Customer Relationship Management:May 2011Archives

Internet is out of space with allocation of last IP addresses. If you are wondering that the opening note is contradicting the title of this blog then no - not really in fact there is a strong correlation. Are you still baffled then here you go - "IPv4" which was allocating IP addresses is running out of new IP address for allocation and eventually paving the way to its successor IPV6 who had been waiting to take the rein for almost a decade now...without digging into the technicality of IPV4-IPV6 migration the 2 exciting facts in the news are:

1. IPv4 running out of IP address means we have already got 4.3+ billion or more connected devices already and still growing !!!

2. IPv6 can offer up to 346 Trillion IP address, which means the possibility of every pebble to have an IP address (if anyone ever wonder a why an IP address for a pebble J...pebble is used just a metaphor here).

It's no surprise that proliferation of smart-phones and partly the re-emergence of tablets had expedited the process of IPV4 conclusion. In fact, Smartphones had started eating the pie of the PC market prompting many majors such as Dell (Streak) and HP (iPAQ) to plunge into the Smartphone segment to cover their lost ground. Analyst evens predicts smart-phones sales in 2011 to outnumber the PC sales.

Emergence of Mobile Platform: Consumer appetite for smart-phones is evident and reemphasizing the shift in customer preference towards mobility devices and mobile channels. But despite soaring interest, huge customer segment and technology enabler's "Mobile CRM" is still in its nascent stages. Primarily because not long ago, integrating an enterprise-wide CRM system with mobile devices was costly, time consuming and riddled with challenges. But those challenges have dissipated over the last few years....Yes, business doesn't need to foot a hefty bill for mobility services or devices, no more Offline client & complex data-synchronization challenges (its brings back my nightmares with Clarify CRM suite Traveller Client and its data synchronization issuesLL) with the advent of 3G networks, lowering cost of mobility devices & services, SOA principles and next generation Smartphones. Smartphone's aren't anymore a standalone gadgets they truly evolved into an ecosystem offering platform for content delivery, Apps, SDKs and Mobile commerce (payment gateway) enabling business to easily integrate their Enterprise CRM with Mobile Channel or launch a Mobile CRM Apps. Downloadable Smartphones applications and 3G networks had opened a whole new world of opportunities.

1. IPv4 running out of IP address means we have already got 4.3+ billion or more connected devices already and still growing !!!

Not Just for Road Warriors - Traditionally, organizations focused on Mobile CRM primarily for their Road Warriors to enable them with real-time views of his or her task, pipelines, offers or discounts and create opportunity or quote. Certainly not anymore, mobile apps enables businesses to deliver real-time CRM experience to their customers at their fingers tips. There are already several thousand apps (both in Apple App Store and Android market) delivering CRM functions Campaigns, Sales, Support and Loyalty Mgmt thru Smartphone. iTunes is an excellent testimony for the mobile sales channel and redefined the way music sales were carried out. Of course, many mobile purchases of real-world goods are being conducted through handset-specific apps that provide a highly optimized user experience. Amazon and eBay has considerable amount of their sales done thru mobile apps. Few years earlier, loyalty management means customers were carrying Club Cards and painfully tracking their club points & their offers needless to say soaring sizes of customers wallets or purse. Several retail players had replaced their club cards with mobile apps thereby delivering a better customer experience at an optimal cost. I personally don't carry my Subway or Tesco clubcards anymore it is mobile phone now J

Conclusion

Consumer appetite for smart-phones is evident, and businesses are also piloting the devices for a variety of uses, including retail and healthcare. It reemphasize the shift in customer preference towards mobility devices (and mobile as channel) and the unexploited opportunities for Mobile CRM. So Get, Set and Go on Mobile CRM. Few areas where business need to focus while developing their Mobile CRM apps:

Develop clean, simple mobile apps that require minimal data transmissions.
Offer mobile storefronts with stripped-down but still innovative features targeting phone users.
Focus on simple, secure payment systems, whether you're selling via apps or the mobile web
Ensure mobile application is not restricted to a mobile platform rather deliver for key platform if not for all (like iOS, Android, RIM and Win 7).

Posted by Mahadevan Meikum Perumal at 1:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Guest Post By

Jakki Geiger, Director, MDM Marketing, Informatica

A 2011 MDM survey by Gartner revealed an interesting statistic -- a high percentage of companies are "extremely interested" in achieving a single customer view using master data management (MDM).

In fact, achieving a single customer view ranked second in a list of 11 goals for MDM initiatives in Gartner's study. That corroborates what Infosys and Informatica are seeing in the marketplace--companies are looking to MDM as the "secret sauce" that enables them to drive top-line revenue by attracting and retaining customers with trustworthy, authoritative customer data.

To explain how companies can better attract and retain customers with the Informatica Customer Centricity Solution (with MDM at the core), Infosys and Informatica are sponsoring three Customer Data Forums that offer an in-depth look at how you can put MDM to work to build more profitable customer relationships. Register for free here for sessions on May 17 in Edina, MN, May 18 in San Francisco, and May 19 in Carlsbad, CA. Here's a sneak peek at some of the topics our experts will be discussing.

• R 'Ray' Wang, Principal Analyst and CEO of Constellation Research will explain how customers have evolved their behavior and no longer rely on companies for their information. Author of the popular blog "A Software Insider's Point of View," Ray will share how customers are leveraging social networks and social media rather than going directly to companies to meet their needs. He explains how companies can leverage technology to bridge the data silos and become customer-centric to win back their trust.

• Informatica will explore the root cause of why sales, marketing and customer service have no single customer view, no view of the customer's household and business relationships, and no view of customer interactions, including social media activity. Using existing customer examples, we show how the Informatica Customer Centricity Solution (with MDM at the core) can generate the complete customer data (including social media data) that companies need to attract and retain customers.

• Keith Wallace, Senior Principal, Infosys will share insights into creating and delivering an effective business case for MDM. He'll discuss the need for IT to articulate and quantify MDM in terms relevant to the business and the critical importance of IT and business alignment and collaboration in leveraging MDM to achieve strategic objectives of becoming a customer-centric organization.

With plenty of Q&A, these Customer Data Forums are an excellent opportunity for IT, sales and marketing, and customer service personnel to explore the potential for MDM to transform any organization into a customer-centric enterprise. Learn more at our registration page.

Posted by Jakki Geiger at 7:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)