Customer Relationship Management

Ever heard of Arena X-Glide, polyurethane swimsuits? Or of the 16 world records broken in the recently concluded swimming World Cup? They share an uncanny resemblance to our own superstar, Social CRM!

Allow me to explain…

Now that even the IMF, albeit with caution, has declared that the economic recovery has begun, it is reasonable to expect growing interest in CRM initiatives and a significant upward trajectory in CRM spending. As Marketers and CRM practitioners ponder on the various promising CRM trends, Social CRM is likely to feature prominently in their wish lists. The swords are still drawn between Social CRM believers and skeptics and right here at Infosys blogs, arguments and counter-arguments have been presented on its viability and practicability.

There is a reason why Social CRM has been garnering most mind share, among all the promising CRM trends. Put simply, Marketers needs to ‘know’ their customer and hence, ‘be’ where the customer is. Social CRM is an opportunity to get insights into the true self of your customer, making it much richer an understanding, than a 360 degree external view.
But why compare it to the hi-tech polyurethane swimsuit?

Polyurethane, new age swimsuits are supposed to have aided athletes gain advantage over their fellow competitors and break 16 World records in a single swim meet, which is a world record, in itself! ..and ‘Gaining advantage over competitors’ is what every athlete and every Marketer yearns to achieve.

I had to remind myself that the magic suit wouldn’t make me a champion swimmer; I still had to work on my swimming technique basics, before the suit would do me any good.
Arguably, investing in Social Media CRM, like the polyurethane swimsuit, may provide companies a significant edge in the marketplace. However, companies need to reflect on whether their CRM application is flexible, functionality rich, stable and sound enough to serve them in the journey ahead? Do they have the CRM Basics covered? If not, it would serve the company best, to go revisit their CRM basics and spend the next CRM budget to strengthen them.

My recommendation: It would be wise for companies to spend money on at least the following 2 CRM areas, before taking up a Social CRM initiative (However, if you happen to have an infinite marketing budget, I would recommend taking up all three!)

1. ERP-CRM Seamless Integration

Less than 10% Small and Medium Businesses feel that their ERP and CRM systems are seamlessly integrated! ERP-CRM integration is essential for many CRM functionalities to be truly meaningful, like the 360 degree view of customers, Sales Forecasting etc. Relooking the CRM-ERP integration is an easy way to improve operational efficiency and productivity of the system. Like one of our clients used to say, the ‘Convert Quote to Order button’ was his ‘favorite button’ in the whole Oracle eBusiness suite. I could hardly disagree, as the standard functionality of converting Quotes (residing in Sales/CRM) to Sales Orders (ERP) is central to the effectiveness of the Campaign to Cash business process.

2. Customer Data Management/Master Data Management
                    
ERP-CRM integration is important, but Customer Data Management/Master Data management would be more like the backbone of a CRM implementation. Many argue that this is even a pre-requisite for a successful Social CRM initiative. Unless your CDM/MDM initiatives are equipped to handle and store customer data from different channels including Social media and the internet, it cannot be expected to make any impact in business intelligence or decision making. For instance, Twitter user ‘Amazingzeb’ maybe in love with your product, But who is he? Do you have enough demographic data about him for this information to be useful? Is your CDM/MDM solution equipped to handle this?

Summing up, Social CRM can wait especially if you still have basic CRM areas under-utilized. But if your CRM basics are well-managed, slip into the ‘polyurethane’ Social CRM suit and dive in!

Posted by Sinoi Daniel Mathai ( Daniel ) at 6:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

In this post and in a few forthcoming ones I intend to dwell upon key factors that builds a loyal customer base.

Clear customer focus and a customer centered/driven  value-chain are hygiene factors  to build loyalty  in today’s cluttered market place. Customer centric processes are not only mandatory in CRM functions like Sales, Marketing and Service/after-sales support but also in the core functions like order processing, manufacturing and product development.

Some of the key parameters that I can think of which drive Customer Loyalty are as follows

1.       Choice  (product Assortment / Variety) : Having multiple options for customers to choose from your own brand ensures customer retention as this discourages the customer from looking for a better alternative. This , with a prudent strategy around the product line and categories can help build a loyal customer base. This helps draw more footfall and potential customers by inviting /catering to a wide and varied customer base.

