The reason for the separation is simple: social apps is a highly voalite area technically, keeps evolving very fast & people always seem to latch onto newer stuff leaving the older apps to stagnate or dwindle (almost like fads). It helps that even Gartner concurs regarding this. [Sorry, this report costs $495 and I can't quote them verbatim without getting permissions.]
It would not only be highly risky for an enterprise to keep implementing all the new stuff but also very difficult to keep changing the "Social CRM" system that has al the social elements into the CRM system itself!
Social apps should be considered as additional customer channels in the overall CRM strategy. Thus Social CRM is part of the bigger whole - CRM.
Yet, having a unified dashboard will be most helpful for the four guys in the above diagram. Well, the four guys are not the only ones going to profit from the unified dashboard, bu they are only there as examples of newer roles in the organization.
Widgets, gadgets, portlets, et al. make it easy to integrate data from different systems into one single dashboard. The recent announcement of Oracle CRM gadgets for Google Sites via Google Secure Data Connectors (GSDC) is a step forward (or rather outside) in this very direction. As Oliver Marks states in his post:
"Mobile sales people who know all about trying to vpn into complicated enterprise systems in their rental cars outside prospect offices and drilling down through several screens of CRM to find what they want, should be delighted with this development."
As usual, waiting for your inputs. :) Catch me on twitter @scorpfromhell or if you are interested only in my views on Social CRM then catch me in the #scrm stream out there. :)
Generally, that makes sense. Agreed that these technologies quickly change in user preference and are volatile. That's where APIs come in --and allow content to go where it needs to be.
ReplyDeleteLet's not forget that we're certainly starting to see crude, early generation "CRM" like features in brand monitoring tools.
Secondly, expect developers to build simple CRM tools that sit on top of social networks using OpenSocial.
Although it's too early to say what the end game will look like, there's quite a few directions we'll see these pieces meet.
Thank you for visiting by Jeremiah. :)
ReplyDeleteI agree about the sprinkling of "CRM" features getting into the social media monitoring tools and I have no great negative feedback for them.
This is something like the middleware technologies getting transformed into BPM by adding on workflow automation aspects into them, while it was more a natural progression for the wf automation systems to 'upgrade' to BPM systems.
But I would definitely implore the social apps to abstain from transmogrifying into something else!
Great post, Prem with many insights. I do have a different take, I do disagree. It is critical for CRM systems to:
ReplyDelete- Provide a complete view of the entities in the system. This can be accomplished entirely by APIs and data feeds, of course, but the current leaders in social networks (twitter, facebook, youtube, and flickr) should be built in.
- Your CRM should provide that high-level dashboard even if it is only useful to the top 4 - 10 people in the company. It should take it a step further, though, and provide relevant dashboards for department,team levels, and individuals. These dashboards should give insights at meta level and at channel levels.
- Your CRM should integrate outbound messaging through Facebook, Twitter, etc.., just like most do today for email.
John
Thank you for the comments John. I do not see your points as disagreement, rather a validation of my take. Your nuance on the dashboard, its a given in my mind, just not stated out. There are so many things that should go into a dashboard that it deserves a rightful post of its own & not the focus of this post anyway. :)
ReplyDeleteJohn,
ReplyDeleteI am not completely clear which part you are disagreeing with, as Prem says. That said, the clarity is important so vendors and others can make decisions. Your examples (Twitter, FB, etc.,...) are components which require api, unless someone buys them and puts them into CRM, no? So, I am not clear on how an application can get data from these social channels through API, either directly or through a 3rd party?
The dashboards are important to the users, agreed. But, if the user doesn't notice and the app does what it needs to do and you have the data you need to analyze and IT does not complain about upgrades....what does it really matter how something (this space) really works under the hood. For example, most use external databases, SMPT and POP/IMAP servers. The abstraction is actually critical to user choice (my opinion).
I do appreciate the engagement, just trying to make I understand what the disagreement is, so I can help my clients.
Cheers,
Mitch