Google Wave = SMB CRM

I recently wrote an article in response to Jeremiah Owyang’s talk at the Twitter Conference where he discussed Twitter as a potential CRM solution.  If you are interested in my thoughts, and Jeremiah’s response, feel free to read the article on this blog.

I was lucky enough to discuss this topic with many people, and often times the conversation came back to Google Wave.  Where does it fit in the grand scheme of things?  Many people are discussing Wave as a potential SharePoint killer, which I view as unlikely.  In my view Wave is a potentially strong solution in the SMB CRM marketplace.  Note that I have not yet received access to the Wave Sandbox, this is based upon what I have read.  I will write more about Wave once Google provides access. 

Some of you will correctly note that SMB customers can benefit from a “full” CRM solution.  You are right.  However, many cannot afford to purchase, setup, maintain, or administer a full solution and they are still leveraging solutions like Microsoft Outlook, Excel spreadsheets, etc..  Wave will be a major step up for these users.

Here are some key aspects of a CRM solution and the reasons why Google Wave should eventually be considered by SMB users looking for a CRM solution:

• Secure communication.  Communications between users will only be visible to those users (unlike Twitter where you can monitor nearly all conversations).
• CRM systems should maintain all data related to your conversations, this includes e-mail attachments and other files associated with your business.  Wave will clearly support file storage and the file sharing capabilities could potentially enable rich social collaboration scenarios.
• The CRM system must maintain detailed customer information such as products purchased, key contacts, etc.   Wave should provide rich contact management but I am doubtful that it will provide the ability to store the necessary customer information out of the box.  However, if Wave delivers on the promise of extensibility it will be easy to store the missing pieces.
• Detailed reports by customer, by end-user, by region, within given product sets, etc.., must be easy to access so that management can determine support costs, the at risk nature of certain customers, up-sell opportunities, etc..  This is another area where the extensibility of Wave will come into play.
• Various levels of permissions for end-users and support staff.
  • This is my one area of concern with Google Wave.  While shared accounts could work within the SMB space I am hopeful to see the ability to create additional accounts with basic folder level permissions.  If it can meet this low bar, or go further, I will be very impressed.
• The ability to model business processes.  Google has promised to open source Wave.  If it delivers on this promise then Wave could become infinitely extensible.
• Google Wave will deliver a robust search interface.  A CRM system is only useful if you can find the data being put into it.  Wave will have no problem meeting this need.

While it is too early to know if Google Wave will meet it’s full potential, I hope this has given you some food for thought.  Let me know what you think.

John

CRM Applications: CRM Dashboards From Assessment Builders

I recently had a chance to ask a few questions of Allen Mavel of Assessment Builders regarding their CRM Dashboard offering.  I found this useful, I hope you do as well.

Question:   How long have you been in business?
Assessment Builders Inc. (ABI) was founded in 2005 by the owners of Enginet Technologies.  The core projects of Enginet Technologies were to customize and integrate Assessment and survey tools.  ABI. was formed to develop an assessment tool that provided the flexibility and integration required by many of Enginet’s clients.  
 
Question:   What makes your CRM Dashboard solution unique?
Our dashboard combined with our fully functional Assessment Studio survey system provides a powerful tool to measure application data side by side with satisfaction and impact surveys.
 
The core dashboard tool is independent of any application.  The dashboard gauges and data sheets are driven by XML configuration files that conforms to an applications hierarchy  and provides filtering by key application elements.  The hierarchy may have virtually unlimited levels and unlimited number of filters.  Any dashboard view may be exported to an excel file to provide a balanced scorecard. 
 
Data views are defined by user role.  This allows the dashboard to be viewed by all levels of the organization, while restricting access to details that should not be shared at all levels. 
 
Question:   What is the ROI that most customers receive when implementing this solution?
We do not have specific details on this, but the reports we’ve received have been very significant.  The dashboard has saved the Missouri SBTDC a significant amount of time in validating their CRM data, communicating goals and progress.  Reports that used to take days to tabulate are now completed with a few clicks of the mouse.