2.       Exclusivity :  Although  apparently contradictory to the above-said parameter, Exclusivity can be created by having select connoisseur or collectible or designer made goods or specialists delivered services available at a premium under the same brand (with perhaps an extension). This exclusivity need not only arise from price premium but also emerge from the relationship the customer shares with the organization , value the customer has contributed , influencing and bargaining power of the customer andany other factor that can be of mutual benefit to both the marketer and the customer. Promotion and offers that are targeted to not only reward the loyal customers by differentiated pricing /discounts but also to encourage others to keep choosing your brand are successful strategies.

3.       Convenience : The traditional 4 Ps of marketing where Place/ location / accessibility was a criterion still holds good and is now broadened to indicate convenience in shopping (access). Having multiple channels to place orders, track them , minimizing customer dissonance through convenient return terms , guaranteed services or products and quick delivery are some of the key factors that makes shopping convenient for the customer encouraging repeat purchase. A classic example in this case is Amazon.com which has built an ever-growing loyal customer base with its customer centered process design.

4.       Sense of Belonging: This can be developed by helping the customers not only buy into the core aspects of the corporate brand but are empowered to become co-owners of the brand . Social Media and Conventional Concept/product testing methods allow  customers or prospects to act as co-creators in products or services. This is clearly a win-win proposition as the risk of failure for a product or new service launch in the intended segment is much averted through a carefully designed offering created and influenced by the customer who desires to use it. Firms in the hospitality industry or services , can also create a sense of belonging by having a genuine concern for customer service and proactively sensing and addressing articulated and unarticulated customer needs. Staff , Systems and Processes  should all be built with this philosophy in mind to build a loyal customer base.

5.       Heightened Exit Barriers : Drawing from Porter’s five forces, I believe creating a heightened exit barrier for the brand in the mind of customers is essential to build loyalty.  These need not be restricted to financial gains but emotional/perceptive as the customer delight factor created by your enterprise should make it difficult for the customer to defer or look for alternatives.You have succeeded as a marketer if the customer is convinced that none and nowhere else she can get the value , both tangible and intangible that she receives from your organization. 

6.       Switching Costs : The substitutes available for your enterprise should be  minimized as much as possible by creating a very compelling and unique value proposition . A keen eye to combat competition or preempt  trends through innovation  and best practices in the core operations will differentiate the firm as a leader in the cluttered market place.

7.       Micro Segment or make a segment of 1 : In reality there is no segmentation that has purely homogeneous customers as each individual responds differently to varied cues. A marketer should ideally target for a segment of 1 and hence design the product or service offering to be flexible for personalization or any extent of customization that can delight the customer. Modularization and having multiple configurations are just a part of this strategy but giving importance to past purchase history and buying preferences of the specific customer would also be key.

8.       A 24X7 listening ear to the customer through forums to receive customer feedback , concern, complaints or appreciation. Service channels would also play a key role in gathering this data . A quick resolution  would encourage your customer to be more loyal than having  a non-responsive or absent service channel.

9.       Forming Intelligent Clusters is also a proven strategy to build loyal customer base. Looking at your customers also as households in a banking industry or family health care insurance plans to collective library membership and innovative tariff plans for friends/family/peer groups build more loyalty to the brand by increasing the value proposition.

10.   Repeat the Customer Experience and Cement the Brand Image : Last but not the least , a marketer must take conscious efforts to include repeatability and predictability to the customer experience with the brand. You may want to read more on my thoughts on this at Customer Experience: The Foundation for Customer Retention and Loyalty.

As Customer Loyalty and Experience are broad topics, I intend to write more . I believe hearing your thoughts on this post would be enriching. Do write in.

Posted by Khanchana at 4:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Is “Platform MDM or an MDM in a box” a concept waiting to happen? My answer is yes, we can make this happen. Recently I was engaged in assessment of an "MDM in a box" offering for a large telecom client and I was impressed by the business model innovation they have taken to penetrate an already saturated market space. The green field telecom implementation has opted for an Opex based operating model through usage of shared networks and switching towers (hardware) with plans to chart out a large segment across all the circle and hubs in the Indian telecom market space. The general feeler was that the client would be willing to evaluate a Platform MDM offering.

The assessment team was able to evaluate and recommend possible Platform MDM offerings in areas related to address standardization, item standardization and location based standardization.
How many clients can envision having buy and sell side product data(s) bundled into offerings that truly meets the end-customers’ needs. The idea that then floated was to evaluate usage of geo-locator based customer touch points tagged with latitude and longitude into Google maps, into a centralized Platform MDM. The solution then offers capability to push customized offerings, delivered through various mechanisms to the final end user, dependant on the location. With the intro of GPRS, 3G and WiMAX, it may be now possible to send the geo-locator details of the closest customer touch points or kiosks where the offerings can be picked up by the customer. I am game for the concept of platform MDM or MDM in a box. If you ask my thoughts around the same, the revenue potential for such Platform MDM based offerings is huge and the earliest adopter would be able to skim the market through such an offering.

