ServiceSource Announces Customer Service Success Management Platform Powered by Salesforce1

Vice President and Principal Analyst, Constellation Research
Constellation Research

Role: Vice President and Principal Analyst focusing on the IOT of Customer Experience and how the cloud is driving more flexible, agile, and robust customer service and customer experiences. In-app or in device customer service is the future. Coverage Areas: Next Generation Customer, Digital Marketing Transformation Bio: As a Vice President and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, Inc, Petouhoff works with Fortune 100 and 500’s Senior Leadership teams to create strategic customer experience (marketing, sales and service) solutions which engage customers, build brands and grow businesses. Combining her experience as a former Forrester software analyst, PWC systems integrator and change management consultant, Petouhoff leads executive workshops to discuss to not only…...

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The Dreamforce-related announcements are already starting to come in. Today ServiceSource announced a Customer Success solution powered by Salesforce1. Mike Rosenbaum, EVP, Salesforce Platform said, "The Salesforce1 Customer Platform is a game changer for developers and partners because it helps them build engaging, next generation apps to connect with customers in a whole new way. By opening the platform, we have made it possible for customers and partners to get their apps and data in one place, where everything is connected and in the context of their business."

Are you a B2B business and want to make sure that your customer not only buys, but renews with you? The latest in this area is called Customer Success Management. These type of vendors not only manage the beginning of a relationship with a company but also have very smart analytics to help you see if the company is happy with your product or service way before renewal time. This is key in SaaS businesses because instead of selling the old way - on premise with maintenance upgrades, if a company is not happy with the SaaS solution, they can decide to not continue the contract. It's much easier to switch than it used to be. And that's what companies need to know if their clients are happy- not just at the time of sales, but throughout the life of the product / service, so when renewal time comes along, it's a yes!...

What this means to you, if you are B2B business, is that you are enable to  provide customer success teams with a platform-oriented way to implement proven success plans and engage users with planned, high-value activities that drive customer lifetime value, reduce churn and ensure customer satisfaction.

ServiceSource is a  global leader in cloud-based recurring revenue management solutions. So if your company wants to provide better service for customers to drive growth and build long-standing relationships across the customer lifecycle, this may be a vendor to look at.  ServiceSource has a comprehensive data management, analytics, automation and services capabilities. They deliver higher subscription, maintenance, and support revenue, improved customer retention, and increased business predictability through their Renew OnDemand^®, Scout^® and proven services offers.

The new features include:

@DrNatalie

VP and Principal Analyst, Covering Customer Service, Sales and Marketing to Deliver Better Customer Experiences

Constellation Research

21st Century Management: Agile, Connected, & Designed for Execution

Terri Griffith

Professor/Author/Speaker
Simon Fraser University

Terri Griffith holds the Keith Beedie Chair in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business. She spent two decades in the Silicon Valley and, in 2012 was honored as a Woman of Influence by the Silicon Valley Business Journal. Terri helps her students and their organizations accelerate performance and prepare for the futures of work. Through her speaking, writing, teaching, and research, she brings evidence-based leadership and innovation to high-tech, education, and global agribusiness organizations. She inspires and coaches groups on negotiating change and uniquely mixing existing and new capabilities. Her most recent work uses a “bottom-up” approach to automation, including artificial intelligence. Her award-winning book, The…...

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This week we premier our 21st Century Management executive education program. Designed and offered at Northwestern University’s James L. Allen Center, the program is five days offering:

• How to lead with all your resources — human, technical and organizational — working in concert
• How distributed teams, crowdsourcing, cross-cultural settings, and “new machine age” opportunities lead to broader, organization-wide considerations (e.g., building a strategic platform, creating a social business)
• Key issues that arise during organizational transformation; developing tools for managing challenges, mitigating risk, and balancing priorities
• New methods for motivating others, engaging teams, and leveraging innovation and networks
• How to use social network analysis to understand 21st century opportunities

Flow

My sessions cover Thursday and Friday, but I’ve had the opportunity to preview many of the slide decks and I’m happily familiar with the work my co-conspirators presented earlier in the week:

Background and More

To any of the involved executives -- here are links to some of the material we will cover and a couple of sneak peeks at what I’ll suggest for further reading (for the rest of you, think of it as a teaser and join us in one of our upcoming versions in July or December):

• Leadership Is More than Interpersonal Skills (One of my HBR Blog posts) 
• Innovation Catalysts (HBR article on Intuit) 
• Backgrounder on the Open Talent Economy (Deloitte) 
• Elance/Odesk Online Employment Report 
• Racing With the Machines TED Talk (Erik Brynjolfsson) 
• Zappos & Holacracy (Forbes) 
• Why Teams Don’t Work (HBR) 
• Transparency: How Leaders Create a Culture of Candor (Warren Bennis et al.) 
• AI, Robotics, and the Future of Jobs (Pew Research) 
• Manager and Machine (McKinsey) 
• How Do You Design a Hospital That Can Foster Great Ideas? (Wired)

Disrupting Failure – The Secret to Success

Gavin Heaton

Founder
Disruptors Co

Gavin is the Founder of Disruptors Co, one of Australia’s leading independent strategy and innovation companies. Gavin advises firms on strategy, marketing, product development and innovation. He is also a member of the Orbits program, the influencer network of  award winning analyst and advisory firm, Constellation Research. Gavin advises boards and leadership on innovation strategy, marketing, data-driven product development and corporate venturing. Gavin is on the board of Vibewire, a youth-led social enterprise based in Sydney, Australia and on the Technology Advisory Group for Good2Give – the workplace giving platform. ...

