Think the days of email as a useful customer service channel are over? Esteban Kolsky, vice president and practice leader at Kana Software and a former analyst with Gartner, says he’s seen customer service via email make a comeback.

Companies are finding that, for some service requests, email is both cheaper and more effective than phone support. Drawing on his research as an analyst and experiences since joining Kana, Kolsky offers best practices and market insight.

In this 15-minute podcast, listeners will learn:

• How — and why — email is re-emerging as an effective channel for customer service.

• How companies are leveraging automated email service.

• What metrics to use when measuring email service initiatives.

• How the 80/20 rule applies to email service.

 

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A chief customer officer needs to be like Tom Sawyer, says Jeanne Bliss, author of “Chief Customer Officer, Getting past Lip Service to Passionate Action.”

The role of chief customer officer, customer experience officer, or simply a group of people responsible for the voice of the customer with in an organization, has been around for many years and is gaining traction. However, creating the position and finding the right person to fill it comes with some challenges.

In this 15-minute podcast Bliss discusses:

• How an organization knows if it’s ready to appoint a chief customer officer (1:35)
• The typical responsibilities associated with the position and how progress is measured (3:15)
• Where chief customer officers get their authority (5:00)
• The biggest hurdles for chief customer officers (6:27)
• How to “turn the lights on” in an organization (8:12)
• Where the initial commitment to the customer must come from (10:15)
• Where things have gone wrong for organizations with chief customer officers (11:45)
• How different business models should change their approach (13:10)

 

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iRobot Corp., maker of the Roomba vacuum and explosives disarming robots, has moved it call center to an outsourced operation. Maryellen Abreu, director of global technical support with iRobot and Josh Ward, call center supervisor with The Jay Group discuss best practices for working with an outsourcer and running a support operation.

In this 13-minute podcast, Abreu and Ward discuss:

• Why iRobot outsourced the call center
• The metrics they use in the call center and how they hold their outsourcer accountable
• Why they’re using on-demand software
• Integrating voice recognition with service
• Communication between iRobot and the outsources

 

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For more information on managing a call center:

Measure the costs and benefits of call center centralization vs. decentralization

Keep up with the latest call center developments with our Call Center Manager Learning Guide

Take a call center outsourcing quiz

Christopher Carfi, CEO of Cerado Inc., discuses the work he’s doing with VRM, or vendor relationship management, a project from the Berkman Center at Harvard. VRM is turning CRM on its head, providing customers with tools to engage with vendors in a way that works for both parties.

Chris also discusses a workshop entitled Customer Service is the New Marketing that he was recently involved with and the rise of social networking in business.

Additionally, Carfi discusses the rise of social networking in the business world and how organizations can take advantage. Blogs and communities can be difficult to get started, particularly with business-to-business firms, but the reward is worth it, Carfi insists.

 

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Three industry observers share their predictions for the CRM market in the coming year.

Rob Bois, analyst with Boston-based AMR discusses SAP’s latest release, the outlook for CRM suites and spending in the year ahead.

He’s joined by Elana Anderson, independent analyst with NxtERA Marketing, who shares her thoughts on marketing technology in 2008, including behavioral targeting, getting past the hype of Web 2.0, mobile marketing and the role of the CMO.

John Ragsdale, research vice president with the Service and Support Professionals Association, also joins the conversation. John gives his predictions for Web self-service and its effects on customer service, leveraging user communities, wikis and the job outlook for customer service.

Program guide:

• (00:01) Rob Bois
• (20:14) Elana Anderson
• (32:29) John Ragsdale

 

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 After SAP introduced its revamped CRM system, SAP CRM 2007 at its annual Influencer Event in Boston, executives say SAP is now “a CRM company.” Michael de la Cruz, senior vice president for SAP CRM solutions, and Bob Stutz, president and general manager CRM global strategy product development discuss the new interface, usability and SAP’s development plans.

 

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Saj Usman, a senior executive with Accenture, shares how to best determine whether the time is right for an upgrade of your CRM system based on your people, business and system requirements.

Preparing people and testing systems is a vital step for an upgrade of any CRM application.

 

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Ed Thompson, vice president and distinguished analyst with Gartner Inc., shares his thoughts on the Web 2.0 phenomenon and how it’s affecting CRM operations in this podcast.

From the Gartner CRM Summit, Thompson discusses the ways CRM technology vendors are adopting Web 2.0 technology, blogs, getting started with Web 2.0 initiatives and the role of start up companies in the evolution of Web 2.0 and CRM.

 

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Brad Tsai is the vice president and head of USA delivery for HiSoft Corporation, a company that has been providing consulting help for Siebel upgrades since Siebel’s 6.0 version. Tsai offers advice and best practices on upgrading Siebel CRM software in this podcast.

Tsai discusses Siebel upgrade planning and implementation, including what to look for in upgraded software, systems integration, upgrade functionality and support and how to gauge the return on investment (ROI) of an upgrade.

 

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In this podcast, Sheryl Kingstone, director for customer centric strategies at the Yankee Group, shares her insight into mobile CRM.

She discusses deploying mobile CRM applications, choosing between a CRM suite vendor for your mobile needs or turning to partners for their mobile applications. She also shares some of the pitfalls and best practices for mobile CRM.

 

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