Question:   Who are some of the customers who have deployed this solution?
The Business Research & Information Development Group extension of the University of Missouri was our initial client for the Assessment Studio Dashboard, and we’re nearing the completion of our second installation.  Our Assessment applications is actively used in a variety of markets.
 
Question:   Where do you see your CRM Dashboard solution going in the future?
We’re receiving significant interest from SBDC’s, and we expect our presence in that market to grow.  We are interested in expanding to other markets and applications.  Developing partnerships with market specialist will be key to our continued success.
 
Question:    Tell me more about your company.
Assessment Builders Inc. is a software development company that specializes in survey, testing and assessment tools for many vertical markets.  Our nine years of experience in these types of integrations enables us to provide quality solutions that meet our customers’ requirements.  We use only senior software developers in our development and integration projects.

Twitter is not now, or ever, going to be a valid CRM choice

Jeremiah Owyang is a well known web strategist and I agree with much of what he writes on his blog.  However, I strongly disagree with what he tweeted this afternoon:

 ”Supporting: Savvy brands will support their customers in real time, Twitter itself is becoming a CRM system”

Not only is Twitter not a CRM system, it will never be a valid CRM system for any customer serious about building and managing customer relationships.  I agree with Dusty Reagan, who responded to my initial response, when he wrote “Twitter is the data stream on which a CRM may be built”.  CRM systems should be capable of leveraging multiple data streams and multiple communication channels but that does not mean the data stream or the communication channel themselves become the CRM system.

If you want to avoid shortchanging your customers, and your company, keep these ideas in mind:

• The majority of customers will not use Twitter in a business setting.  Yes, I use Twitter throughout the day and appreciate it when a company is proactive in reaching out to me through Twitter.  However, I would not engage in a support conversation using Twitter, because:
  • 140 characters.  Yes, this is okay for short exchanges, but not for conversations of any length.
  • The conversation is not private or secure.  I do not want the competition to know what I am trying to accomplish or the roadblocks I encounter.  I want this information to remain private.
• My phone and e-mail conversations, along with accompanying e-mail attachments, need to be available and stored within the CRM.  This information must be easily audited and reviewed.
• The CRM system must maintain detailed customer information such as products purchased, key contacts, etc.
• Detailed reports by customer, by end-user, by region, within given product sets, etc.., must be easy to access so that management can determine support costs, the at risk nature of certain customers, upsell opportunities, etc..
• Easy creation and access to knowledgebase articles.
• Various levels of permissions for end-users and support staff.

Yes, there are many more requirements.  I hope that this list provides some insights on how far a tool like Twitter must go in order to even scratch the surface of a real CRM system.

Jeremiah did send me a direct message through Twitter that pointed to his original post on the subject and he has promised a more detailed response to this post.  I would encourage companies that are considering Twitter as a CRM system to step back and find another solution, it is the wrong answer for your customers.  I would also encourage the folks at Twitter to focus on increasing revenue in growing markets where they are uniquely positioned.  The CRM market is slowly being commoditized and this is not the place to invest  your resources.

John

Music software company on the move: ArtistData

In my former role, as the CTO at Sonicbids I had the pleasure to meet with many bright entrepreneurs in the music industry.  One of the people that most impressed me was Brenden Mulligan, Founder of ArtistData.  Brenden came across as someone truly passionate about helping the entire music community, and he is someone who “gets it”.
 
Artists have a challenge similar to corporations who are embracing social media, keeping their information up to date on a multitude of web sites.  I know several artists and they struggle to keep their information (calendar, profiles, videos, etc..) up to date across half a dozen, or more, web sites.  ArtistData simplifies this challenge in a very simple, yet powerful way.
 
Brenden recently shared some powerful stats about user adoption of their tool.  I promised not to provide exact numbers but it’s worth noting that they have thousands of artists using the platform and more than 700,000 updates have already taken place.  Impressive numbers considering they have spent no money on marketing and the product that is still in beta.
 
