Interview: Michael Orbach from Cascadia Capital on the Evolving Customer Experience Market

The rise of social media has radically altered the state of customer communications. Organizations now have unparalleled insight into customer wants, needs  and — more importantly — into their perspectives. But consumers have gained a tremendous amount of influence, with social networks literally giving a global voice to every customer. This means that delivering a positive customer experience — tailored to individual expectations — is now a critical part of marketing and customer service.

Thus, the market for customer experience management (CXM) technology has grown significantly in importance in the past few years. CMSWire recently had the chance to discuss CXM technology and market trends with Michael Orbach, Managing Director of Cascadia Capital, a boutique investment bank specializing in private and public growth companies in the social and digital media sectors, among other markets. 

CXM — What Is It?

Orbach began his commentary by briefly providing a firm definition of CXM, which can be a somewhat nebulous term.

“CXM fits into the marketing automation sector,” he said. “In this broader sector, you have solutions that perform functions like marketing surveys, customer polling and web content management. But CXM focuses on how businesses interact with consumers at the point of product.”

Although CXM solutions can be used in virtually any industry, Orbach used the successful coffee retail chain Starbucks as an example to illustrate how CXM actually works.

“Starbucks interacts directly with consumers at the store level and uses feedback to improve corporate performance," he said. "The segment is extremely dynamic, and it all starts with customer interaction.”

However, Orbach cautioned that customer feedback must be meaningful. “You need something more than, ‘The girl behind the counter is pretty’ or ‘This place is dirty,’” he stated. “That doesn’t really tell you much.”

How Does CXM Work?

CXM technology helps companies ensure they collect meaningful customer feedback in a timely manner. “Surveys often have a gamification aspect to create an initiative to participate,” said Orbach. In the case of a retailer like Starbucks, gamification might extend to the back end so local store personnel are also incentivized to encourage customer participation. Technologies such as mobile devices — along with social networks such as Facebook and Twitter — can also help organizations obtain instant feedback, which allows for faster response to any customer issues or concerns.

In addition to providing an adequate and timely customer feedback mechanism, CXM solutions also must provide a means of interpreting feedback once it is collected. “There is a complex analytics problem,” said Orbach. “You get a lot of data in a short time. In the case of Starbucks, they need to analyze feedback and then deliver results to the store manager and regional manager, as well as to the corporate entity.”

Orbach said the potential for high volumes of immediate data created by the ubiquity of mobile devices and social media also necessitates a strong analytics component to any CXM solution.

What Is the Market Like?

Considering how important CXM has become in an era of consumer empowerment and instant global communication, it’s not surprising that Orbach sees a very healthy market for CXM

“There is a lot of CXM activity in terms of mergers and acquisitions and financing,” said Orbach. “Oracle acquired RightNow, TPG invested $1 billion in SurveyMonkey, Fizzback was bought by Nice.”

 

Continue reading this article:

1 2 Next Page >

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

Smarsh Launches Compliance Archiving for Salesforce Chatter

How can the explosion in social media communications conform to compliance requirements? Compliance solution provider Smarsh has launched Archiving & Compliance for Salesforce Chatter, that might just make it a little easier for companies to meet those standards.

The service, offered on Salesforce.com’s AppExchange marketplace, allows organizations to capture, preserve or search Chatter files, so that they can be used for compliance, recordkeeping and e-Discovery initiatives.

Uses Salesforce Platform

The Portland, Oregon-based Smarsh offers hosted solutions for archiving electronic communications for compliance and record retention. The archived communications include email, IMs and such social media platforms as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and now Chatter. Founded in 2001, the company was originally a financial technology solutions and consulting company that turned to email archiving as financial firms had to meet regulatory mandates from federal agencies.

The Archiving & Compliance service for Chatter is built on Salesforce’s cloud-based app platform. All data can be captured in real-time, thus minimizing the risk of lost data from the communication streams, and the service also archives Chatter attachments. Customers are not charged for storage or disk space.

Communication is stored in non-erasable, non-rewriteable media (write once, read many optical storage) in the native format, it’s available worldwide through the Web-based Smarsh Management Console, and it’s redundantly preserved in geographically-dispersed data centers.

Review Hierarchy

Search can be conducted across all objects in the Chatter communities, and results allow searchers to review communication threads. Repeated searches can be saved, and searches can be customized with company-approved lexicons of keywords or phrases — or Smarsh’s default list can be used.

There’s also a permission-based review hierarchy, which can be structured so that it emulates the review structure of a given organization. Message supervision roles can be assigned to specific users and groups with appropriate access and functionalities, and temporary permissions or access can be granted, such as for outside legal counsel. Every administrator session and action is documented.

Messages can be annotated, flagged or escalated, and those actions themselves become searchable. A Reporting Center provides analytics reports on usage, system audit history and message archive data, and message data can be exported in the EDRM XML Interchange Format Schema or other popular e-Discovery vendor “load file” formats.
 

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

Hootsuite Conversation: Real-Time Chat for Community Managers

Enterprise social media management technology provider HootSuite is launching Conversations, an internal communications tool.

