by Michael Maoz | September 30, 2010 | 1 Comment
There is a funny and arcane expression whose derivation I have never quite understood, but whose meaning is clear in any language: Don’t buy a cat in a sack! It’s the same in German, ‘Die Katze im Sack kaufen.’ Whererever it comes from, the idea of purchasing software sight unseen is fairly prevalent. Yes: you [...]
Category: Applications CRM EA Innovation and Customer Experience IT Governance Leadership Vendor Contracts Tags:
by Michael Maoz | September 23, 2010 | 5 Comments
When I went looking at new cars that I might replace my 2001 Toyota RAV4 with, there were plenty of similar choices. Acura or Infiniti or Lexus or BMW were all mechanically about the same, and the rest was lifestyle stuff. On the eco-friendly side, there were also enough alternatives to the ubiquitous Prius. And [...]
Category: Applications Cloud CRM Innovation and Customer Experience IT Governance Leadership SaaS and Cloud Computing Sales Force Automation SFA Social CRM Social Networking Strategic Planning Tags:
by Michael Maoz | September 21, 2010 | 3 Comments
I have a terrific colleague, Ed Thompson, who is working with me on a market guide for Social CRM software vendors. As part of the work, we have created sub-categories inside of marketing, sales (including eCommerce), and customer service. We’ll be releasing this research some time in the next four weeks, and one of the most [...]
Category: Applications Cloud CRM Customer Centric Web Innovation and Customer Experience Leadership SaaS and Cloud Computing Social CRM Social Networking Social Software Strategic Planning Tags:
by Michael Maoz | September 17, 2010 | 3 Comments
Once, 11 years ago, I had the chance to meet Henry Kissinger and hear him talk about his years as both National Security Advisor and Secretary of State in the United States during the late ’60s and during the ’70s. My generation had fairly harsh criticism of him because of his role during the Vietnam [...]
Category: Applications Cloud CRM Customer Centric Web Innovation and Customer Experience Leadership Sales Force Automation Social CRM Social Networking Social Software Tags:
by Michael Maoz | September 15, 2010 | 2 Comments
Why is customer service in most businesses so poor? Here is a small anecdote to use to view the issue: I was on the phone with a travel professional arranging a complicated trip. I generally do my travel plans myself, but this one had lots of stages and elements. On a leg from JFK – SFO, she [...]
Category: Cloud CRM Customer Centric Web Innovation and Customer Experience Leadership Social CRM Social Networking Social Software Strategic Planning Twitter Tags:
by Michael Maoz | September 14, 2010 | 4 Comments
Advising clients on how to institute the processes and deploy the technologies to improve customer loyalty can be like Persephone guiding Sisyphus. It is worth re-reading your Greek mythology for what you’ll learn, or remember, about Sisyphus: he was once responsible for commerce and travel. But because he loved destroying others to boost his business [...]
Category: Applications Cloud CRM Customer Centric Web Innovation and Customer Experience Leadership Social CRM Social Networking Social Software Strategic Planning Tags:
by Michael Maoz | September 10, 2010 | 2 Comments
The uptake of Social CRM is not evenly spread, and the reasons for that got me thinking back to a day long ago and in a distant part of the world. I was university age, and had only recently taken a year off from studies that would eventually stretch to a four year break. I [...]
Category: Applications CRM Customer Centric Web Innovation and Customer Experience Leadership Social CRM Social Networking Social Software Twitter Tags:
by Michael Maoz | September 7, 2010 | 4 Comments
Tomorrow I’m giving a free webinar called, “Are you Keeping Pace with the Evolving Demands of your Customers?” . The date, for those of you in other time zones than mine, is: 8 September 2010, at 9am EDT and 12pm EDT. Here is the link: http://my.gartner.com/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=202&mode=2&PageID=5553&resId=1418122&ref=Webinar-Calendar I think it is time to talk about where this “Social CRM” [...]
Category: Applications Cloud CRM Customer Centric Web Innovation and Customer Experience Leadership SaaS and Cloud Computing Social CRM Social Networking Social Software Strategic Planning Tags:
by Michael Maoz | September 3, 2010 | 2 Comments
What is it about the major external service providers (ESPs) against innovation? I know they do a great job on the massive outsourcing, out-placing, change management, re-platforming, galactic shift stuff. But what about the move to customer engagement through social channels and collaboration? I’m not analyzing them here -I am just observing what I am [...]
Category: Applications Cloud CRM Customer Centric Web Innovation and Customer Experience Leadership SaaS and Cloud Computing Social CRM Social Networking Social Software Strategic Planning Tags:
by Michael Maoz | September 2, 2010 | 1 Comment
Just as Salesforce.com seems to be at the start of a momentous transition from software provider (in a Cloud model), to an Application Platform Provider (in a Cloud model, with some applications), so the “Customer Experience” market – and process, seems to be at the beginning of a massive consolidation and change. I’m already exploring [...]
Category: Applications Cloud CRM Customer Centric Web Innovation and Customer Experience Leadership SaaS and Cloud Computing Sales Force Automation SFA Social CRM Social Networking Social Software Strategic Planning Tags:
