Michael MaozMy life as a consumer living among many other consumers gives me ample sources of inspiration for CRM. Yes, I have kept a focus on improving customer processes for almost 20 years. No, I don’t jettison the core of my research every time a fad rivets the minds of the CIO. I try to keep a couple of steps ahead of my clients so that they will rely on me for leading-edge thinking, but I also want them to do the right thing NOW.
Most of my futurist thinking has been overlooked for at least five years. I wrote about the new software model introduced by Salesforce.com in 2000 and 2001 to little interest. We called it ASP back then, but it took CIOs seven years to consider the new delivery model. I wrote about Social Collaboration almost seven years ago. You can check out one of my archived pieces of research, and it will sound just as fresh in January 2010 as it did in 2003 ( Mercury Interactive Delivers World-Class Customer Support, 14 November 2003, ID:CS-21-1110). But today the media and the hanger-on writers are all abuzz about “Social” and so our CIO community rushes in, at the risk of leaving behind the core of what they are out to do in the first place: build better systems to meet customer needs and demands. That is still CRM, the business process and strategy, wrapped in new clothing.
Why do I mention this? CIO Surveys pointing at project priorities show a decline in “CRM” as a top project. I don’t think that is what the CIO is saying. I think they are saying that they, as technologists, are focused on new tactics to help their customers (and we should keep in mind that the CIO’s customers are internal departments like logistics, marketing and customer service) get to the end customer, support that customer, and help sell move products and services at lower costs.
CIOs are not ditching CRM the business strategy. They are smarter and more business-savvy than at any previous time. They are educated enough to understand that CRM is NOT about technology. We can always find technology to support the process, and one of the core processes of top interest now is customer participation in the business. Social and CRM are joined at the hip, and there are exciting times ahead.
Category: CRM Innovation and Customer Experience Leadership SaaS and Cloud Computing Social CRM Social Networking Social Software Tags:
6 responses so far ↓
1 Tweets that mention Social Everything: The CIOs chance to ditch CRM. -- Topsy.com January 21, 2010 at 12:32 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Tweet CRM, Michael Pucher. Michael Pucher said: RT @TweetCRM: Social Everything: The CIOs chance to ditch CRM. http://bit.ly/4OW0Dc #Gartner #CRM [...]
2 Social Everything: The CIOs chance to ditch CRM. « crm like soft January 21, 2010 at 2:11 pm
[...] more here: Social Everything: The CIOs chance to ditch CRM. 21 Jan 10 | [...]
3 Gartner: CRM no longer a priority… or is it? - Voices of CRM January 25, 2010 at 5:05 pm
[...] Michael Maoz, a Gartner analyst focused on CRM, partly blames the hype around social networks: But today the media and the hanger-on writers are [...]
4 Parker January 29, 2010 at 2:38 am
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5 Sean Leo Ryan January 30, 2010 at 6:30 pm
Probably not news, but this lag phenomenon is documented in innovator’s dilemma (couple of key takeaways 1) people value what they have / innovators see what they don’t have and value higher, so disconnect and 2) the need for innovators to incorporating marketing awareness to help close that gap.
In addition the Gourville 9x Effect helps to understanding what it takes to qualify as a disruptive shifts in technology… you basically need an 9x order of magnitude, like going from 10M to 100K solution or a youtube on United Airlines. Or watch how Toyota is handling the recall – had ABC News filming a call with the CCR, and the CCR was VERY ill prepared, magnifying the issue.
So both these will apply in the CRM space in the few years IMO… interesting times though.
6 James @ crm software February 21, 2010 at 1:12 am
You should probably start out by letting your readers know what a CIO is, since most people are drowning in three letter abbreviations all the time, it can be hard to guess correctly what a new one is.