If you’re interested in learning more, check out Brenden’s interview on WeAreListening
 
This product will make a big difference to any artist out there.  It may also one day, be a product that companies should investigate for managing their social media outreach, as the same challenges are becoming increasingly apparent in Corporate America.

Interview with Bright Green Projects

I recently learned about Bright Green Projects on Twitter and was intrigued to learn more about their requirements tool.  I reached out to Adam Feldman, Managing Director at Bright Green, and here is the interview.  I will begin reviewing Bright Green later this week and will write a review in the near future.

Question:   How long has Bright Green Projects been in business?

We officially began work on Bright Green Projects in the middle of 2008, after many years of discussions.  We began a pilot period of Bright Green at the beginning of the year and officially launched on May 1st.

Question:   Who are the members of the Bright Green leadership team and what experience do they bring to the company?

Rowan McCann and I are the two main Directors at Bright Green.  We met around 10 years ago while working at Deloitte Consulting as Management Consultants.  We both worked at Deloitte for a number of years, during this time we were mainly implementing Siebel for large multi-nationals.

After leaving Deloitte, our paths separated a little.  I became a contractor in the UK working exclusively as a Business Analyst – mainly leading small teams of Analysts in the design of Siebel and ERP implementations.  Rowan’s path lead him to much more technical roles, eventually working as a  Lead Developer and Architect.

Question:   What is Bright Green’s core business?

Our core business is to make the life of Business Analysts and Developers easier, so they can design and implement better solutions for their customers.

Question:   What makes your Requirements tool unique?

Our tool is really simple and easy to use, you will never need to go on a training course to use our product!  We regularly get asked our biggest competitor – the answer is Excel and Word! 9 times out of 10 a project will manage their requirements in Excel and Word, once you reach the end of design a heavy document will be dropped onto the stakeholders desk for approval! No wonder they run fast!

Bright Green allows BA’s to capture requirements and collaborate with Stakeholders throughout the design to make sure that the BA is on the right track.  Once the requirement is finalised, the Stakeholder will receive an email and will be able to easily approve relevant requirements.

We have put a few video’s on youtube that shows some of the unique features of our tool. The two links below are related to collaboration and signoff.

Question:   What is the ROI that most customers receive when implementing this solution?

It is a little more difficult to calculate the ROI on a monthly subscription, so I will try simplify things a little.  Our smallest package costs $49 / month.   The economy has slown down, but I hope none of us are working for much less than $100 / day -  so I would say if this tool saves you half a day per month, it has paid for itself.

Question:   What is the future for Requirement tools?

It has been known for years that if you get your requirements wrong, the cost of fixing this mistake once the solution has been built is huge – tools to manage requirements will always be important.  At Bright Green we feel that the future is in more Agile type projects, more projects will be capturing lightweight requirements and working with customers in a more iterative development process.

In coming months you will see that Bright Green will fully support the Agile development process.  We will enhance our application to allow requirements (or stories) to be associated to iterations and releases, allocated to developers and then tested.

Question:    Brief blurb about Bright Green.

Bright Green Projects is a solution for IT projects using the latest social-networking principles to deliver a collaborative requirement management tool with effective change management, structured risk and issue control, a clear audit trail and a unique sign-off manager.

www.brightgreenprojects.com

Do manners have any place in business?

I regularly remind people that our corporate mission is to increase the value of the business.  Whether you are an executive, a manager, or someone working on the front-lines (or all of the above if you are in a start-up like I am) increasing valuation is of primary importance.  While I am passionate about that statement I usually leave out two points of clarification that are equally important:

• Stay true to your core beliefs.  Being successful without staying true to yourself is the opposite of success.
  • I once worked at a company where we needed to ship software to our biggest customer early the next morning.  The problem was, the software was not ready.  The CEO insisted that we send a blank CD.  Since this was back in the day when you had to send a physical CD by snail-mail it would buy us time.  The “plan” would be to claim a duplication error and buy us enough time to finish the product.  To cut to the chase, the CD was not sent, we gave the customer a call and found a mutually beneficial solution.  “Stay gold Ponyboy, stay gold”.
• Be respectful to those you work with and those you partner with (customers, partners, fellow employees, etc..).
  • I once worked with an executive who told me they disliked how I asked people about “how their lives were going”.  Instead of wasting their time with this nonsense, focus on the business.  We were at the job to get the job done, enough said.  I had not worked long enough with the person to expect that reaction, it usually takes time for people to feel that way about me. You don’t have to love those you work with but you need to be civil, respectful.  Don’t be rude to anyone, your peers, your team members, anyone.