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In the world of startups we have been obsessed with failure. And learning. Or what Mick Liubinskas from muru-D calls “flearning”. You will, no doubt, have heard of the concept of “fail-fast” – a term borrowed from system design and applied to software engineering – where the focus is on fast, iterative design that irons out errors through the process of repetition and improvement. But failure comes with risk and with stigma. And no matter how bravely we celebrate our failures, as 99dresses founder, Nikki Durkin points out, “luck and timing are often huge factors in success and failure.”

So I was interested to see the way that this infographic by MaryEllen Tribby focuses not on the outcomes of success or failure – but on the attributes and behaviours of the individual. And I am wondering – if we are honest – could we find a way to disrupt failure on our way to being successful. Is there a way to observe and recognise some of our own behaviours and then work to move them from the right hand side (yellow/unsuccessful) to the left (green/successful)?

And beyond that, what if we moved beyond platitudes (and infographics), and ACTED ON some of these things. Or all of them? I am going to give it a try. I’m going to spend 30 minutes a day carrying out actions from the green side. And I will let you know how I go. Perhaps disrupting failure is the secret to success. Time will tell.

Coming soon! Disrupting Digital Business - The Book

R "Ray" Wang

Principal Analyst and Founder
Constellation Research

R “Ray” Wang is the CEO of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research Inc. He co-hosts DisrupTV, a weekly enterprise tech and leadership webcast that averages 50,000 views per episode and blogs at www.raywang.org. His ground-breaking best-selling book on digital transformation, Disrupting Digital Business, was published by Harvard Business Review Press in 2015. Ray's new book about Digital Giants and the future of business, titled, Everybody Wants to Rule The World was released in July 2021. Wang is well-quoted and frequently interviewed by media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Fox Business, CNBC, Yahoo Finance, Cheddar, and Bloomberg. Short Bio R “Ray” Wang (pronounced WAHNG) is the Founder, Chairman, and Principal Analyst of Silicon Valley-based Constellation…...

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The Wait Is Over!

I am excited to announce Disrupting Digital Business will be published by Harvard Business Review Press for world wide availability in Q2 2015.  As many of you know, I started this journey to write a book almost 4 years ago.  It was around the time I had decided to leave Altimeter Group and start Constellation Research. I was kindly presented with a very generous book contract.  At that time, social media and social business was in full swing and a number of folks were putting out their social media story.

While social was hot, an underlying shift was in motion.  The combination of disruptive technologies, people to people (P2P) networks, and new business models seeded the beginning of a digital revolution.  It seemed that we had new laws of business emerging amidst this change.  This revolution may have started in the late 1990’s with the hype of dot.com business models.  However, the internet era was a foreshadow of things to come.

Right now, we’re standing at the dawn of a digital business revolution. In fact, we barely realize it. And as with the beginning of every revolution, those in the midst of it can feel it, sense it, and realize that something big is happening. Yet it’s hard to quantify the shift. The data isn’t clear. It’s hard to measure. Pace of change is accelerating. Old rules seem not to apply. You and I can’t seem to put structure around this.

Many of us have been here. But we can qualify the shift. We are articulating how these businesses are about to change. We’re doing it piecemeal, but a story is emerging. We have one-off stories about massive business model disruption. In fact, the impact of digital on our personal lives is an early indication. From how we interact with each other to how we engage with organizations, the shift is right in front of us. Our personal experiences foreshadow how businesses will be disrupted by this digital revolution.

In fact, 52% of the Fortune 500 have been merged, acquired, gone bankrupt, or fallen off the list since 2000.  The impact of digital disruption is real.  However, it’s not the technologies that drive this change. It’s a shift in how new business models are created through digital transformation.  Old line businesses are reinventing themselves as digital businesses.  New digital business models challenge existing incumbents.  We’re moving at a rapid pace of change and massive scale from systems of transaction (record) to achieving mass personalization at scale (digital).

The secret to success in disrupting digital business will require organizations and individuals to know who they want to be, and live and breath it.  Disrupting digital business requires leaders to be:

• Transformation focused: Incremental innovation is not enough. Organizations have to design for transformational innovation.
• Relevant: Context drives the ability to deliver mass personalization at scale.
• Authentic: Digital provides trust and radical transparency through massive data backbones and open access and support the brand promise.
• Intention driven: Best practices rules and processes aren’t enough, we have to predict what’s expected next.
• Networked: New P2P networked economies are guided by ephemeral self interest

Are you prepared to get ahead of the train and disrupt digital business?

