Convergence never stops happening. The convergence between the Internet and corporate networks continues as CRM (customer relationship management) meets SN (social networking).
It’s been talked about for some time now, Fast Company discussed it in the context of sales leads and contact management in 2004:
Social networking software should evolve to become
more integrated with the everyday tools people use to manage
relationship information and communicate with others. It’s a natural
evolution of very useful software—it can’t stand alone for long. – The Next Generation of Contact Management Software
Social networking tools have been appearing for
some four or five years now, largely for Internet usage. But the
business applications have always been intriguing.
Businesses are not only seriously examining `social
networking’, but some organisations have already started to implement
these ideas by leveraging existing concepts merged with new
technologies…Knowing a name, phone number, and job title does not
necessarily mean there is real connection, nor does it provide much of
an entree into potential customers…SN Analysis tools do more than
uncover connections; they uncover the level of trust in those
connections. It is the trust, not just the relationship itself, that is
the true currency of SNA tools, and consequently turns static contact data into a valuable corporate asset as much as intellectual property. – Networks that connect
And now we’re seeing the convergence between CRM
and Social Networking being discussed in terms of support. The
imperatives to stop customer churn and provide Customer Service and
Support (CS&S) are driven by customers themselves as they reveal
their own networks of trust.
Customers have lost trust in traditional sales, marketing and service (the three areas commonly referred to as CRM).
According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, “the most credible source of
information about a company is now ‘a person like me,’ which has risen
dramatically to surpass doctors and academic experts for the first
time.” The survey relates that in the U.S., trust in “a person like me”
increased from 20% in 2003 to 68% today.
The connections enabled by social networks are the
glue that put the humanity back into business to solve the trust
problem. In other words, the organizations that will win are the ones
that most easily enable individuals to build relationships and
communities with people they trust. – Why should our organization care about social networking? and pdf file: eBook by Christopher Carfi of Cerado
The trend emerging from these forces in play is
that enterprises are turning to their customers to refresh and enrich
the dialog, offering increased levels and more granular focus of
support, and this is placing pressure on CRM and support software to adapt.
I would call 2006 a sea-change year for CRM.
Sales faced an ever-more-vigilant buyer. Marketing engaged with
customers – and was called to task when it went overboard. Support is
actually -surprise – supporting the customer, as opposed to purely
being a cost center. – Companies Are Actually Engaging in Conversations With Customers
So, social networking reveals itself as a tidal
force that companies can integrate with to improve their relations with
their customers, but also an unstoppable and empowering force that
enables the networked individual to go around the company that doesn’t
provide genuine satisfaction.
The Social Networking wheel has now turned far enough that the CRM space is beginning to embrace SN as its own child:
I believe there is a legitimate argument for including social networking in CRM…if companies use SN’s techniques they might be able to…contribute greatly to CRM processes…just as CRM is a way of doing business and a set of technology, so is social networking…We have all kinds of CRM
systems today that systematize and organize our customer facing
processes but what we lack right now are effective ways of capturing
customer feedback…no offense to my friends who think that social
networking is a separate activity but I really think it’s our space
Better sharpen those support tools.