I am too old to be naive about business but I do have personal levels of behavior and standards that I expect to live by, and I expect those I work with to live by.  Are these standards too high?

John

Now is the time to grow your bench strength

Staffing levels are down and lay-offs are still occurring too frequently.  Many companies are experiencing low morale and they are concerned with keeping their top talent on board.  While I am always an advocate of incentives for your top performing employees, I would argue you must now, even more than ever, focus on your bench strength. 

Here is my advice on how to get started:

• Review your plans for dealing with the “bus factor”.  For each role in the company, do you have a backup?  Come up with your list of key competencies and fill in your skill chart.  If you use a resource management system you may already have this in place.
• For small teams, begin regular training sessions.  I am a big believe in brown bag lunch training sessions.  They are casual, informative, and provide growth opportunities for the team and the presenter.
•  If you are a manager or executive, more than ever it is critical that you delegate.  I am not discussing grooming your replacement (although this is critical) with this item but am proposing that  you challenge you and your teams to grow  Your team will rise to the challenge.
• Work with local colleges to form partnerships and start an internship program.  This will benefit your company and your community.

What else are you doing to grow your bench strength?

John

On crazy work days take a minute to look up

Today was one of those extremely busy work days where the world moved at a faster than normal pace.  On these types of days I still like to make time to:

• Get in a run to clear my head and decompress.
• Find a few minutes to check in with the team.  Taking time to interact on a personal level is a great change of pace from staring at the computer screen.
• Use my drive home to reflect on the bigger picture in order to ensure I do not lose sight of the bigger picture.

What do you do on days like this?

John

Leadership tips from a Soccer Goalie

My daughter has played goalie for years.  She has matured and is demonstrating solid skills as a goalie, and as a leader on the field.  As I watched her game today (a 4-0 shutout), I started thinking through the things that she does as a leader, things you should be doing if you manage any team:

• With every attack by the other team you can see my daughter directing the players on the field to best match up against the attackers on the other team.
  • We set yearly goals and objectives for individuals and teams.  Evaluate these goals and do not execute blindly.  If you, or your team, are not working on the right tasks today you may not be in business tomorrow.
• While many shots that are made on goal do not require diving for the ball, there are times when it is out of reach and diving is the only chance that she has to stop the shot.
  •  You work hard.  Your team works hard.  However, sometimes you must put in that extra effort if you are going to succeed.  Push yourself and your team when necessary.  While you cannot expect people to live on the edge all the time, you must ask for them to do so sometimes.  Go for it.
• There are times when an attacker comes loose and is one-on-one with my daughter.  The foot race to the ball can be stressful, and the collision that happens as she goes for the ball can be tough to watch.
  • As a leader you will sometimes get knocked around, verbally, by others in the organization or outside of your company.  Stay true to what you believe and stay tough.  Leaders must have thick skins, otherwise you’re in the wrong line of work.
• As good as my daughter is, there are times when the other team scores.  While you can see frustration in her face when it happens, it’s quickly replaced by a renewed focus to not let another one by.
  • You,  and your entire team, will sometimes fail.  Accept that fact.  Learn from the failure and then get back into the game.  Those that are able to put that failure behind them, remain calm and focused, will succeed.

John

Do you have CRM implementation nightmares?

In the past I have written that CRM is a tool, a tool that can only work if it is built upon solid practices.  Too often this is not the case and failures occur.  Do you have any stories that you’d be interested in sharing with the crowd? 

If I receive enough comments I will take some time to respond and provide suggestions in follow-up post.

John