What’s Next?

As the book takes final shape, I am working very closely with my editor Tim Sullivan and the Harvard Business Review Press team on book launch. A few important items:

• Book availability. Print editions and e-books will be available worldwide in Q2 2015. Pre orders on Amazon are expected January 2015.
• Roadshow and book tour.  A Constellation roadshow on Disrupting Digital Business is being planned for 2015 and we will seek sponsors for this roadshow.
• Keynote speaking requests.  The team is already booking keynotes for next year.  Dates are limited and speaking inquiries can be addressed to [email protected]
• In search of a publicity firm.  I’m in search of a good business press and media influencer publicity professionals.  The goal is exposure to a broader set of business influencers in both broadcast and print.
• Looking for a good speaker’s bureau.  I was with Monitor Talent and their model has changed since acquisition by Deloitte and Stern Speakers.  I’m seeking business events where digital and innovation are key themes.

Please feel free to send any inquiries to [email protected]

Constellation’s Connected Enterprise 2014 – Dominate Digital Disruption October 29th to 31st, Half Moon Bay Ritz Carlton.

Join us October 29th to 31st for Constellation’s Connected Enterprise: The Executive Innovation Conference For Digital CXO’s and Leaders. These leaders convene to discover, share, and inspire each other on how digital business can realize brand promises, transform business models, increase revenues, reduce costs, and improve compliance.

The 3-day executive retreat will include mind expanding keynotes from visionaries and futurists, interactive best practices panels, deep 1:1 20 minute interviews with market makers, rapid fire high-energy new technology demos, The Constellation SuperNova Awards event, a golf outing, and an immersive networking event.

Your POV.

Ready to begin your digital transformation? Still looking for a CDO? Want to jump start your digital business efforts? Let us know how you are getting there and what first steps have worked.  Add your comments to the blog or reach me via email: R (at) ConstellationR (dot) com or R (at) SoftwareInsider (dot) org.

Resources

The post Personal Log: Coming soon! Disrupting Digital Business – The Book appeared first on A Software Insider's Point of View.

Customer Engagement Optimization Twitter Chat with @rwang0 & @drnatalie

Join R "Ray" Wang and Dr. Natalie Petouhoff for a Twitter chat to discuss the latest trends, policies, and business models around customer engagement.

Details

• October 10, 2014 10:00a.m. PT/ 1:00p.m. ET
• Participate using the hashtag #VerintChat 
• @rwang0 and @drnatalie will answer your #custserv, #custexp, #custengagement questions!

Oracle OpenWorld 2014 – focus on the decision makers to empower your supply chain

pending

Guy Courtin was formerly Vice President and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research covering Matrix Commerce and how the Internet of Things drives the evolution of commerce.  Guy has over 15 years experience in the technology space and specifically in the supply chain space. Most recently he was the Vice President of Research at SCM World. Where he focused on the service providers that empowered supply chains. Prior to SCM World, Guy held numerous senior positions. He was responsible for product marketing at RSi, a retail supply chain solution provider. There managed RSi’s go to market strategy around their leading cloud based supply chain solutions. He also spear headed Progress Software’s supply chain group. Where he was responsible for driving revenue and market share as well…...

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I just returned from a successful week spent at Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco. A nice perk for being in the Bay Area at this time of the year was summer was in full swing! While it was raining buckets back in Boston, I was enjoying the close to 90-degree sunny weather…as I ran between meetings. The conference revolved around Oracle’s push into the cloud, talk of the importance of mobility, smarter access to big data and the demotion of Larry Ellison to CTO…okay the last item was some good humored self deprecation from Mr. Ellison himself while on stage for his keynote Tuesday. He even apologized for missing last year’s main stage demo since he had been pulled into watching some boat race.

Not a bad trophy to have at your event…

Anyways, the area I was focused on was what Oracle was doing in the supply chain and retail/CPG spaces. Oracle did not disappoint with the large number of sessions dedicated to these spaces. So let’s look at 3 things I took away from both the CPG/Retail sessions and the Supply Chain sessions -

The shift in power in the CPG-Retail spaces means a change in how we address it:

• In the retail space Oracle discussed a persona-based approach for their offerings. Clearly traditional retail sub segments are not behaving the way they once did – the customer persona is becoming the driving force not the retail sub vertical. Retailers need to approach personas when it comes to how they best address the consumer need. It is the consumer that will dictate what the rules are. The retailer, with help from their service providers, need to focus on addressing the different personas they are servicing and build the software and solutions around this. This is what we are seeing with Matrix Commerce – as the number of intersections between the consumer and commerce supply chain grows, so does the need for the solution vendors to offer more nimble solutions. Oracle provided an example of how they could work with retailers to equip the retailer with an enhanced view of the customer. They designed a system that allowed the retailer to associate a persona to the way the consumer interacted with the retailer – pulling information from all possible channels. Allowing the retailer to more effectively address the consumers’ needs. Oracle Retail, staying true to what was being discussed on main stage, highlighted the fact the solution had a mobile aspect. Why is this important other than following the buzz? It places the information and analytics in the hands of those working on the retail floor. The mobile delivery of data and analytics means the people at the store level can make better decisions and service the customer in a much more personalized and effective manner. Getting the information closer to the decision makers.
• We are all aware that consumer influence has increased vis-à-vis retailers and CPGs. Oracle highlighted how their solutions are helping CPG companies to be even more efficient and effective in their relationship with the retail channels. Once again it boils down to focusing on better usage of retailer data and the subsequent enhanced collaboration that allows an effective partnership between CPGs and their retailers to meet increasingly savvy consumer requirements. Sony discussed working with Oracle to overhaul their managing of sales and promotions for their PlayStation products and how it was sold through retail channels such as Wal Mart, Gamestop, Target, Amazon and Best Buy. At the core Sony and Oracle worked to harmonize and ensure they had the most reliable data and a system of record from which to build upon. From this they worked on putting together an S&OP process that allowed for Sony to do greater analysis of the insights they were getting from the retailers and how Sony could do a more cost effective and smarter job in marketing and selling the PlayStation. Sony was able to look across all their channels, coupled with other sources of data, to improve their planning cycles for the PlayStation. As they stated – they have a very large competitor, with very deep pockets…so Sony has to do it smarter and more efficiently. Focusing on the fundamental blocking and tackling with the help of Oracle gives Sony a competitive edge in the space.
• Finally, and this was something I heard through many of the sessions for CPG and retail, but there is a real emphasis on how to take advantage of the confluence of mobile – big data – analytics – cloud and focusing on how to drive down more intelligence closer to consumer touch points. This is really about empowering all the players that are close to the consumer, the best data and analytics to make the right decision on the ground. Think about it, you and I as consumers have gained tremendous power in the past decade. Between the transparency the internet has given us to the ability to carry that internet everywhere we go – we as consumers have suddenly put intelligence and insight right into our purses and pockets. The Oracle solutions targeting CPG and Retailers are looking to give the same level of intelligence to the store associates servicing these smarter consumers. The reality is the large systems used to drive CPG and Retail businesses are vital for running the businesses at a macro level. But the trick is how to empower those that are “on the front lines” to have a similar impact on the process.

The overarching theme for CPG and retail was to provide the complete end-to-end solution and platform that will allow for this transformation. Overall they touched many aspects of what we are seeing in Matrix Commerce. The ability to push data and analytics down to the closest touch point of the consumer is vital to reducing the friction that often flares up at those levels.

Supply chain continues to be about better planning…but also easier access to improved execution

• My kingdom for a better plan! Clearly planning remains at the heart of supply chain…really at the heart of business and dare I say life? Yet for some reason it has a bad connotation at times. Yes we all know that all plans carry one similar trait: they are WRONG. But the reality is we really cannot do much without those plans. What was interesting in the discussions of planning was not that Oracle was professing a 99.9% accurate plan, or a faster plan but looking at offering a more responsive planning method. Since being responsive is different that being efficient. Again pulling on the themes of big data – cloud – analytics, they discussed continuing to work on their planning engines that are digging deeper into the data as well as making them more accessible within the planning organization. Panasonic Avionics (they are the division of Panasonic that builds and maintains many of the in flight entertainment units you may leverage when you are flying), for example, has a very challenging supply chain to service. With long component lead times, capacity constraints, high demand volatility and a large array of materials to service (they mentioned that they still need to support some systems that use video tapes!), Panasonic Avionics really needed a system that was able to rapidly identify where the plan would impact the product. In order to properly achieve this, Panasonic and Oracle needed to ensure the planning engine could truly understand the complexity of the BOM and identify where each part of that BOM could be impacted by any fluctuation in the plan. They highlighted the ability to improve the granularity of the information being pulled into the planning process, as well as the ability to run multiple plans to provide the most robust scenarios. The speed at which Panasonic Avionics was able to refresh their plans allowed for rapid insights into potential issues.
• Embracing the cloud – but not just for lower TCO and faster implementations. Like many vendors, dare I say most vendors; there was a strong message around putting solutions up in the cloud. Good. I agree with this thinking. What I also agree with, and what Oracle made clear was this does not mean you have to ignore continuing to offer on-premise solutions. When I sat through a session on Oracle’s transportation and global trade solutions being moved into a cloud offering, what was refreshing was the fact that they made a point to discuss continuing to offer the solution on premise. And that both would maintain the same high level of functionality. The same was true for the discussion around supply chain planning functionality and its migration to the cloud. What was evident was that Oracle seems to grasp the notion that while the cloud is important; it does not prevent them from continuing to offer and support on-premise offerings. I do think that the strategy to give a choice is important and will allow them to target mid-market and individual business units in larger enterprises. Long gone are the days of massive system overhauls and implementations. Supply chains need nimble solutions to keep up with their ever-changing environment.
• Making supply chain solutions even more business friendly. Let’s face it, when it comes to the supply chain function within business, it is still fighting for a place at the big table. Yes we hear of more companies with CSCOs, but I would still wager that number is small compared to CMOs, CFOs, CIOs and yes CEOs. But my last take away from the supply chain discussions is the way Oracle appears to be addressing this issue. For example, they spoke of better tying in what is happening in the supply chain to the marketing side of the house. The solutions stressed the need to drive analytics and better information down the planning stack – get as much rich information where it matters. Decoupling the financial flow from the physical supply chain to better understand how the two interact. Individually these are all nice efforts, but put together they indicate a view of the importance of the holistic supply chain – one that starts on a solid platform where the right data is leveraged. This mirrors what was spoken about on main stage Tuesday, and the overall drive by Oracle to ensure cross channel and cross identity customer experience. How true that is at the core of supply chain – being able to ensure the best view of the customer’s needs and orders.

