The way we work is changing. The ongoing evolution in the access to mobile solutions, new collaboration tools and the increase in reliance on cloud-based applications has radically changed where and how we work and even what we produce. New technologies are increasing our expectations of the availability of applications and the speed with which [...]
Seattle is a town that loves its professional sports teams and April means the beginning of baseball season when hopes run high…but disappointment is not far off. Maybe that sounds a bit like the expectations companies have when it comes to choosing and implementing a CRM system–the visions of success can all too soon be [...]
On the roadmap to customer relationship success is the intersection of customers and insights. This large category of technology discipline involves business intelligence, predictive analytics, and, of course, customer relationship management solutions. Businesses know their customer data is a strategic asset. How they turn that data into insight through CRM analytics ─ to address typical [...]
On March 18, Microsoft will kick off Convergence 2013 in New Orleans. I always look forward to meeting with customers and hearing about their unique challenges as well as discussing how they can use the latest innovations to create their own business success stories. Convergence is the premier event for the Microsoft Dynamics community, where [...]
There has been a lot of talk about what role gamification has and will play in the areas of CRM and especially, contact centers. Gamification is commonly defined as the “use of game-thinking and game mechanics in a non-game context (such as in contact center) in order to engage users and solve problems.” Pew [...]
They’re getting smaller, more powerful, and more in demand. You see them on the train, at local coffee shops, even at your favorite dive bar. Every day we face increasing evidence that tablets and other mobile devices are the future. It is essential that businesses meet and support that demand by leveraging mobile CRM to [...]
Social media can play a strong role in accelerating sales effectiveness in the B2B world – with internal microblogging, communities, knowledge sharing, etc. But, above all, we know that social media has significant impact in the B2C space, mainly for services and marketing. The social channel for business to consumer is becoming increasingly more [...]
After a pivotal year of technology advances, Forrester is suggesting that 2012 will be the ‘Year of the Customer’. According to its 2012 Customer Experience Predictions report, board-level executives will officially name customer experience as a top strategic priority. Hence, today’s multichannel experiences, resembling “a patchwork of duct tape and bubble gum”, will be fully [...]
Since the beginning of the year we’ve been hearing more buzz about gamification in the service center. While the buzz hasn’t yet reached the level surrounding “Social CRM,” it’s following some of the same patterns of confusion. Some in the industry claim that gamification will have agents delivering service through virtual worlds while others write about gamification in terms of [...]
For the past decade, the focus of CRM software vendors and implementers has been on increasing adoption for sales people and increasing efficiency for service workers. These are great goals but to a fault. Efficiency is critical in high volume contact centers but too much focus on efficiency can turn service center agents in automatons reading scripts, entering the [...]