The customer is the king and the location sensitive targeted offers provide tremendous potential for a customer and all this through the least amount of capital investment to the service provider. So watch out for more news around the same. I am sure this concept is going to catch up in this current market tremendously.

Posted by Jairaj Asok Kumar at 3:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The journey of drugs from molecule to shelf is a long one indeed. This highly regulated process is designed to both foster innovation and also minimize risks. The journey does not end after clinical trials are complete and the drug approved. Drug manufacturers have a legal duty to track and report adverse events throughout the drug lifecycle. This process has two key components – to collect and manage data from various touch points on medicine safety and then to analyze this data to detect signals of potential risks or manufacturing issues with the drugs. Based on this information, appropriate decisions, recalls, regulatory notifications, etc. need to be issued.

While responsible drug manufacturers and pharma companies will provide spontaneous reporting of adverse events, and in fact, the global pharmacovigilance framework relies on this principle, applying Occam’s Razor, it is still important for national and international regulatory bodies to frame guidelines and mandatory reporting requirements for effective pharmacovigilance. The World Health Organization (WHO) runs a global International Drug Monitoring Programme, spanning 90 nations and recording adverse events, safety reports, etc., in the WHO International Database. 

The European Union has recently adopted some legislative proposals to improve existing pharmacovigilance practices. While Regulation (EC) No 726/2004  currently governs pharmacovigilance, and existing guidelines in the ICH series detail out the conduct of pharmacovigilance procedures, this is a constantly evolving process. With increased healthcare costs and the need to ensure safe & effective medicines, there is a global push to improve stakeholder involvement in the pharmacovigilance process. It is estimated that adverse drug reactions cause 197,000 deaths each year in the EU.

The existing EudraVigilance network, managed by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA), is used to record adverse events during development and post-marketing of drugs. This system has been in existence since 2001, and there is a general consensus among stakeholders that the system, coupled with the complex existing regulations, does not facilitate the process of pharmacovigilance. There are many redundancies in the process and data accuracy is questionable. The roles of stakeholders are not well-defined, and there is insufficient focus on analysis of the risk profile data gathered. 

At a high level, the proposals centre around centralizing all adverse reporting into Eudravigilance, enabling better access to this information, and to tackle counterfeiting of medicines. The proposals define clear roles and responsibilities for all stakeholders, ensure proper risk management and quality assurance throughout the drug lifecycle, and provide accurate, transparent communication. 

These proposals are still to be legislated by the European Parliament and member states, but pharmaceutical companies should begin preparations for their implementation by taking a fresh look at their pharmacovigilance processes and systems. They will need to provide relevant information through a pharmacovigilance master file as part of new drug applications. They will also need to ensure risk management processes span the entire drug lifecycle and maintain a risk profile of drugs post-marketing approval. From a reporting perspective, the proposals greatly simplify the process by requiring only a single submission of adverse event reports to Eudravigilance rather than to agencies in individual member states. On the other hand, existing adverse event reporting systems are not engineered to collect reports directly from patients, relying more on intermediaries and service providers. Thus, companies can proactively establish convenient web portals or contact centers where patients can file reports that are then collated, validated, and processed through the same process as for more formal channels. 

The cost of preventable ADRs within the EU is estimated to be €23.7 billion[i] and thus regulatory agencies like the EMEA are mandating proactive pharmacovigilance through Signal Detection, Pharmacovigilance plan in protocols and Product risk management plan. Pharma companies will need to move from their current focus on entry and capture of adverse events and shift to more proactive risk management & more “value-added”, efficient approach to data entry. Given that pharmacovigilance spends can be about 13% of total R&D spend[ii], optimal adverse event processing can be a cost driver and maximize efficiency.  

Another innovative approach can be to outsource parts of the adverse event processing. While this is still subject to regulatory reviews and approvals, it can be an efficient way of allowing the company to focus on value added activities. In an internal survey, 30% of pharma companies were either considering or had begun outsourcing parts of their pharmacovigilance activities.  

This space will see significant focus and innovation in coming years. Given its impact on internal and external stakeholders, it cannot be ignored and must be given strategic focus for a competitive edge, besides ensuring regulatory compliance. 