Oracle’s overall Value Chain solutions are all rowing in the right direction. When you add to the discussion the continuing evolution of Oracle’s Warehouse Management solution that has added Yard management – clients have the ability to access a full suite of execution modules. When it comes to Matrix Commerce, one key need for the commerce supply chain is to ensure the elimination of friction, friction that arises from supply chain blind spots. Not having the full view of your fulfillment can cause supply chain blind spots to sprout.

Oracle continues to maintain its status as a “mega vendor.” Their breadth and depth in terms of solutions and industries make them a serious contender in most situations on the market. We will continue to watch with intent how they address the area.

Tagged: #oow14, Oracle, Oracle Open World, Supply Chain

Owning the Customer Experience is a Marketing Function

Partner, Sensei Marketing
Partner, Sensei Marketing

Sales & marketing veteran with almost 30 years’ experience and now 1800 digital projects to his credit for clients including Morgan Stanley, AOL, Hyatt Gaming Management, Snyder's of Hanover, Hitachi, the Home Depot, Kraft Foods, Drees Homes, American Idol, and hundreds more, including leading agencies around the North America.     ...

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The landscape in which businesses operate has changed dramatically in modern times, yet the roles of marketing executives and departments have been slow to change. According to consulting firm Deloitte, the influence and agenda of marketing executives have expanded, yet their organizational context has not fully caught up — they often have only indirect input on many of the critical customer and marketing-related decisions enterprises need to make. Navigating these tensions is what today’s chief marketing officers (CMOs) face.

Clearly, there’s a conflict at the core of marketing departments today.

The Conflicted Marketing Function

Marketers are expected to support the sales function and are measured by  short-term successes; yet true and sustainable success is only achievable through long-term customer development efforts.  Sales executives demand more quality leads, yet today’s quality customers are acquired when existing customers become advocates and influence their like-minded friends and colleagues to become customers.

Marketing is tasked with creating and building the business’s brand, yet increasingly a business’s brand is established by existing customers and shareholders sharing their experiences with that business, not by the advertisements and sponsorships brainstormed by marketers.

Businesses turn to marketers to embrace new digital marketing technologies, yet measure their success via short-term metrics such as the number of followers and mentions instead of the net effect of that social media activity on the business’ bottom-line.

Achieving Return on Marketing Investment

Business leaders, including marketing chiefs, argue that achieving – or even understanding – the return on investment from marketing efforts is difficult.  Traditionally, this has been true. Measuring ROI from marketing efforts requires some control of the entire customer life cycle, something few have been allowed to manage if they even knew how to do it.

Marketers, emboldened by the real-time engagement and response offered via digital and social media, are changing their fortunes – and that of their businesses – by taking ownership of the entire customer experience. Customer life cycle marketing is the practice of creating consistent experiences at each touch point in the relationship between a business and its customer – from the first cold-call, to the follow up sales meeting, to solution integration, to billing and customer service.

Creating Advocates

Bain & Company and Satmetrix, through the development of their Net Promoter Score (NPS), have proven that new customers acquired from the recommendation of existing customer advocates are more profitable customers than those acquired through traditional marketing efforts. As a result, marketers can provide a better service to their businesses by focusing on moving existing customers from satisfied customers to loyal customers, and from loyal customers to business advocates.

Creating advocates is not as straightforward a tactic as many will lead you to believe. Advocates are not merely happy and satisfied customers; they’re customers whose use of a product or engagement with a business is inextricably intertwined with their daily experience. These are the customers who voluntarily advocate for the brands they love. The recommendations issued by these types of customers  yield greater business benefit than recommendations offered by paid endorsements or by gamified social media celebrities.

How to Create Experiences

Here’s a short analysis of by The Economist Group on ways modern businesses have create the experiences required to earn advocacy.

1. Establish emotional markers along the customer journey.

Create delight in the experience; don’t just create better products: It’s important for marketers to address the holistic end-to-end customer experience and think about brand engagement, customer delight, and growth. Experience innovation is as much about how to delight as how to deliver. You remember the first time you got flew Virgin Airlines, the first time you walked into an Apple store. These experiences are emotional markers for these brands.

