aheadCRM

My first reaction? Wow, that will stir up the industry, well, at least Microsoft …  Second one? Who will follow? Jujhar Singh! Jujhar will step into a pair of pretty big shoes (no pun intended), but then he was coached by Bob for more than a decade and held a number of increasingly important positions at Siebel, SAP, MS. It is probably about time to step out of Bobs shadow and take centre stage. Congratulations to him! But what lies beyond is really interesting. Bob is a CRM guy – or rather one of THE CRM guys. He  contributed significantly to shaping what CRM is now and has a reputation for getting organisations that have a problem on track – or to lay those tracks. There is no meaningful CRM, no CEM (Customer Engagement Management), neither CXM (Customer Experience Management) without data, lots of data, coming from various different sources covering every customer interaction, customer experience at every touch point. Think mobile, internet of thin...

CxM and PoS, these are two protagonists of an ever continuing story. It comes in many different flavours but it essentially is about change vs. stability. On one hand we have the PoS, the contender, a long time best hated friend of the retailer, an infrastructure that they cannot do without. They can’t! Simple as. The PoS is the infrastructure that all in-store sales are executed on, the infrastructure that is crucial to gain and keep an overview about in-store (and overall) inventory, an infrastructure that also tries hard to gain additional knowledge about the customer. But then the core entities that the PoS works with is not the customer, but are the product and the sales, the transaction. Without the transaction the retailer is dead. On the other hand we have the new kids on the block: CxM, Customer Experience Management, CXM, and Customer Engagement Management, CEM. New, although they, too, are around for quite some while already. Going on I will mainly stick to CxM...

CRM Evolution 2015 was a very vibrant conference with lots of discussion that included a number of high profile industry influencers. For me as a first time attendee it was amazing how approachable many of these people are. But then this might come with the territory. To understand these takeaways it is important to know that my reason for attending was getting into closer touch with what is going on in the CRM world outside SAP - and New Zealand. So, these are purely notes and thoughts that result from sessions, discussions with influencers, speakers and other conference attendees, and not learnings from vendor briefings. Also, this event was split into three separate conferences: CRM Evolution Customer Service Experience Speechtek I nearly exclusively concentrated on CRMEvolution and one session from the Customer Service Experience. First things first: Was it worthwhile coming all the way from NZ? This is very clearly a yes. Paul Greenberg and the team did an amazing j...

A few days ago I was asked for my top 5 tips for retailers on how to connect with their customers, limited to 100 words. For a topic that one could write a novel on … Well, here is my answer: Help customers solving their problem. This distinguishes and makes you found by the customer Marketing/loyalty programs offer your customers value and are not mere vehicles to gather more data points Simplify your customers’ life, e.g. with a card wallet instead of own app that directly integrates with your CRM and POS Relevant communications at the right time, place with the right content – without appearing intrusive. For this you need to know your customer Consistent communications across channels and interactions, optimized for used touch point They probably need some more elaboration, especially the last one. First and foremost, the reason for any business to exist is making profit for its owners. This is not equal to producing and selling things (or providing a ...

A few days ago I came across a blog entry by  @MikeBoysen  titled  Customers Don”t Want Relationships…PERIOD! A really intriguing title and read – perhaps written to stir up a discussion. Works for me, as it stirs me up from of my absence from this blog of mine… Mike, after this very strong claim the starts with another one: CRM is dead. Well, CRM seems to be pretty alive for a dead one; as a strategy and also as a technology. And here is exactly the point where Mike and other influencers – I had discussions about this topic e.g. with  @bob_thompson  from CustomerThink as well – are dead wrong (I couldn’t resist this pun). Their argumentation is solely based upon CRM being a technology. And then they compare CRM with another acronym that they claim is a strategy, concluding that the other one is far better. Apples vs. pears. Technology vs strategy. CRM is not a technology. It is also not a process area. CRM is a strategy. CEM is anoth...

A few days ago @MarkTamis called me with a question: “Where do you think CRM heads to in future?” Uhhm, not that simple a question. It really forced me to think as all those thoughts, observations and discussions of the needed to be brought into a better structure. To lay the foundation I need to start with a definition of CRM; as I like it I start off with the one that Wikipedia provides: Customer relationship management ( CRM ) is a widely-implemented strategy for managing a company’s interactions with customers , clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing , customer service , and technical support . The overall goals are to find, attract, and win new clients, nurture and retain those the company already has, entice former clients back into the fold, and reduce the costs of marketing and client service. [1] Customer relationship management descr...

Some days ago Bob Thompson interviewed Graham Hill about his take on Social CRM. The interview covered a lot of topics, most notably the future of Social CRM about which Graham has a particular view and led Bob to ask the question whether it is necessary to have a CRM system to have Social CRM. On a first glimpse this question sounds simple, but it really isn’t. From a business perspective it only matters that CRM is executed upon, if CRM is a topic. This is totally independent of systems, as are the possible paths into the future of Social CRM that Graham sees, which is a deviation from this post that I likely will look into in a later post. My answer to Bobs question is a clear No – but Yes! Sounds odd, doesn’t it? So let me explain. CRM is a business strategy; so is Social CRM. In an earlier blog titled CRM vs. Social CRM – what is the difference? I discussed differences as I do saw them at that time. My view has slightly evolved since, but this is another side track. Let’s h...