Posted by Aaman Lamba at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Has the emergence of social media as the next big thing (and not all that recently too!) totally displaced all other concerns and aspects of CRM hitherto considered important? Does having a nicely managed presence on Twitter, a super blog, smart wikis and generous media sharing guarantee that you have your social media act neatly in place? What are the benefits you expect? And does a perfectly executed social media strategy imply that you now have half your CRM strategy in place, in the new scheme of things? Would social media and CRM intersect in a Venn diagram, or does one figure as a subset of the other? Which is bigger? Are you sure?

At the risk of sounding very ‘unsocial’, I must admit all the noise about social media makes me a tad skeptical. Just how seriously should we take it? How finely should we filter out the eulogies and hype in the context of CRM & Social Media? Especially when social media itself is the loudest voice singing its praises! If one is to use social media effectively, in the context of business, isn’t it important to know just how far this could help and where exaggerations come into play? Maybe it’s a great tool, a magic wand if you will. It ultimately boils down to how you use, misuse, or abuse these interesting media, and that’s possible only after you can see through the swirling haze and aura. And that’s precisely what we seem to be having a little trouble with.

Social media is big. Agree. Social Media can revolutionize CRM. Maybe. Social media will turn CRM upside down and inside out and… Well… Not so sure about that one!

Social media holds enormous possibilities for individuals to network and connect in real time, in ways far easier than ever before. Social media is great for creating a personal brand and bouncing off ideas. In the context of an organization, social media cannot be used in exactly the same way as a person would. To state the obvious, the ‘identity’ of an organization is different from the identity of a person. So if organizations cannot use social media in the same way people can, should they get as excited about it? Or should they be getting excited for a host of other reasons and possibilities? More specifically, why exactly should your business be interested in social media for CRM? Should it even be?

Why should you as a business have an official presence on a social networking site or a microblogging site? “Because we do not want to NOT be there” doesn’t sound a good answer, does it? So is that it? A lot of energy and enthusiasm with which we jump on the bandwagon because it has to be going somewhere worth going to? Could we be getting a little too carried away and losing sight of how far social media can go in adding value to CRM? And for whom? What we are going to do about the rest of it which still needs to be done? Maybe a far shot, but, what if those who pursue the ‘boring basics’ with redoubled focus eventually benefit in a bigger way, while their competitors go all out on social media neglecting the good old cornerstones of CRM?

I mean, I have to add a “-social” in my query almost every time I search online for meaningful information on anything CRM!
Before I get pelted just yet, let me clarify…

Social Media is not new. Social media is not a new channel of its own. Social media is not really for everybody. Which brings us to the question: why the hype?

Social media is NOT new.

Twitter was born in 2006. And Facebook, in 2004. Organizations have been “starting off” on social media for quite some time now; see this news article from 2006: Big business climbs aboard social media bandwagon. Corporate blogs aren’t exactly new either. Here is a 2004 blog post by Jonathan Schwartz of Sun Microsystems. Businesses have been using social media in various forms for quite some time now, and it’s a little late in the day for gushing.

Social media is not a new channel.

In a way, social media is a sub-channel, or a collection of sub-channels, of the mother medium: the internet. The entire sense of a revolution which we have by now come to associate with social media is in reality a series of mini-revolutions, related to each other, and well within the internet story. Social media are, in essence, internet based applications which facilitate easy interaction. It’s about ‘sharing’ and ‘talking’, all in real time. And that’s it.

Social media is not for everybody.

Most of the ‘fun’ part of social media in CRM lies in the B2C world, where the casual environment makes it easy to connect with customers, present and prospective, in a whole new way. It helps to interact directly and more quickly with contacts in a B2B scenario as well. People say there is something in it for everybody. But is that something substantial enough to be worth pursuing for your organization? Can your CRM Strategy be built around (or even include) social media regardless of the business you are in? Will social media really revolutionize the way you network with your stakeholders, or does it not even relate to your context at all?

Why the hype?

• We like hype. We do. Well, at least in the beginning.
• It’s so easy. The real magic of social media lies in its accessibility. Anyone can get in. And this does have its own promising possibilities.
• It’s “in the moment”. Connecting in real time, and broadcast around the world.
• We were bored. The recession isn’t as big news as it used to be. We needed something happy to brighten things up, the next big thing. Just in time, don’t you think!
• It’s fun. Isn’t it? After your awkward first day/week/month on any of these tools or applications, things pick up and you start thinking, “Wow, now I see the point…” And before you know it, you are poking/tweeting/writing on walls almost round the clock.
• It works for some, and how. You have all these wonderful stories about how a fast food place/technology company/airline made this really smart move/service recovery/goof-up. Social media is powerful. For those who use it right. And that is precisely the part that we should be looking at by now.
• Fun meets Work. I’m working, using tools that I hitherto identified as toys. This is justified play at work. That's nice!