2. Weave your business into the customer’s lifestyle.

It’s about looking at the whole customer “ecosystem,” not just where you play today. Finding innovation opportunities often requires looking beyond your narrow product category. Thinking about the larger ecosystem—the opportunities to meet customer needs in the spaces surrounding your core product or service offering– allows you to expand your base and opportunities for growth. For example, Starbucks has developed a larger ecosystem that extends beyond morning coffee into daylong “moments of connection” across multiple food and beverage categories. New formats include a wine bar concept, with mobile payment and reward apps to enhance loyalty.

3. Don’t follow the current trends; seek the trend currents.

It’s about being customer-focused, but not customer-led: Experience innovators recognize that consumers can’t tell you about the things they really need but haven’t yet imagined.  And consumers can’t articulate how they will do things differently in the future. An example of this is when Delta brought the lounge directly to the gate, creating a new experience among travelers who had never thought of the gate as a café and social destination.

4. Focus on the end-to-end experience, not a single flagship product

Brand the total experience; don’t just deliver “a breakthrough idea:” Great experience innovation isn’t coming up with a single idea, but delivering a connected journey from one brand. Disney delivers magic with bracelets that optimize your waiting time in the park, new cruise and vacation experiences, and carefully curated apps that bring the experience to life for kids.

Sensei Debates

Should marketing own the entire customer relationship, not just the branding and lead acquisition functions?

Sam Fiorella
Feed Your Community, Not Your Ego

The post Owning the Customer Experience is a Marketing Function appeared first on Sensei Marketing.

Platforms: What FinancialForce, Xactly, and Hubspot Understand

Platforms – can’t live with them… pass the potatoes.

I know, we all hate platforms.

The crux of the problem is explaining what a platform is and how it works, I can write for ages about the details and go into nitpicking details – and never publish.  The closest I got to it was the post I did when SFDC announced Salesforce1 (the platform, not the message of a mobile client attempt at confusing users).

But the issue remains: how to explain platforms easy and simple?

Then, it hit me as I was sitting at conference after conference these past weeks: use examples.  I collected some of the most obvious ones these past months and I want to share them with you to try to elucidate on what platforms are and how they work.

Defining a Platform

If there was ever a fool’s errand it is to try to get y’all to agree on what a platform is.  I know better than that.

However, before we start I want to give you a short version of  what I call platforms (and what you should also, if you want to be right… ok, ok, just messing with you…).

First a proper definition, but not from Webster’s (who misses the point by simply stating it is an OS – which is a very basic form or platform, but not related to cloud computing), but form Wikipedia (after disambiguation, ended up in computing platform) that says:

A computing platform is, in the most general sense, whatever pre-existing environment a piece of software is designed to run within, obeying its constraints, and making use of its facilities. Typical platforms include a hardware architecture, an operating system (OS), and runtime libraries

Some of the critical pars of this definition are: environment, self-contained, and with specific resources to leverage the environment at least as I read it, but I may be biased. Also, by “hardware architecture” I interpret Cloud Computing in the context of this post and my future writings.

In cloud computing, a hardware / software architecture combination, the platform is the middle layer that provides essential, secure, scalable, and repeatable services that are then leveraged by the SaaS and IaaS layers to run operations.  Think of it as a “traffic cop” that ensures that the right element (data, function, integration point, more) goes where it is supposed and ends up in the right place, after providing it with the right resources to get there.

The easiest way to think about a platform (PaaS) in cloud computing is to look at the requirements:

• A component of a three tier open cloud architecture (entails being able to communicate with any IaaS or PaaS or SaaS component directly without point-to-point integration) – see figure below

• A collection of functions delivered like a service (see some of the examples in the picture above); if you want to call them APIs, do so – but make sure they are open, discoverable, and secure as services at the very least (there is lot more about this coming in future posts).

I am in awe of the many versions and approaches I am finding (as well as failed attempts).  I will highlight a few, but know that I’m merely pointing you to some of the most mature I found; there are many, many others not included here (I cannot cover everything in one post, sorry).

The Platform-to-Platform Play

FinancialForce.is a very interesting play on platforms, as they are both an application leveraging Force.com (Salesforce1) as a platform and a platform on their own.  Depending on what solutions you implement you are either using a service that is delivered on top of Force.com (Salesforce1) or their own platform that also connects to Salesforce1 (Force.com) to provide additional services.

As you see in the chart above, there is an inherent element to cloud-based platforms that is to connect to other platforms and FinancialForce has done this quite well.  By establishing these connections between platforms they both deliver a value add via  new platform that can easily integrate into exiting ones as well as leverage previous investments the customer may have made.

This is the way organizations will leverage the solutions and power provided them by vendors in the cloud: through an aggregation of multiple services delivered by a myriad of platforms providers.

The traditional role of the vendor as a seller of software that does everything end-to-end is coming to an end and being replaced by vendors that connect platforms and offer services on top of them.

The Leveraged Outcome Play

The second example is something that Xactly showcased earlier this year: a new service based on the outcomes generated by the established service they provide.

If you don’t follow Xactly they have a service that helps organizations manage their compensation strategies and tactics.  They do this by delivering data points showing  what others are doing (anonymously) and use that information, together with real-time performance data, to manage compensation for sales people.

