Social CRM: is it hype – or fundamental to managing customer relationships?

Social CRM: is it hype – or fundamental to managing customer relationships?
By Graeme Foux, chief executive of Knexus

Published: June 10 2010 19:24 | Last updated: June 10 2010 19:24

Brand owners need to distinguish between real value and fool’s gold – but into which category does social customer relationship management fit? What is it – and where has it come from?

Social CRM has emerged from the shifting balance of power between organisations and their customers. Via the internet, social networks, blogs and online communities have enabled people to connect easily and quickly with like-minded individuals and groups to share interests.

One impact has been to cut organisations out of the loop, losing control of the customer relationship. Consumers have tasted freedom to connect, share and talk, benefiting from more timely, relevant and trusted interactions.

This is a profound change, leaving companies with little (or more likely no) hope of wresting back control and re-establishing previous levels of influence.

No wonder social media monitoring tools are red-hot, as companies scramble to re-engage with the disparate conversations taking place on the web about them, but not with them.

Social CRM is about companies attempting to get back into the conversations controlled by the customer – listening and engaging to build trust and value.

It also gives companies the opportunity to stimulate conversations with and between customers and use these to build relationships sooner than would traditionally have taken place, managing a pipeline of opportunities more effectively and producing a higher return.

Social CRM is an integral component of an overall CRM strategy. However, it is also different in the sense that traditional CRM has been about structuring and controlling data to help manage relationships more effectively, whereas social is unstructured and far more difficult to categorise.

So is social CRM a source of real business value or simply fool’s gold? Breaking down ”social” into several categories can be a helpful way to remove confusion and determine where to focus business resources. I like the definitions used by social CRM consultant Esteban Kolsky, as follows:

● Social Media is about tools and tactics, you can never set a strategy for it, and it has very short-term life and results.

● Social CRM is about strategically setting long-term goals for working better with your clients (customers), and improving your organisation in the process.

● Social business is the long-term, strategic process of reinventing your organisation to collaborate with employees, partners, and customers.

This separation is very helpful because it starts to create clarity around social and, for example, highlights the role of a PR firm in managing a brand’s reputation through social media channels, versus the deep strategic importance of having a social business strategy to make a business relevant and competitive in the 21st century.

Kolsky argues that social CRM is much closer to social business, sitting under the category of strategically important initiatives that will directly impact revenue and profitability.

If we revert back to our earlier acknowledgment that companies have lost control of their customer relationships, who could argue that this isn’t strategically relevant?

As such, social CRM is profoundly important.

It is true that many companies remain either in denial over the power shift, hoping a Facebook page and some Tweeting will sooth away the issue, or are still bogged down with getting the fundamentals of their CRM strategy right, and therefore unable to innovate.

But the writing is on the wall and those companies able to apply clear thinking on “social” and embrace social CRM are stealing a highly profitable competitive lead for the new business cycle that has just begun – and beyond.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011. Print a single copy of this article for personal use. Contact us if you wish to print more to distribute to others.
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Crossroads: Sales moves from art to science

Crossroads: Sales moves from art to science

Microsoft CRM 2011 speelt in op social media Read more: http://www.computable.nl/artikel/ict_topics/crm/3787731/2333360/microsoft-crm-2011-speelt-in-

