* This post is a part of the series of blog posts on Web 2.0 and SAP CRM. You can catch the earlier posts in the series focusing on CRM & Social Web: Evolving Customer Management to Customer Engagement and SAP CRM and Social Web- Use SAP CRM to Leverage Social Networks for Enhancing the Customer Experienc... scenario in case you missed it.
On a tour to Kerala in India, I happened to stay in a hotel established in the 1930s! The signboard at its entrance caught my attention -"if you are happy with our services, share it with others; if not, share it with us". Very meaningful because typical customer behavior, when dis-satisfied with a product or service procured, is to complain to friends, relatives and acquaintances but rarely to the vendor who needs to have this feedback the most. Customer behavior is beyond the control of the enterprise; enterprise's hunt for customer feedback dates back to centuries and remains a valid challenge in today's context as well.
In the 1930s, the damage negative publicity could cause was limited. But today, thanks to emergence of Web 20 and social media like twitter, the reach is global and the message spreads like a raging fire in real-time.
Thanks to SAP CRM, today, enterprises are able to:
(a) reach out to customers to deliver service via various channels (interaction center, self-service and Field services); focus being customer convenience
(b) execute on sophisticated service processes committing to support excellence; focus being customer satisfaction, retention and profitability and
(c) analyze all interactions, monitor execution, identify gaps and improvement opportunities; focus being increase in efficiency and effectiveness. This helps enterprises to be best-run businesses.
But is this the end of the journey? From my viewpoint, this is the ‘right' beginning!
Smart Enterprises continue to explore ways to gain additional customer insight; exploit new innovative channels to engage with customers and to improve their total customer experience.
Social media websites, twitter as a good example, is emerging as one such innovative channel helping enterprises like Dell, Comcast and Southwest Airlines to gain insights, deliver next-generation customer service and enhance customer experience. New to world of tweets? Do checkout this video which serves as a good introduction to twitter in less than 3 minutes. The emergence of social media, the rising popularity and secret behind twitter's success, innovative ways twitter is being put to use deserves a blog for itself.
Use cases integrating SAP CRM and Twitter, the power it can to offer to enterprises and its ability to delight end-customers created enough excitement in us that a decision was taken to build a prototype to realize the use cases envisioned and put the technology to the test; thanks to CRM Development group in Palo Alto a working application was made available within weeks. Our delight had no limits when we came across real-life example of Comcast , confirming our thinking process and approach. Icing on the cake for the team was the opportunity to showcase this prototype at Gartner CRM Summit in September 2008 which was well received. Click on the image below to visit the demo video page:
Note: This demo is a proof-of-concept custom application! (The functionality showcased is not a part of the standard SAP CRM 7.0 shipment).
The video created by Ashish Chatterjee, Product Manager in CRM, articulates the concepts and thinking process. Primary focus of the demo is usage of twitter together with SAP CRM Service to deliver next-generation customer service. Included is a snippet of potential to use SAP CRM and Twitter for marketing scenario; inline with positive experience made by companies like Dell and Starbucks
Do let us know your thoughts on the scenario showcased in the video
- Any real-life experience, similar to Comcast story, you would like to share?
- Ideas for new CRM scenarios you would like us to pursue?
We would love to hear your comments on the concept and prototype; enabling community to shape exciting next-generation CRM scenarios.
2 Comments