I do not hate social media

No, I am not trying to salvage my reputation and look ‘social’ (too late, eh?). Social media is certainly more than a passing influence on CRM. What we need is a way to understand just how to tame these dynamic tools in our specific situations (and whether the chase is worth it), now that the “eureka” moment is well in the past.

So what would happen once the hype dies down?

We could grow to fear it; just look at the angry customer who makes a punching bag out of your brand while the world looks on. We could gradually lose interest in it and maybe move on to the Next Big Thing (eco-friendly CRM or something…?). Or, hopefully, we could bring it outside the hype bubble, and develop the possibilities, adding it to a toolbox of useful ways to engage and interact with customers meaningfully, and not just because you can.

Social Media can be a live wire of sorts. There is potential and risk, and we would be unwise to let the opportunity pass in terms of how CRM can benefit. It could help you grow your business; it could make you lose out as well. But it’s not the new CRM. The social media story started a while ago, and its role in CRM is primarily as one among many means to an end. Feel free to debate, because I too want to believe in social media. It’s fun!

Posted by Anna Zachariah at 8:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

‘Multichannel’ in contact centers refers to the different communication medium used by the companies to reach out to their customer and providing customers with multiple options to interact with the companies.

The list of channels that commonly feature in a multichannel scenario are mail, voice, email, IM/chat, fax, web self service, survey etc. The voice channel is still currently the most widely used channel which includes land lines, cell phones and interactive voice response (IVR) systems. Although most contact centers have email and a few have chat channel, a few advanced centers also have co-browsing, page-push and VOIP functionalities yet majority of inbound calls are handled by full time agents despite having IVR and voice self service channels. This clearly indicates that in spite of having multiple channels and advanced technology, today’s contact centers limit their focus mostly to the voice and email channels.

There are many newer channels like SMS, desktop sharing (collaboration in chat), community bulletin board, social media and video that are getting added to the existing list of channels. So, are we ready for these channels considering that the industry is still stuck with traditional channels as voice and email?

Consider the self service channels like IIVR (Intelligent IVR), web integration, speech self service etc. In spite of companies knowing that if they don’t invest in self service channels, their operational cost will be on the higher side, yet they are not considering moving towards these channels.

In my opinion, organizations are not considering a higher utilization of the multichannel options in contact centers because:

   • Adding new channels increases the level of complexity.
   • It requires many latest technologies to be implemented, such as Universal queuing and other 
     multi-channel applications (WFM, reporting etc.).

On the other hand, multichannel can be worth considering for the following reasons:

   • Improves customer satisfaction and retention by giving customer more options to use channel
     as per their convenience.
   • Simplifies the job of an agent in serving the customer with a single application supporting
     multiple channels instead of using separate applications for different channels. This increases
     agent productivity, utilization and retention.

So, in my opinion, utilizing or adopting multiple channels apart from traditional voice and email in the contact center can increase business revenues and reduce operation costs. Still, I see many companies are not ready to implement multichannel capabilities. It seems to me that technology is advancing much faster than its adoption in this sphere.

What are your thoughts on this?

Posted by Sushil Jadhav at 7:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Social CRM is the buzz word in CRM circles today, be it marketers enthusiastic to dig and tap into this gold mine of information, albeit unstructured, or CRM implementers at the prospect of taking CRM technology and infrastructure to the next level.

All is good about the intent of Social CRM and how it will benefit all involved. But a few nagging questions have not left me, and hence this blog.

CRM is about building relationships with the right customer segment. For CRM to be effective and profitable, it is imperative to have a targeted approach for each customer segment. With Social CRM, businesses are touting about getting access to reams of consumer conversations on the web, and be able to get insight into their needs, issues and proactively act upon them. All rightly said, but what is the use of information without correctly identifying the customer segment it is coming from?

Is all the information that businesses require to profile these customers into segments available and accessible to them? Is that all correct? Most likely, not! Many users on the social media may not share correct personal demographics. Besides, not all information required for customer profiling may have been captured. And most important of all, are these information accessible without breaching customer privacy terms and conditions?

Social CRM has been hailed as the online word-of-mouth mechanism which has an immense reach and so greater impact than traditional offline communities. Another underlying assumption for the effectiveness of this online word-of-mouth communication mechanism is that users trust fellow users of the communities to which they associate themselves with, more than companies. I would agree on the reach potential of this mechanism vis-à-vis traditional offline communities, but with user anonymity being rampant on the web, do people actually trust each other’s opinions on the web? How much credence can be given to anything that is said on the web?

In many an online community forum, I have read people lashing back at strong advocates of a product or service, asking if the latter were company insiders trying to promote their products and services. There I feel, although social CRM has tremendous reach, it loses out to traditional offline communities in terms of trust within the communities. Traditional offline communities used to be among real people – friends, relatives, neighbors, clubs, etc – people one knew and so could trust. With businesses tapping into online communities, I wonder whether trust will erode or enhance in online communities, which makes me ask, how can the credibility of the information available on the web be established and enhanced?

Please share your views and reflections. They may help to clear my mind off these questions, or provide more fodder for thought

Posted by Gurdeep Kaur at 5:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Not sure if you all noticed this quite development over the last weekend, Amazon finally after all the regulatory checks was able to close the acquisition of Zappos, this company as we know became a billion dollar company form a shoe store.

News from TechCrunch on the same:

"Zappos earlier this morning announced the official closing of the acquisition of Zappos, a deal which we broke the news about back in July. Turns out the valuation of the online footwear and clothing retailer went up from the reported $928 million over the past few months too – thank you, stock market – and Zappos turns out to have been deemed worth a solid $1.2 billion by Jeff Bezos & co based on Friday's closing price of $117.4 a share."

Zappos as many of us know has been famous for being a ‘company with great employee culture and obsessive emphasis on customer service’  with some very tempting delivery  and replacement options like ‘Free Shipping & Free 365 Day Returns’ . A retailer with more than 75% repeat customers in my opinion is phenomenal , what kind of reach they have probably can be explained by their web presence on the Social Media platform Zappos probably is one of the best examples of what we hear today as ‘Thin marketing’ trend, where one does not blow away the money on marketing campaigns but judiciously plans it by making best use of models that are not only cheaper but have a far reaching impact, in this case Twitter is the tool that they kind of completely swerved to their benefit, the figures talk for themselves Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh has nearly 1.48 million followers on Twitter, and the company's official Facebook page has almost 21,000 fans. On their webpage, they have 500+ employees tweeting regularly ( total employee strength of 1500 ) they tweet regularly about what they're doing at work  etc etc…. They go to the extent of using Facebook to feature videos and pictures of company picnics, employees at work, office humor, motivational messages etc etc …

In my opinion there is a subtle shift that we are noticing and Zappos is probably an early example of it –I term it ‘Thin Marketing’ . The way it would work is very different from the earlier models..where you invest in an agency, splash big hoardings, newspaper ads, TV ads etc etc ..and wait for the campaign to be a success and start counting the ‘Footfalls’ , a typical “top-down” marketing that I believe isn’t going to work by itself, and is the one is seeing a shift. As mentioned in my earlier blog post customers today not only have the power to change the product, but also are forming an opinion in what goes to production. Companies like Zappos, Comcast, Ford , Starbucks have helped their customers develop a credible voice along the parameters of engagement, ideation and service models. The newer models are not only evolving true and more friendly for the companies but for the customers as well, making it more two way communication rather than a Company directing what needs to be pushed. 

Do check this link , a bit old though from Read Write web where they cover Zappos and their wonderful style of operating the whole GTM with very then investments on marketing here.

Think in the short run the team has certainly achieved the best they could: 'Great Stock valuation' as we know it, however what they leave behind are great lessons for a lot of other commodity and large players, on how to create value for both customers and internal employees- they were transparent , responsive ,passionate about their work and knew smart means within reach to make best use of them !!

Posted by Rituparn Prem Dixit at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

by Vijey Rao

In the recent years, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies have increasingly depended on trade promotions to drive brand recognition, brand interest and translate this awareness into greater sales at point of sale.

The recent downturn of the global economy has made the retail consumer have a close look at the rules of engagement between herself and CPG companies; and she wants “CHANGE” -

1. In her shopping location – increased use of big box retailers / internet
2. In her shopping behavior – increased usage of vouchers / discount bargains
3. In her buying cycle – extended buying cycle / broader research area
4. In her choice set – increased value for money/choice of must have features
5. In her selection criteria – form over function / increased preference for durability

How are CPG companies using Trade Promotion Management to meet these changing realities?

CPG companies have seen the shifting sands and are transforming key components of their TPM practices.