Microsoft introduceert Dynamics CRM 2011 in Nederland in een on-premise en online versie. Het pakket is opgebouwd volgens een rolgebaseerd ontwerp. Gebruikers hebben aan de hand van hun functie bepaalde gebruikersprofielen en rechten. Voorbeelden van rollen zijn medewerker verkoop, marketing of klantenservice. Het nieuwe pakket speelt onder andere in op klanten die gebruikmaken van social media.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 werd onlangs op de Nederlandse markt geïntroduceerd. Dat gebeurde officieel in theater Het Spant! in Bussem, waar ongeveer vijfhonderd zakelijke en it-beslissers aanwezig waren. Annemarie Brandsen, product marketing manager Dynamics CRM bij Microsoft Nederland, zegt dat het nieuwe crm-pakket op drie peilers is gebouwd. ‘Ten eerste een Microsoft Outlook-omgeving die nauw geïntegreerd is met de nieuwe crm-software. Om de gebruiksvriendelijkheid van de software te verbeteren is het crm-programma volledig geïntegreerd in Outlook en werkt net zo makkelijk als e-mail. Ten tweede een intelligente omgeving, waarmee gebruikers onder andere zelf dashboards kunnen aanmaken. Ten derde is het crm-pakket geschikt voor koppelingen met andere software voor het uitwisselen van informatie. Zo werkt CRM 2011 nauw met Microsoft Sharepoint om documenten uit te wisselen met andere medewerkers.'

Grip op klanten
Een belangrijke ontwikkeling is de koppeling met sociale netwerken, aldus Brandsen. Het aantal communicatiekanalen neemt fors toe. Social media-platformen zoals Facebook, LinkedIn en Twitter spelen een belangrijke rol in de interactie tussen bedrijven en klanten. Daarom is CRM 2011 gekoppeld aan sociale netwerken om grip op klanten te houden.

Microsoft spreekt hierbij van een ‘nieuwe klant die overal is maar toch lastig is om te grijpen'. Klantloyaliteit is tegenwoordig niet langer meer vanzelfsprekend, aldus Brandsen. ‘De nieuwe klant wil zelf kunnen bepalen hoe het contact wordt gelegd met een organisatie. De klant rekent erop dat alle gegevens voortdurend up-to-date zijn en het systeem te allen tijde functioneert en bereikbaar is.'

Partners
Tijdens de introductie van de nieuwe Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 demonstreerden een aantal partners van Microsoft aanvullende software voor verticale marktsegmenten. Zo heeft Avanade een oplossing ontwikkeld voor marketingmanagement met Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011. Dat kan worden ingezet voor cross- en up-selling en klantensegmentatie.

Ciber liet een branche-oplossing voor verzekeringen zien, dat beschikbaar is op Microsoft CRM 2011 en geïntegreerd is met Microsoft Office en Sharepoint. CRM Resultants demonstreerde CRM2011 for Finance. Dit is een oplossing voor verzekeraars, intermediairs, vermogensbeheerders en private banken, die bestaat uit een reeks van elf geïntegreerde modules. CRM2011 for Finance biedt financiële instellingen verkoop, customer service en marketing functies, ondersteuning van diverse distributiemodellen. Het accent van de oplossing ligt op 'customer due dilligence', centraal klantbeeld en klantbedienmodel.



Steve Ballmer
Op 17 januari 2011 introduceerde Microsoft-directeur Steve Ballmer Dynamics CRM 2011. Bij die lancering werd eerst de online-versie beschikbaar gesteld.

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Leading industry analyst firm and 1To1 Media recognize Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift Europe at the 2010 Gartner and 1to1Media CRM Excellence Awards.

REDMOND, Wash., March 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Microsoft Corp. today announced that Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift Europe BV (MCFE), a leading forklift manufacturer based in the Netherlands, received the Gartner CRM Excellence Award in the category of Efficiency for its customer relationship management (CRM) project. Through this awards program, Gartner Inc. and 1to1 Media recognize companies that are doing an exceptional job at bringing together vision, strategy, customer experience, organizational collaboration, process, IT and metrics to create value for the customer and the enterprise.

Closing the Customer Feedback Loop - Harvard Business Review

Closing the Customer Feedback Loop - Harvard Business Review: "A Five-Point Customer Feedback Checklist"

1. Have you reached a consensus on your business’s five most critical “moments of truth” with customers?

2. Do employees and managers get customer feedback routinely, on a daily or weekly basis?

3. Do you let customers know the impact their feedback had on improving your processes?

4. Do you know what percentage of detractors your operations now convert into promoters through service recovery processes?

