Should Social Add Layers to Customer Service, or Strip them Away?

I read an interesting blog post by Sue Barret sparked by a Harvard Business Review article that argues that “customer delight” is less important than making life easier for your customers. Hmmm. In so many ways – the two are one, right? This got me thinking. If we are trying to create great customer experiences … Continue reading →

Does Social CRM Favor Your Worst Customers?

I was reading the Social CRM Pioneers Group on Google, owned and operated, if that is such a thing in the social media world, by the Altimeter Group’s Jeremiah Owyang (@jowyang). Jive Software’s Mike Fraietta (@MikeFraietta) made an interesting point in referring to Twitter’s dealing with some hacker issues which resulted in all users’ follower … Continue reading →

Merging Social CRM Culture With (or Without) Technology

One of the main reasons I like Paul Greenberg so much, apart from him being a great guy and a good friend, is that he really, really dislikes taking sides among technology providers. As an analyst, I valued my independence from vendors above all else, and maybe that is why Paul and I got along … Continue reading →

Open Source and Skype: Opening the Door for SMB Call Centers

Today one of our system integrators, MyCRM GmbH, announced a new version of MyCRM’s Call Manager for Skype. The integration will allow users of Sugar to manage all communication activities with new video abilities – including documentation – and other call center duties in a single platform, hosted or on-site. Some of the other abilities … Continue reading →

Social CRM and the Call Center – What’s the Difference?

Paul Greenberg, who gave an interesting keynote at CRM Evolution last week, was nice enough to make his keynote slides available to all. I love how open source concepts are everywhere these days. But looking over these again, an interesting question popped into my head. As Paul’s slides paint a picture around convergence of CRM, … Continue reading →