• CPG companies are enhancing their technology capability to establish deep, sustainable partnerships from the grass roots level upwards (kiosk, store, territory …) to create localized promotion activities that are low cost, repeatable, and modifiable to suit local needs. This allows CPG companies to mass customize TPM activities at a very granular level (by store, shopper segments, time of day …etc).
  
• CPG companies are recognizing the need to focus on TPM analytics; and move beyond historic reporting towards predictive trade promotions; a number of CPG companies are leveraging their vast accumulation of data collected across different touch points to derive insights into consumer patterns and draw out newer TPM events. These are helping CPG companies tailor trade events relevant to consumer needs thereby increasing effectiveness and efficiency.
  
• Finally, with increasing presence of private label products across retailers, CPG companies are racing to better meet consumer needs, build customer relationships and build shopper loyalty. 

About the Author

Vijey Rao  is a Principal Consultant with the Enterprise Solutions unit at Infosys Technologies. He has more than 11 years of technology and process consulting experience with leading pharma companies, banks, and government departments across Australia and North America.  Vijey currently drives the Oracle Pre Sales activities within the Enterprise Solutions unit. He will blog on emerging CRM trends and industry solutions that use CRM for competitive advantage among other topics.

Posted by Guest Author at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There is no doubt the amount of customer generated data in the social media these days are huge, to put it mildly. One of the main challenges that the organizations are faced with today is management of data. Managing data across the enterprise in the most efficient way is a challenge that can send shrills down the CTO’s spine. The MDM guys will vouch for it. And all this, is for structured data. When it comes to unstructured data, as generated from social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, one can imagine the complexity of the data management technology. Traditional CRM systems are mature enough and they classify, transform and store data in a way that is not easily compatible with data generated from SCRM which is in its growth phase.

This post aims to bring in a thought process and stress the importance of having a data management policy that provides for ways to embrace the tons of data generated from SCRM in conjunction with the traditional CRM data. I’m sure we have heard about the Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques used to analyze the unstructured and data and provide meaningful inputs. Semantic Web (anybody for Web 3.0 yet???) is another technology element being used for this purpose. Apart from this, parsing, mapping, pattern recognition and other techniques are used to make sense of a single line of unstructured data to a combination of inputs provided by a user at different times. The technologies exist and are being used by the current crop of SCRM application developers. What makes the management of this data difficult is the data classification policy that the organization wants to adopt. Starting from questions like ‘what will be the best technology to get classifiable data’ to ‘where and how am I going to structure and store the data’ to ‘How to feed this into my BI apps and use this data for decision support’, there is a lot of work to get done in this arena.

Data, as it was with CRM, will remain the main pillar even in the social era. The data management policy apart from other thing, should strive to maintain the accuracy of data, privacy (especially in closed door communities or gated communities), quality and master data maintenance. One should also make sure the data management policy is in sync with the social business strategy. Companies cannot afford to have one part of the organization socially enabled and leave the other part traditionally managed. This is applicable to the org wide data as well which will ensure feedback reaches the back end operations and will close the loop leaving no loose ends. The policy itself should undergo changes periodically and strive to evolve as a comprehensive plan. Without reforming the existing traditionally oriented data management policy to accommodate the social media, the enterprises will find themselves overwhelmed with the deluge of data the social era is going to throw at them.

Please add your valuable suggestions and point of views to take this discussion forward.

Posted by Pradeep Baptist at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

With more and more customers online and networking across continents … social media is slowly but surely getting in to the next avatar where it is now being seen as a powerful medium to look at rather than just being another “Friend-Friend” fun time app space.

In the recent past we have seen a lot of serious talk about Social CRM,  Social Marketing, Crowd Service… and many more , a few of these have not only been able to create hype around in the blogosphere but have also had  leading Analysts take a notice, recent analyst reports suggest that by 2010, more than half of large corporations will have some form of online community that can be used for customer relationship purposes.

I look at one such aspect that is fast evolving as a medium of not only convenience but of choice to the customers worldwide ‘Social Media based customer service’. Imagine one traveler at Heathrow airport facing problems with his Dell laptop, not being able to hear sound because of the sound card not functioning well/ driver update issue or something of that sort….the options he has is to call the call center .. for that he needs to have the Phone ( that works in London)  alternatively has to walk up to the next available booth to call the center.. hey but wait, how would he know what number to call… the number in US would not hold good here right! And even if he gets through the long dialogue of choosing a menu on IVR to explaining and debating the warranty issues with the Service Rep for them to help you need to be handled….and then there is a flight to catch too.

The other option that he has and this is to go to a community of fellow Dell users online , and see if there are some alternatives available , and for all you know there is some who has gone through the same challenge and has posted an entry that articulates how to go about fixing a sound card !