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Why customer technology will be the new battleground for retail banks

Why customer technology will be the new battleground for retail banks
By Stephen Haighton, Chordiant vice president for the Emea region

Published: January 14 2010 11:14 | Last updated: January 14 2010 11:14

For the traditional retail banking industry, competition is fiercer than ever and one of the biggest battlegrounds is likely to be the retention and acquisition of customers.

So what role does technology have to play in this fast evolving and customer-focused banking environment?

Banks have had a tough time trying to foster confidence and loyalty among their customer base against the backdrop of the recent credit crunch. At the same time, several non-banking players, such as supermarket chain Tesco in the UK, have entered the retail banking market looking to capitalise on growing consumer suspicion of traditional banks.

These new financial market players are pushing customer-centricity as a strong selling proposition for attracting new business. In turn, it seems that customers are ready to trust these non-banking institutions as they feel a more personal relationship with these brands.

At the same time, consumer needs are changing as expectations of service levels rise and more channels of communication become available.

As a result, traditional banks need to spend more time listening to their customer base across multiple channels and ensure they are being engaged in meaningful conversations.

However, the quality and relevance of a good conversation with a customer is often underestimated by financial institutions. This is exacerbated by the fact that the traditional financial institution is often encumbered with inflexible legacy systems which are not built with the customer in mind.

For example, recent research commissioned by Chordiant and conducted by Vanson Bourne found that only 57 per cent of customer representatives questioned in the UK’s high street retail banks have software that helps them suggest what products or services would be appropriate for an individual customer.

Furthermore, nearly half of those interviewed do not have software which supports them in conversations with customers who want to leave the bank.

As banks increasingly seek to place the customer at the heart of their business, they will need to deploy more sophisticated customer experience management (CEM) technology in order to maintain their position and their customer base in the market against new customer-centric banking organisations.

CEM technology enables banks to deliver intelligent conversations based upon analysis of past customer behaviour, as well as current responses and mood. This allows them to engage more effectively with customers, quickly measure how the strategy is working and change at new levels of speed and economy.

The key is to maximise the value of every conversation, consistently across every channel. Users should be able to deliver highly expressive customer experience strategies using models that predict and react to individual customer expectations, propensities and behaviours.

This behavioural segmentation is combined with powerful real-time decision-making and centrally deployed to any channel across the bank.

By implementing this kind of technology, traditional financial institutions are able to put an end to pre-scripted, inconsistent customer interactions based upon static, outdated market segmentation.

Following Next-Best-Action techniques also allows every customer interaction to become unique, appropriate and consistent. The conversation with the customer is continually guided, with actions adapting as the conversation is occurring. Recommendations are determined in real-time, based upon customer responses, mood and instant analysis of customer behaviour.

Financial institutions can also benefit from powerful Visual Command and Control capabilities to simulate different strategies and visualise their impact on customers and business metrics. Once optimised, customer strategies can be deployed at the touch of a button and changed on demand, without IT intervention.

Of course, building one-to-one relationships cannot come at the expense of profitability. Ideally, every decision a bank makes with regard to a customer should cater to that individual’s specific needs but do so in a manner that ensures profitability.

CEM takes the needs of the bank equally as seriously, so that customer offers and propositions, while tailored specifically for that customer, are also designed to support the bank’s own business goals.

The importance of banks employing this type of technology cannot be underestimated. Many of the non-banking players entering the market are already heavily customer focused and, with the absence of legacy systems to contend with, are well placed to invest in CEM solutions.

Therefore, gaining a full understanding of each customer as an individual, including their likely behaviour, and applying that to every interaction is not only critical for differentiation and loyalty, but it may be the key to survival amid increasing competition.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010. Print a single copy of this article for personal use. Contact us if you wish to print more to distribute to others.