In a world that is dramatically changing the value and purpose of the salesperson, Xactly offers organizations an easy way to manage their performance and to reward the right behaviors with proper compensation dynamically and flexibly.

One of the things that Xactly noticed was that they had access to reams of data about more than compensation: who the people were, how they acted, what they did and didn’t do, what worked and didn’t, etc.  All that data started to show insights that were too useful to be abandoned.  Xactly at first used them to share with their clients, in a non-methodic manner, as casual insights.

Along the way they figured two things: one, the insights could be a  product once they figured a method to share them consistently with customers who wanted to know not only how they compared to others, but also what worked and didn’t for others.

Second, it was not only that specific data that made sense-  but the model.  The model of collecting data, any data, from transactions and operations as part of cloud-provided services.  This model, together with the data and the insights, became the basis for a new service they provided via their existing platform by simply leveraging the outcomes and the results of the other services.

This is what platforms do divinely well and easy: extend what has been done into many different new directions with minimal effort.

The Extending Functionality Play

Another platform example that I noticed recently was Hubspot.  At their recent user conference they announced that in addition to the Marketing Automation functionality they were already offering they would begin to offer more basic CRM functionality (related to Sales and Pipeline management as well as contact management).

This was partly led by requests from their clients and partly by them noticing that the data was the same and if they could add a few more reporting and operations functions to the cadre of services their platform offered they could extend the functionality of their platform – but more importantly do so in a way that delivered what customers wanted to see.

Hubspot focus was not only on the data they could add to their existing database, but more on the functions that their customers could not complete with other offerings as well as extending the functionality of their functional and reporting services.

By extending the functionality of their platform (adding new services) they were able to deliver more value to their customers and also showed them how easy it was to do so, enabling future requests for added functionality to come in to them and they can fulfill them – continuing the cycle.

Other Examples

One more place where I am seeing the rise of platforms play is in the CRM Idol competition.  Now on its fourth year, we are used to seeing the contest showcase the main technical challenges, and solutions, offered by new and starting CRM vendors.

During the previous years we saw plenty of focus on social, analytics, big data, marketing automation, and small medium businesses – but this year we are seeing a lot more focus on delivering all these solutions as platforms or even as services for other platforms.

While I cannot name names yet (as the contest is still underway and I cannot show favoritism) you can see the list of participants and draw your own conclusions.  However, know that I am more impressed by the technology deployment approach via platforms this year than at any other time.

Please keep in mind that these are just a few examples of what I am seeing as there are many other plays I didn’t highlight (but will going forward).

OK, your turn – flame on (I feel so old saying that)… Troll on… whichever you prefer.  Tell me what I missed and what you noticed.  Caveat: if you are vendor touting your own solution, likely that your comment will be “spamatized”.

What do you say?

Four Corners' 'Privacy Lost': A demonstration of the Collection Principle

Steve Wilson

Former Vice President and Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Steve Wilson is former VP and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, leading the business theme Digital Safety and Privacy. His coverage includes digital identity, data protection, data privacy, cryptography, and trust. His advisory services to CIOs, CISOs, CPOs and IT architects include identity product strategy, security practice benchmarking, Privacy by Design (PbD), privacy engineering and Privacy [or Data Protection] Impact Assessments (PIA, DPIA). Coverage Areas: -  Identity management, frameworks & governance-  Digital identity technologies-  Privacy by Design -  Big Data; “Big Privacy”-  Identity & privacy innovation Previous experience: Wilson has worked in ICT innovation, research, development and analysis for over 25 years. With double…...

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Tonight, Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Four Corners program aired a terrific special, "Privacy Lost" written and produced by Martin Smith from the US public broadcaster PBS's Frontline program.

Here we have a compelling demonstration of the importance and primacy of Collection Limitation for protecting our privacy.

About the program

Martin Smith summarises brilliantly what we know about the NSA's secret surveillance programs, thanks to the revelations of Ed Snowden, the Guardian's Glenn Greenwald and the Washington Post's Barton Gellman; he holds many additional interviews with Julia Angwin (author of "Dragnet Nation"), Chris Hoofnagle (UC Berkeley), Steven Levy (Wired), Christopher Soghoian (ACLU) and Tim Wu ("The Master Switch"), to name a few. Even if you're thoroughly familiar with the Snowden story, I highly recommend "Privacy Lost". I'll update this blog in the next few days with a link to the ABC's downloadable version of the program.

The program is a ripping re-telling of Snowden's expose, against the backdrop of George W. Bush's PATRIOT Act and the mounting suspicions through the noughties of NSA over-reach. There are freshly told accounts of the intrigues, of secret optic fibre splitters installed very early on in AT&T's facilities, scandals over National Security Letters, and the very rare case of the web hosting company Calyx who challenged their constitutionality (and yet today, with the letter withdrawn, remains unable to tell us what the FBI was seeking). The real theme of Smith's take on surveillance then emerges, when he looks at the rise of data-driven businesses -- first with search, then advertising, and most recently social networking -- and the "data wars" between Google, Facebook and Microsoft.