HootSuite Conversations is designed to allow real-time internal communications among individuals and teams from the HootSuite social media dashboard. Users can also rebroadcast Conversations comments and threads across other social networks, as well as import commentary from other social networks into Conversations.

Contacts can be imported from Gmail and Yahoo accounts, and the application automatically recognizes when a contact is online. In addition, anyone with an email account can be invited to join a conversation — HootSuite membership is not required.

Community Management Eased

According to BetaBeat, the new Conversations tool is a “community manager’s dream.” BetaBeat notes that Conversations will be “useful for corporate communications teams who collaborate on building content for various social channels on Hootsuite … [it] can streamline a lot of the work that happens on other platforms into one dedicated place.”

BetaBeat mentions specific community management benefits such giving community and brand managers the ability to collaborate and provide feedback on content (like tweets and status updates) before publishing it. In addition, BetaBeat says customer service reps handling social media accounts can benefit from having “conversations surrounding specific tweets or updates.”

HootSuite Makes Team Effort for Business Users

Conversations gives HootSuite users an extension of the enterprise collaborative capabilities provided by the Teams tool. With Teams, HootSuite Pro users can integrate with Conversations to enable real-time communication among members of a specific internal group. This will allow organizations to govern content and manage access to social networks.

Administrators can configure the platform with their organizational structure and assign permissions at organization, team or social profile levels to ensure only appropriate users can post messages or respond to comments. HootSuite Teams also supports review-and-approval workflows.

In addition to the governance features, Teams users can perform group-focused tasks such as:

• Assigning messages for follow-up
• Adding multiple social networks to a team
• Connecting team members to multiple teams

As businesses continue to migrate to social media for both internal and external communication, HootSuite continues to add new features and applications that make it easier for enterprises to connect their members. HootSuite Conversations is currently available in free beta. Basic HootSuite users can engage any individual in conversation, while HootSuite Pro users can engage in specific team conversations.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

Microsoft to Release Unified Communications Tool Lync 2013 for Windows 8, RT

Microsoft plans to release a new version of its Lync communications platform that will be compatible with Windows 8 and Windows RT-based devices. Lync 2013 will be available as both a mobile app and desktop client.

Delivering the Full Lync Experience via Mobile Device

The new Lync app, slated for release at the end of October 2012, will be optimized for touchscreen devices (which at this point covers virtually any mobile device released in the last few years) and provides integration of voice, video, telepresence, IM and online Lync Meetings. Using the H. 264 SVC (Scaling Video Coding) standard, Microsoft says Lync Meetings will be delivered to devices of varying screen sizes without “heavy transcoding.”

In addition, the new mobile app will deliver VoIP and video to Windows Phone, iOS and Android devices and be compatible both Lync Server 2010 and Lync Server 2013.

Connecting to Skype, Office

Microsoft also plans to connect Lync to the Skype VoIP service, which it purchased in May 2011. Lync users will have full access to Skype users, including “seeing” their availability and directly communicating with them via IM, phone call or telepresence.

Furthermore, connections between Lync and Microsoft Office will enable activities such as presence information, click-to-communicate capabilities and social network integration. In addition, Office users will have direct access to Lync communications and meetings directly from Office documents, and the new SharedOneNote feature will let Lync Meeting attendees all share and work from the same iteration of a note created in Office.

Microsoft Lync Joins the ‘Elites’

CRN is gung ho about the upcoming revamped version of Lync, stating that “Lync's embrace by both customers and the channel thrust Microsoft into the elite class of unified communications (UC) providers, where it competes head to head with Cisco, Avaya, Siemens Enterprise Communications and a number of smaller vendors.” Considering the general acknowledgement of Cisco as the leader in unified communications, placing Microsoft in the same UC category is high praise indeed.

Billion Dollar Baby?

Microsoft released Lync in November 2010 with much fanfare as the new family brand of products formerly known as Microsoft Communications Server, Microsoft Office Communications Online and Microsoft Office Communicator. The brand also includes Microsoft Lync Web App and Microsoft Lync Online. As a single platform, it integrates instant messaging, presence, audio, video and web-conferencing with a single interface that can be linked with Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft Exchange.

At the time of release, Kurt DelBene, president of the Microsoft Business division, indicated that Microsoft was hoping that Lync will be a billion dollar business in much the same way that SharePoint has been. A billion dollars is a lofty goal, even for Microsoft — but the upcoming revisions to Lync, particularly on the mobile side, should bring it at least a little closer to the hopes and dreams expressed at its birth.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

Weekend Reading: Your Customers Know What They Want, Do You?

Collecting information on customers is nothing new. But the quantity, variety and method of communications today makes for a slightly larger animal than the old surveys or focus groups. What started as a drop has become a deluge.    

This week we got some practical advice on how to tame that deluge to feed informed marketing campaigns. We heard why some of those campaigns fail, were led down the path of a customer journey and heard how all of these complexities are forcing changes in how we approach our work. 

Swimming in a Sea of Data

How to Untangle the Data Deluge

Phil Kemelor (@philkemelor):When did web analytics officially die? Perhaps a good benchmark was earlier this year when the Web Analytics Association renamed itself to the Digital Analytics Association to recognize that there is a lot more to the digital world than fixed web and that social and mobile channels also needed to be added to the mix. 

