Every IT manager has had one of those late nights -- a server crashes, a software update goes haywire, an installation of a new product takes several hours longer than planned. We've all been there. But with new CRM technology from Microsoft, you might be greeted next morning by multiple vendors proposing new solutions for you.
Let's say that at 10 p.m., instead of just sitting and stewing over the technical glitches, you tweet: "Banging my head with frustration over brand X's 10.1 upgrade." Those tweets, or maybe some comments on your Facebook page, could really help you to vent and reduce the pent-up frustration.
Your social media comments could also be gold for companies looking to harness the knowledge about your questions and frustrations.
This is why Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) is releasing an update to its Dynamics CRM software that will have a Social Networking Accelerator component, allowing companies to monitor what you say on Twitter. Microsoft is following in the footsteps of Salesforce.com Inc. , which in March released Twitter functionality into its Service Cloud software.
This kind of product offers a range of compelling possibilities. If I am Brand X and focused on customer service and brand protection, then somebody should be following up your Twitter comments the next morning to try and smoothe over the situation.
Then again, you might think that Brand X should have already known about the issue -- but maybe you never called their technical support; maybe your company did not buy extended-hours support; or maybe you are going through a third party for support. Social media responses to your comments can offer insights and other customers’ reactions.
Likewise, if I am one of Brand X's competitors, this is about as good a time for a sales call as ever. The likelihood that you'll take a cold call from a vendor is probably at its peak when you are in the midst of feeling frustrated with your current vendor. Or maybe, instead of that traditional cold call, this vendor simply joins in the conversation on Twitter.
Some might say this type of contact is getting close to invading your privacy, but that's what happens when you use social media. Beyond that, it is just an extension of good sales and marketing. After all, for centuries, good salespeople have listened for clues -- when's your birthday, what is your company's fiscal cycle, how many kids do you have -- and used those clues to send you sales messages at the right time of the year. Perhaps they send tickets to an event that would interest your family. Mining social media data is just extending these age-old sales techniques.
As usual, Twitter isn’t catching on to the opportunity here. Twitter co-founder Biz Stone has said that “facilitating connections between businesses and individuals in meaningful and relevant ways is compelling" and a potential source of revenue. But Twitter keeps missing the boat with regards to revenue. Maybe CRM vendors will finally prompt Twitter to adopt a viable business model, in which Twitter would impose fees on companies interested in mining the data about consumer preferences and peeves that pour out in tweets.
One thing’s for sure: Microsoft, Salesforce.com, and other CRM companies are once again highlighting the fact that lots of eyeballs are watching while you type information into social media sites. Companies with good CRM systems and effective sales and marketing people are going to find ways to use that data to their advantage.
— David Silversmith is Vice President Information Technology at FirstBook.org, an organization that provides new books to children in need.
I've built CRM packages (once known as Sales Force Automation and many other names in years gone by), I have bought packages and used them out of the box with minimal customization and I have bought and extensively customized CRM packages.
All of the above can work - if they match the company's needs, the company culture, the processes in place and what types of integration are required.
I don't think that the build versus buy is a generic discussion - it has to match the company. Buying or building can both be great decisions and they can both be bad decisions.
Mark Fidelman - I think you have some excellent points on the value/success of Dynamics CRM. But, any vendor has to play the checklist game. Unless my product has each item on the customer's checklist - my product won't be considered.
The customer may not know enough or have enough time to determine how this feature works in my product versus my competitors - but they will certainly know if I don't have the feature!
dcilea - Great points on the market research value. Those companies that integrate this functionality will have a better handle on their brand and product/service strategy. It's amazing how much is written about an organization or a product that is not directed at the maker/owner. These used to be comments that were completely private, talk among friends and co-workers, but now a company can access and learn from them!
As Dennis Miller would say, "Now, I don't want to get off on a rant here..." but Dynamics CRM looks and functions like Excel. I don't know many companies that are using it, and the adoption for salespeople has got to be low. Instead of focusing on Twitter functionality they should spend more time on the out of box experience.
The interesting thing about CRM is the benefits TO the social media sites.
Salesforce.com, Microsoft CRM and and Sharepoint come with a revenue model, and partner programs. Any of these revenue-free Social network tools could potentially become a cash cow overnight by simple collaboration with an established SaaS supplier.
The big reason to buy, not build, a CRM/Social Media systems is because the people in the business know what to do. Lots of people know HOW- to code, test, debug, but companies like SalesForce and Microsoft CRM are pros, they spend every day in the application. They know WHAT to do.
I saw the MS demo fro CRM+Twitter, While just a starting point, it was clear MS had thought of things I never had, and probably never will.
The payout for this vision- CRM + Social media could be huge, especially for 'lifestyle' products like, for example Britney Spears. She has 2.5 MM followers. Normal CRM/Drip marketing could potentially increase the amount of money she can extract from these people.
Sure, but if you can grow your own as easily, or easier, than buying expensive custom, why aren't more IT folk doing it? Everyone after all is looking to save money. I still think this takes a certain level of skill that may make it a complicated snake pit to do in house.
Maybe it's a matter of finding people with the right skills to work on these projects.
Not at all because it's not build versus buy...it's buy, or acquire and then build. The point is, though, that open source software provides enough of a rich platform that you can acquire it freely.
The point about big service companies making a fortune...yes...and time and time again they've failed to create things of value or else build monoliths that are inflexible and which no one will use ... especially busy sales execs.
In fact, the Microsoft presentation started out with just that type of criticism of the Big Tech Monlithic approach to software versus their own Software + Services SOA-esque approach.
But the problem with that argument is how far do you take it? At some point, you've gotta say, I could do this...hooking up a database to an email! I don't need an "application server" to do that!
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Getting to Work on Smart Work: How IT Is Transforming the Implementation of the 'Internet of Things' Organizations in all industry sectors are becoming more instrumented, interconnected, and intelligent -- and that's changing the way they approach virtually every facet of their operations. It's up to IT to help organizations adopt a "Three I's" approach that leverages the emerging Internet of Things and enables them to work smarter. READ THIS eBOOK
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