READING: Paul Greenberg

In his blog post "Time to Put a Stake in the Ground on Social CRM," CRM guru Paul Greenberg outlines the changes taking place as new social media technologies allow for more robust conversations between companies and their customers.

Greenberg makes an appeal to move beyond existing language differences in describing customer relations management: specifically, Greenberg dismisses CRM 2.0 and opts for Social CRM:

"CRM 2.0 has been a placeholder at best and obscuring at worst - it doesn't reflect the customer's control of the business ecosystem all that well. Social CRM is a better, though not great, reflection of what we're talking about."

An interesting point Greenberg makes is the move from a transaction based relationship to a interaction based realtionship with customers. Value creation is now a collaborative process based on customer engagement:

The lesson for business, in terms of Social CRM is that we are now at a point that the customers' expectations are so great and their demands so empowered that our SCRM business strategy needs to be built around collaboration and customer engagement, not traditional operational customer management.

Greenberg has really put his finger on the changing flow of value allowed by new communication technology tools. Customer input can now create feedback loops that offer new value to companies that are ready to respond to customer needs.

As what Greenberg describes as Social CRM becomes the mode of operation for companies, it will be increasingly imortant for companies to invest time and resources into listening to the conversation about their brand and services.

I would suggest that listening and responding creatively is the future of customer service.