5 Tips to Improving Marketing Campaigns Using Data

Anil Batra (@anilbatra):Marketers spend millions of dollars on digital marketing campaigns every day. Analytics help marketers get the most of out of every dollar spent and drive great benefits for them and their organization. Data collected at each step of the way to conversion can help marketers and their agencies in optimizing each campaign's performance. Below I've outlined five tips on how to use the data to optimize marketing campaigns. 

The New Data Savvy Adaptive Marketing

Julie Hunt (@juliebhunt):Marketers for many organizations are facing evolutionary pressures to transform marketing practices and processes to the always-on state of Adaptive Marketing, a new iteration of direct marketing that wants to engender a unique brand experience for individual customers. 

At the heart of Adaptive Marketing is a customer-focused organization that is committed to constantly re-craft product offerings, sales initiatives and marketing tactics to match individual customer needs and wants. Adaptive Marketing is fueled by a matrix of customer intelligence analytics and maps into enabling continuously improved customer experiences.

Leveraging the Volume, Variety and Velocity of Business Data for Effective Marketing

Andrew Joiner: Analysts predict that within a few years, the CMO will have a larger IT budget than the CIO. Why is that? It’s because marketing is increasingly becoming a data-driven exercise and the organizations that can best understand and act on information will win the hearts and minds of customers.

Customers Know What They Like, Do You?

Lost at 'Like': The 10 Reasons Brands Fail to Convert Facebook Fans into Paying Customers

Mark Simpson (@markj_simpson): According to HubSpot, 93 percent of adults on the Internet are on Facebook, yet only one percent of a brand’s Facebook fans will ever make their way to the company’s main website.

 

Continue reading this article:

1 2 3 Next Page >

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

Mobile and the Era of Fragmented Communication

In the lead up to the Olympic Games this month, London added Wi-Fi to its subway system in an effort to help keep communications among visitors open. But last week it was clear that mobile engagement issues were taking their toll when an increase in social media began interfering with mobile networks on which the games themselves depend.

The International Olympics Committee asked viewers to "use another means" to send texts and tweets because the activity was overwhelming operator networks. Many users turned to over-the-top content (OTT) to offset the networks and streamline communications as a result.

Over the Top and In Demand

These issues may be surprising, considering the advanced infrastructures in place and our increased expectations for faster than fast networks that power our mobility. However, a new study by tyntec, found that US operators are better prepared to more effectively deal with and profit from OTT services compared to European operators.

Previously, tyntec reported there was great opportunity for younger populations to utilize OTT services, which can help users communicate more efficiently and lowers costs associated with traditional SMS technology. This new report continues to emphasize the opportunity available as well as the discrepancies that exist across countries to implement and facilitate these services.

The report by mobileSQUARED and sponsored by tyntec, OTT: How Operators can overcome the Fragmentation of Communication shows a considerable discrepancy in attitude and a huge lag in uptake between Europe and the US:

• 100 percent of US mobile operators are already partnering with OTT providers, while only 18 percent are currently doing so in Europe.
• 25 percent of European operators have already seen losses in revenue by up to 5 percent. The US has yet to see any decline in revenue.
• Almost 75 percent of European operators anticipate OTT will impact revenue losses by up to 11-15 percent in the coming years. In comparison, the US is bracing for losses of up to 30 percent.
• 42 percent of operators believe that over 40 percent of their customer base will be using OTT services in 2016.
• OTT blocking and “walled gardens” are preventing adoption in Europe; whereas, the US is well positioned to profit from OTT, in part, because of our flat rate plans and infrastructure. 

Overall, the study suggests that European mobile operators feel more threatened, with 79 percent of European operators indicating that OTT clients on smartphones are a threat to traditional SMS and voice-based services.

An Era of Proliferation and Fragmentation

When we talk about OTT services, what exactly do we mean? Applications like Skype and What’s App are best known, with Skype leading the OTT charge with over 900 million users spending over 1 billion minutes a day. And while in 2012 20 percent of global smartphone users actively use OTT services, it is predicted to reach 45 percent by 2016.

So why the fragmentation? As OTT services expand and attract more users, it’s expected that more companies and developers will look to capitalize and flood the market with OTT services. Until then however, a majority of the existing proprietary OTT (Over-The-Top) communication service providers do not permit cross-platform functionality, therefore limiting the capability of their services. As the report puts it:

Consequently, the rise of these OTT services has created an era of fragmented communications in which consumers cannot easily communicate outside the ‘walled gardens’ of their respective service/app. This weakness presents mobile operators with an ideal opportunity to adopt a key role in enabling OTT services and associated revenues, as they seek new business models to offset the decline in voice and messaging revenues."

Here, Thorsten Trapp, CTO of tyntec discusses the latest figures and forecasts of the whitepaper and what they mean for Operators.

Global events like the Olympics help to showcase the era of fragmented communications, helping us all better understand the need for more interoperability and the opportunity the industry has to improve mobile communications. But it shouldn’t require such wide-scale events to highlight the lag — anyone who has ever sent a text only to have it arrive hours after, can appreciate the utility of OTT services.
 

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com