While the example above is of someone who needs action at a remote location, the global trend says that these are not the only users who need help, there is an overwhelming population that is looking forward to companies providing help online, through customer communities , forums, FAQ  ..etc. In a study close to half of existing customers across north US were of the opinion that it is high time that companies look at social media to provide help , and guess what this if explored seriously is good news for companies too instead of pending  an upwards of $ 8 per call that they pay today for each customer call they can wind up in less than a fraction of it.

As an industry Customer Service is going through a great change, for the first time a serious alternative to age old Telephone is emerging, customers today across the globe are more comfortable talking to fellow customers about their problems.. the boundaries with the growth of internet /broadband are thinning down. Customers today can decide on buying a camera purely based on customer reviews and do not even have to go the website of the manufacturer, like wise we have also seen that customers today are driving the look and feel/ composition of the products that they want by participating on communities and idea forums, together they have been on one hand been able to force close life of a certain product..on the other hand have been able to help manufacturer improve their products, in fact a small start up that I came across has a business model completely around that, they publish designs on the net as customers to vote and take the highest voted design only to production.

While early days but I still believe there is a lot that we would see in the days to come in the social media and the customer service space..Comcast and Ford are just the first few examples that we have seen or have come to light...

Posted by Rituparn Prem Dixit at 5:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Scene-1
A tweet by client9 - @no1insocialmedia | thanks for the demo today. Would love it if the community creation in the tool could latch on to the private cloud.

Scene-2
Our Mike, Matt and John(the CIO) are in a meeting to pore over tomorrow’s sales pitches.
Matt: John, Mike was mentioning about some feedback he received on Twitter today from our client from the coast side, about cloud integration capability.

Scene-3/Act1  John: Yeah, Matt lets put it on our to-do list anyways the product management has a long list.

Scene-3/Act2  John: Great Mikey! Matt, let’s use this feedback and see if we can prioritize this one as client9 has been a good advocate of our business. Lets use this feedback effectively as otherwise we need to request such ones. It also costs you see.

Pretty sure you would derive the consequences of Act1 and Act2. Social media in the form of Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Plurk, Linkedin, The’Wave’ (no specific mention needed eh?) and a host of others out there, are growing exponentially. When I say exponential, it is in terms of usage, brand building, service, communication, chatter (of course!), promotion, visibility on this bandwagon.(Feel free to add back others that I have missed in the comments and I will compile an useful list) Numerous tools are available out there which help you analyze, say for example, your twitter stats. You have many tools/vendors out there who have full blown social media offerings like HelpStream. All of them allow us to listen, converse, share, reply etc. We have communities that can be hosted on your cloud to derive benefits amongst people with common interests/talk.

So what, I use social media too! Yeah, but it is important to recognize at the end of the day that Social media is a conversation between two people and this will be effective when you ‘listen’ more and use and analyze any feedback. As in any closed loop circuit, w/o a feedback system the circuit cannot be improved or expected to handle faults. So is Social Media, where ‘people’ who are the lifeline need to be heard via a feedback mechanism and voluntary feedback needs to be acted upon. As social media moves forward to be integrated with other systems (the service cloud 2 of SFDC is an example) it is important to get and analyze this feedback to set right/correct minor/major ‘faults’ in your business system. Why? Every small/minor feedback acted upon with diligence and prompt will go a long way in the realm of social media to fuel the exponential growth I mentioned initially and will also add on to the brand image and equity.

How effective this feedback system can be leveraged is purely based on the custom business needs. But, act on the feedback! There is no one size fits all and there is no magic wand that Harry Potter or Dumbledore can wave to just ‘plug-in’ a feedback system to the mainstream app. Customization would be essential and at the same time the buy-in and strategy of social media in that business line is of relevance. As the ecosystem evolves with multiple apps and systems at each pillar of the enterprise – ERP, SCM,CRM – the analysis and use of feedback will go a long way and make a difference to the bottom lines of business.

This, as the next step can follow the measurement of SCRM, I spoke in my last post here, which can be effectively leveraged. How Feedback can be taken up –polls, survey and many other ways exist, but heed to the need and you benefit from it. The need for this feedback to be executed strategically is also of prime importance as competitors would be on the watch to gather the musings behind these. More on how to measure feedback later.

What do you feel about the element of feedback in SCRM? Have you implemented SCRM and used feedback effectively? Any comments and POV’s are more than welcome and are much appreciated.

Posted by Venkataraman Ramanathan at 4:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)