Azure Chip Whiz Reveals Possible CRM Goof but Is It Okay Now?
July 6, 2010
I urge you to read this ZDNet article in full. Before I make any observations, point your browser at “Gartner Customer 360 – Their First Social”. Study the write up. If you agree with it, don’t read my comments. If you think it sounds like azure on azure, read my comments and observations. Keep in mind that I am offering my views and opinion. I don’t know much, but I know what I find tough to swallow. You may have a different preference. As a former Ziffer, I was shocked at this write up and its content.
The idea is this write up is that a big consulting firm, Gartner, did not understand customer relationship management and now has figured it out. Here’s the passage I found quite remarkable from a person who gets paid by the azure chip outfit to be an “expert”:
My conclusions in most of my prior posts on this particular conference over the years, were that Gartner didn’t get it, or later on almost got it, but not quite. Last year, they regressed and held a conference that was universally (and a bit shockingly) panned for its attendance and content. But they’ve shown a truly admirable resiliency and a real humility when it came to rethinking what they had to do to make this conference a true success. And that they did. This was spectacular.
As I said, off the rails in the past and now the azure chip outfit gets it. So the person paid by the azure chip outfit knew the client was confused if not wrong and kept taking the money. Even more remarkable, the hired gun is now trying hard to convince me that the railroad train is back on the tracks and pulling a load. Wow.
Second, notice this passage:
Gartner to their credit is showing an incredible flexibility and humility when it comes to Social CRM. First, they are now behind the market where a year ago, that wasn’t exactly the case. They are predicting a $1 billion spend on what they define as that market (more on that in a bit) in 2011, which would put it at about 8% of the total CRM software market if they are seeing it as a subset of that. I’m unaware of whether or not they are or aren’t but will find that out and let you know via a tweet soon enough. Additionally they see SCRM as a defining framework for the market. They also see it (YESSS!) as evolutionary, not revolutionary. Meaning it’s not replacing CRM but its extending social capabilities into CRM. BTW, they are not having any difficulties using the word “social.” I say this because I’m seeing some feedback – as in the kind “Blackberry-next-to-speaker” feedback – noise – about the use of the word “social” because “we’ve always been social.” So what? That doesn’t mean we can’t use the word. Its used as a way of distinguishing changes in CRM that are due to changes in customer behavior and how the customer communicates. In fact, read Mitch Lieberman’s post on managing expectations for a good way to think about it. What makes Gartner’s perspective on SCRM important is that they are market makers when it comes to customers’ thinking about what kind of business strategies to execute and what kind of software to implement. They don’t do much in between, honestly – the programmatic requirements of practitioners are left to consultants as the guidance counselors.
I like the YESSS! Quite emphatic. Kathy Bonomo, my grade school girl friend, wrote in capital letters and used exclamation points too. My view is that after explaining the outfit was not on the beam and praising everyone at the azure chip outfit effusively, the azure chip outfit is in the swing of social, has Web content that makes this point, and influences companies about business strategies.
Okay, so if the azure chip outfit was off the rails and advised clients at the time, perhaps the advice was somewhat flawed? If accurate, wow.
That’s enough. I am delighted that I am old, semi retired and able to avoid sticky wickets that poke their prongs into objectivity, knowledge of a domain, and credibility. This mea culpa write up is a keeper, just not for the reasons one would tuck away an important piece of writing like Kenichi Ohmae’s The Mind of the Strategist. The troublesome thought is that some clients might put the azure chip firm’s work on an equal footing with a blue chip outfit. In tough times, clients deserve the best, not self referential information that underscores how a goof seems to have allowed a CRM train to run off the tracks.
Stephen E Arnold, July 6, 2010
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