I'm in Colorado Springs for the 9th RightNow Summit. (You know you have a great job when it requires you to spend time at the Broadmoor, one of the best hotels in the world.) I always enjoy attending the RightNow user conferences; these are rabidly happy customers and they are willing to share their experiences, warts and all. Many vendor user conferences "shepherd" analysts to avoid much direct interaction with customers, or hold separate analyst conferences to avoid the issue entirely. But RightNow encourages interaction with customers, and lines up 1:1 meetings with customers for us.
With over 500 customers in attendance, this is a sizeable conference. For the first time, there are breakouts focusing on individual industries, allowing more focused knowledge sharing. The session topics are also broader this year, reflecting RightNow's expansion beyond customer service into full CRM. The highlight of the first morning for me was the customer panel, with representatives from some big name companies including Orbitz, William Sonoma, Electronic Arts, Telstra and eHarmony. Some interesting tidbits for you:
Continue reading "Live from the RightNow 2007 Summit"
I'm happy to say that the SSPA is gaining more reach and visibility in Europe, including plans for our first European conference in 2008 (stay tuned for more details!). When it comes to service and support technology, North America certainly doesn't have a lock on innovation, and yesterday I had a great briefing with German-based Empolis, a provider of knowledgebase, intelligent search and problem diagnostic tools.
Empolis has a unique brand identity, "The Information Logistics Company," and they see helping support organizations navigate the complex web of structured and unstructured enterprise content as a logistics problem: manufacturing, storing, tracking and consuming valuable corporate resources--your knowledge.
Here are some of the core components of the Empolis solution, along with my take on how they are differentiated from other solutions:
Continue reading "Empolis Brings Context to eService with Information Logistics"
I recently published a research article entitled ?10 Best Practices to Increase ERMS Success,? and thought an abbreviated version would be good to share with the blogosphere. For members of the SSPA (Service & Support Professionals Association), the full article can be accessed here.
SSPA Benchmark data shows that customer email volume has increased while the service levels of email incidents have declined. Email Response Management Systems, currently used by 45% of SSPA >$1B members, can improve service levels for customer emails by auto-responding to repetitive questions, auto-suggesting replies to agents to streamline email processing, and auto-routing inbound emails to the correct person or group, eliminating manual reviews and routing. Based on customer case studies and technology partner interviews, SSPA Research has identified the following 10 Best Practices to maximize the effectiveness of your ERMS.
Continue reading "10 Best Practices to Increase ERMS Success"
I apologize for neglecting this blog for the last week. I went to Washington DC to speak at the American Management Institute, and had a heck of a time getting home due to thunderstorms in DC and Chicago. In lieu of a technology briefing, I thought I would post an excerpt from a new white paper I did with Salesforce.com: Customer Service 2.0.
Launching an online community requires a great deal of planning, marketing, and in the beginning, a lot of internal resources. Based on member and vendor interviews, here are five key best practices for successfully launching a new community.
Continue reading "Best Practices for Successful Online Communities"
Last week I had the pleasure of an in-person briefing with Ben Elowitz, CEO of Wetpaint, the leading provider of consumer Wiki technology. He opened with a story that illustrates how the consumer is increasingly in control:
CBS was one of the first big brands to embrace the customer facing Wiki model and when they cancelled the show ?Jericho,? fans went crazy on the official Wiki site. The site was already experiencing rapid growth, but when the show got cancelled, the Wiki community powered by Wetpaint exploded with huge increases in the number of comments, edits, new users, page views, etc. Consumers even created a ?Save Jericho Coalition? including a group of websites dedicated to getting Jericho back on the air. As a result, CBS announced earlier this month that they have ordered more episodes of the series. Nina Tassler, President of CBS entertainment, even posted a message on the Wiki that closed with, ?Your protest was creative, sustained and very thoughtful and respectful in tone. You made a difference.?
Continue reading "Wetpaint Wikis: The Consumer is In Control"
