Social CRM. Ready for action?

Oktober 11th, 2009 • Comments Business, CRM, Strategy
Tags: Business, CRM, Future, Prediction, Social Business Design, Social CRM, Social Influence Marketing, Strategy, Tools, World

While we are talking way too much about real vs. not so real Social Media Experts, definitely too few people debate about what social might contribute to the value of business-client-relationship. I believe the question how CRM will evolve is absolutely crucial for what lies ahead in social. While we have to answer questions about Social ROI (which does not always make sense), all too often we really seem to care too little about customer relationship in a social era. In this post I would like to give a very brief introduction on the topic and discuss the question whether traditional CRM decentralizes itself or if we can integrate Social CRM in traditional tools.

What is Social CRM?
Social CRM is a term which evolved over the last couple of years as extension to the classic understanding of the different forms of traditional CRM. While CRM describes an “information industry term for methodologies, software, and usually Internet capabilities that help an enterprise manage customer relationships in an organized and efficient manner” (via Marios Alexandrou), Social CRM can be seen as the next step in a world which is more and more decentralized.

According to CRM maven Paul Greenberg Social CRM (SCRM) is:

CRM is a philosophy & a business strategy, supported by a technology platform, business rules, workflow, processes & social characteristics, designed to engage the customer in a collaborative conversation in order to provide mutually beneficial value in a trusted & transparent business environment. It’s the company’s response to the customer’s ownership of the conversation.

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