Customer Case Study: OK Labs Hits 150% of Customer Community Target

by Christopher Carfi on 02/05/2010 14:02   0 comments , 117 views
Categories: Social Business Process, Social CRM
Tags: social strategy

Article by Marti Konstant

 

A nice article from CRM Magazine about the work we did with OK Labs. -cfc

A Social Strategy That's A-OK

OK Labs forgoes traditional marketing in favor of a community-based Web 2.0 approach.

By Marti Konstant, vice president of marketing for Open Kernel (OK) Labs, as told to Lauren McKay

• Tell us about your organization. Open Kernel—OK Labs—is a three-year-old start-up that was born in Australia and is now headquartered in Chicago. My role when coming on board was to build up the brand and, most importantly, create awareness among the technical developer community who work on developing mobile devices. Our area is mobile open virtual solutions. We are in the innards of mobile handsets. It’s not at the application level, but it’s embedded within the device.

I realized initially that the company wouldn’t exist if Google didn’t exist. The first commercial opportunities came through online inquiries. The obvious thing to do was to find out who these people are, what their needs are, and what kinds of places they go to find information. I tried to figure out the types of things these global engineers care about ... read more >>

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In the Attention Economy, Context (not Content) is King

by Brent Leary on 02/05/2010 13:10   0 comments , 102 views
Categories: Social CRM
Tags: attention economy

I've been on this Attention Economy kick for a while now. My first Inc.com column of the year talked about it a bit. But I really started thinking about it after writing an ebook (made possible by the folks at Sage SalesLogix) back in September titled Social CRM: From Information to Engagement - Trends for Reaching The Social Customer.

I started out the book with an estimate Google CEO Eric Schmidt made back in 2005 about how much information was on the web back then - approximately five million Terabytes. To me that's an incredible amount of information. But when you think about the year in which he made that estimation - before social media and smart phones really hit the masses - it's even more mind blowing to think of how much content is being created now.

Five years ago, even if the amount of information was five million Terabytes, I didn't feel as overwhelmed with information - not like I do now. In fact it still felt like I needed more. Which is why I believed in the mantra - Content is King.

Now, in the age of easy content creation, and easier content distribution, there's a new king in town... and his name is Context. In all reality, context has always been king, ...

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Phrase of the Day: "Transaction Myopia"

by Christopher Carfi on 02/05/2010 02:56   0 comments , 110 views
Categories: Best Practices, Customer Service
Tags: transaction myopia

Screen shot 2010-02-04 at 4.46.15 PM Just tripped across a great turn of phrase from Peppers and Rogers: "Transaction Myopia."  Good stuff, and worth checking out. (Via CRMAdvocate)

The key bit:

"It's far easier for almost any business manager to think in terms of transactions completed-whether you talk about products sold, or calls handled, or loyalty points awarded-than it is to think in terms of asset values improved (i.e., lifetime values increased because of strengthened relationships). And obviously, having better transactional data will help any firm do a better job in making customer-centric decisions. But even sophisticated statistical analysis will not necessarily change the mind-set of the executives involved. 

We often say that thinking in customer terms, rather than transaction terms, is like seeing a different dimension of your business. Rather than focusing on one type of transaction (or product) at a time, and trying to sell that transaction to as many customers as possible, the truly customer-oriented firm will focus on one customer at a time, and try to line up for that customer as many transactions as possible, over the life of that customer's relationship with the ...

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Human Interactions and the Rise of Social Characteristics in Software

by pgreenbe on 02/04/2010 08:03   3 comments , 469 views
Categories: Social CRM
Tags: social stack, social context

Those of you who have read the 4th edition of CRM at the Speed of Light know that I’ve taken Thomas Vander Wal’s brilliant “Social Stack” concept, and added “context” as a characteristic to it. I’m increasingly convinced that the idea of ”social characteristics” is somethingthat has to be considered when it comes to the future of enterprise software design. 

Figure 03-01    (Source: Thomas Vander Wal)

The idea is simple. Beyond the mere features and functions of operational software – especially at the enterprise level, software now has to take into account the actions and relationships of individuals and networks. The software’s job would be to extract and then to some extent, mirror the characteristics of human behavior so that, as a business, you will have far greater insight into your individual customer’s behaviors and their behaviors as a member of a network that consists of other potential customers. What that means is that you have to be able to root out the relationships that customers have with other customers, prospects, other companies – and not only that they exist but the strength of those relationships. It also could mean for example, ...

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The Customer, not the Company Defines How Products are Used

by Frank Eliason on 02/04/2010 00:29   1 comment , 628 views
Categories: Customer Loyalty, Reputation Management
Tags: pepsi refresh project, pepsi, gatorade
 

I have a lot of respect for Pepsi CEO, Indra Nooyi. She has done a lot to help the brand and grow the business of Pepsi. The video above was on CNBC the other day. It was a feel good story of the introduction of the Pepsi Refresh Project. This is a social giving initiative in which Pepsi is putting up $20 million dollars and allowing everyone to vote on which initiatives will receive a cut of the money. It is a great idea and I am sure the money will assist many charities in need. I know I plan to vote each month. But the interview took an interesting turn that I think is a learning experience for many of us. Here is what happened: 

At 2:00 minutes the CNBC host, Mark Haines asks if Pepsi will always be in second place to Coke. Ms. Nooyi gives a good response regarding the diverse nature of the Pepsi brand, including Frito Lay, Quaker Oats, Gatorade, Tropicana, etc. This leads to a conversation about the recent rebranding of Gatorade, basically moving back to what it was founded on, a sports drink. This is where it gets interesting to me. She then points out that Gatorade is a drink for the "athlete to be used in active thirst. ...
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Stop Being Stupid! The Customer Isn’t Always Right

by Dave Brock on 02/03/2010 05:19   12 comments , 654 views
Categories: Best Practices, Reputation Management
Tags: customer service expectations

This morning, I was intrigued by a question on LinkedIn.  A person felt offended, a salesperson had criticized the this individual’s company.  The individual was very upset, complaining to the sales person’s management, and posing the question on LinkedIn asking whether anyone else had experienced sales people being impolite and criticizing the customer to the customer and how to handle it.

I don’t know about this specific situation and whether the sales person was offensive or presenting a different point of view to the customer.  It did remind me of an experience a number of years ago.  I was with IBM, an executive for a business unit.  I’d been asked by a sales team to participate in a customer executive briefing.  This had been a particularly difficult situation, the team felt we were about to lose and, apparently, felt “let’s turn Dave loose on them, it couldn’t get worse.

I was doing a presentation about the IBM solution and the results it would present to the customer.  There were about 15 customers in the room, but one individual was being particularly annoying, asking all sorts of strange questions.  At one point, I snapped ... read more >>