Blog

PEW recently released the results of a new study titled "The Future of Online Socializing." As I was reading the research it occurred me that social media is a terrific opportunity for businesses to succeed and build real relationships with their customers or a terrific opportunity for businesses to fail and build only a list of...

Call center productivity is more important than ever before. According to ICMI, the average customer service call center tracks more than 25 metrics (read the full story here). But in this world, "the more the merrier" is not an effective strategy. Doing so is disorienting and can mark the death of the five critical KPIs that matter: 1....

Which one of us isn’t "tweeting", blogging, posting on Facebook, texting, or handling a lifeline also known as a smart phone? That’s what I thought. Have you seen the campaigns to text 55555 to ABC Corp for X service? It doesn’t take an industry analyst or expert to know that social media and the smart...

Stop the debate. Look at the bigger picture. If the economic downturn has taught us one thing, it’s this: the ongoing debate over cost of customer acquisition verses cost of customer retention has been forever set to rest. Although an understanding of those costs is important, the debate is not worth having. The truly important consideration is sweepingly broad,...

When customer relationship management (CRM) tools came into the market, they promised businesses clarity and insight into their customers. What they’ve delivered is terabytes of raw, hard-to-interpret, and un-actionable data. Over time operational CRMs have gotten better, but many businesses are still stuck in the 1990s. They struggle with turning data into information. Today I read an...

Do you have a mobile phone? If I play the odds, it's a pretty safe bet that you do. The CTIA (who has a particular interest in mobile phone usage) indicates that 91% of the U.S. population has at least one mobile device. Furthermore, nearly 23% of Americans have "cut the cord" completely...

The rule: technology is inadequate when it fails to deliver on business requirements. Let’s think about this. In our world, technology has become a key element in delivering quality interactions with customers and prospects, ensuring business success and longevity. It wasn’t that long ago when technology was cast in only a supporting role. Times have really changed. How is your...