Ten things customers want you to know

Ten things customers want you to know
By Frank Sherlock, senior vice president sales and professional services at Convergys

Published: May 11 2009 12:14 | Last updated: May 11 2009 12:14

Providing a quality customer experience can be a key differentiator for businesses – yet at this crucial time it seems that companies still don’t know what their customers want.

At Convergys, we recently surveyed 1,000 UK consumers to find out what they really think about customer service and the results were surprising.

First, customers are now in control and we’ve moved from a service economy to an experience economy, meaning successful brands are those that create consistently superior customer experiences.

Second: worryingly, business leaders are still detached from their customers – most executives claimed to have a solid understanding of their customers’ experience and expectations.

Half of consumers, however, say they don’t believe companies understand what customers experience in dealing with them, citing rude employees or no resolution as common bad experiences. More than half (55 per cent) of customers do not believe companies listen or act on feedback.

So consumers are taking matters into their own hands.

Overall, 46 per cent of customers who have a bad experience and do not report it stop doing business with a company, without ever letting them know why. This may explain the disconnect – as far as businesses are concerned, if customers don’t complain to them, there isn’t a problem.

Based on our research, here are the 10 most important things customers want you to know about customer service:

1. Businesses are being run based on what they think they know about customers. Instead they should be taking feedback from the outside and using it to improve customer service

2. Customer preferences are the building blocks for internal efficiencies – company executives need to take customer feedback and put it to work within the business

3. Businesses need to understand that bad customer experiences (even if they never hear about them) have a negative impact on attrition, so maintaining high quality customer service is imperative

4. Despite not telling a business about a poor experience, customers will tell their friends and family so not only has a customer gone, the company has no idea why and word is spreading

5. A satisfied customer isn’t necessarily a loyal one. Customers are loyal only when they receive value beyond their usual service expectations. The better the value, the greater the loyalty – although this differs by customer. The “millennial” population, for example, might see automated, fast interactions as desirable while a retiree might attach particular importance to a personalised experience

6. Customers leaving without businesses knowing why can spell the difference between a company’s success and its failure, particularly with defectors spreading the bad feeling among potential new customers

7. Service is key: 74 per cent of consumers would choose ”employees are friendly but prices are high” and 67 per cent would choose ”company treats me as a valued customer” over ”company offers lowest prices”

8. Customers are becoming more distrustful of businesses, particularly in the current economic climate. Companies have to convey trust from the front line and ensure concerned customers have quality experiences that boost trust

9. Being able to speak to a customer service representative does not define superior customer service. A little over half (55 per cent) said they would prefer to solve their issue quickly using an automated system rather than wait to speak to someone on the phone. Companies must balance automated self-service with agent-assisted service and deliver a seamless customer experience across all channels

10. Millennials are more likely to use automated channels – customers aged 34 and younger are more likely than older customers to prefer quickly solving their issue with an automated system (63 per cent). They see value in social networks and are used to online shopping so want to be able to approach customer service in the same way. Businesses need to embrace technology to ensure the loyalty of a new generation of customers.

In order to reconnect with their customers, organisations need to:

● Get the basics right and ensure they are helping customers when they need it. Customers don’t want to hear about special offers when they’re trying to solve a problem. Businesses should make those offers only when customers are amenable

● Prioritise resolution not speed. Customers want their problems solved and they don’t care how that happens. Companies should empower employees to resolve issues without needing to transfer the customer – even if it takes a little longer

● Create opportunities for customers to provide feedback and encourage leaders to act on that feedback. It’s important to bear in mind that every successful interaction can ensure customer loyalty

Of all the factors that customers were asked to rate, personalisation was ranked least important, below knowledgeable, helpful employees who are able to address customers’ needs on first contact.

Businesses need to understand that superior customer service isn’t about knowing a customer’s name, it’s about addressing each customer’s need in the best possible way. Companies that get customer service right will stand out in today’s crowded and competitive marketplace.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009