The interplay between government surveillance and digital businesses is the most important part of the Snowden epic and it receives the proper emphasis here. The depth and breadth of surveillance conducted by the private sector, and the insights revealed about what people might be up to creates irresistible opportunities for the intelligence agencies. Hoofnagle tells us how the FBI loves Facebook. And we see the discovery of how the NSA exploits the tracking that's done by the ad companies, most notably Google's "PREF" cookie.

One of the peak moments in "Privacy Lost" comes when Gellman and his specialist colleague Ashkan Soltani present their evidence about the PREF cookie to Google - offering an opportunity for the company to comment before the story is to break in the Washington Post. The article ran on December 13, 2013; we're told it was then the true depth of the privacy problem was revealed.

My point of view

Martin Smith takes as a given that excessive intrusion into private affairs is wrong, without getting into the technical aspects of privacy (such as frameworks for data protection, and various Privacy Principles). Neither does he unpack the actual privacy harms. And that's fine -- such a program is not the right place to canvass such technical arguments.

When Gellman and Soltani reveal that the NSA is using Google's tracking cookie, the government gets joined irrefutably to the private sector in a mass surveillance apparatus. And yet I am not sure the harm is dramatically worse when the government knows what Facebook and Google already know.

Privacy harms are tricky to work out. Yet it's clear that no harms can come from using and abusing Personal Information if that information is not collected in the first place. I take away from "Privacy Lost" a clear impression of the risks created by the data wars. We are imperilled by the voracious appetite of digital businesses that hang on indefinitely to masses of data about us, while they figure out ever cleverer ways to make money out of it. This is why Collection Limitation is the first and foremost privacy protection. If a business or government doesn't have a sound and transparent reason for having Personal Information about us, then they should not have it. It's as simple as that.

Martin Smith's program highlights the symbiosis between government and private sector surveillance. The data wars not only made dozens of billionaires but they did so much of the heavy lifting for the NSA. And this situation is about to get radically more fraught. On the brink of the Internet of Things, we need to question if we want to keep drowning in data.

Four Corners' 'Privacy Lost': A demonstration of the Collection Principle

Steve Wilson

Former Vice President and Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Steve Wilson is former VP and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, leading the business theme Digital Safety and Privacy. His coverage includes digital identity, data protection, data privacy, cryptography, and trust. His advisory services to CIOs, CISOs, CPOs and IT architects include identity product strategy, security practice benchmarking, Privacy by Design (PbD), privacy engineering and Privacy [or Data Protection] Impact Assessments (PIA, DPIA). Coverage Areas: -  Identity management, frameworks & governance-  Digital identity technologies-  Privacy by Design -  Big Data; “Big Privacy”-  Identity & privacy innovation Previous experience: Wilson has worked in ICT innovation, research, development and analysis for over 25 years. With double…...

Read more

On October 6, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Four Corners program aired a terrific special, "Privacy Lost" written and produced by Martin Smith from the US public broadcaster PBS's Frontline program.

UPDATE: The program we saw in Australia was a condensed version of PBS's two part The United States of Secrets from May 2014. 

Here we have a compelling demonstration of the importance and primacy of Collection Limitation for protecting our privacy.

About the program

Martin Smith summarises brilliantly what we know about the NSA's secret surveillance programs, thanks to the revelations of Ed Snowden, the Guardian's Glenn Greenwald and the Washington Post's Barton Gellman; he holds many additional interviews with Julia Angwin (author of "Dragnet Nation"), Chris Hoofnagle (UC Berkeley), Steven Levy (Wired), Christopher Soghoian (ACLU) and Tim Wu ("The Master Switch"), to name a few. Even if you're thoroughly familiar with the Snowden story, I highly recommend "Privacy Lost". I'll update this blog in the next few days with a link to the ABC's downloadable version of the program.

The program is a ripping re-telling of Snowden's expose, against the backdrop of George W. Bush's PATRIOT Act and the mounting suspicions through the noughties of NSA over-reach. There are freshly told accounts of the intrigues, of secret optic fibre splitters installed very early on in AT&T's facilities, scandals over National Security Letters, and the very rare case of the web hosting company Calyx who challenged their constitutionality (and yet today, with the letter withdrawn, remains unable to tell us what the FBI was seeking). The real theme of Smith's take on surveillance then emerges, when me looks at the rise of data-driven businesses -- first with search, then advertising and social networking -- and the "data wars" between Google, Facebook and Microsoft.

The interplay between government surveillance and digital businesses is the most important part of the Snowden epic and it receives the proper emphasis here. The depth and breadth of surveillance conducted by the private sector, and the insights revealed about what people might be up to creates irresistible opportunities for the intelligence agencies. Hoofnagle tells us how the FBI loves Facebook. And we see the discovery of how the NSA exploits the tracking that’s done by the ad companies, most notably Google’s “PREF” cookie.

One of the peak moments in "Privacy Lost" comes when Gellman and his specialist colleague Ashkan Soltani present their evidence of the PREF cookie to Google - offering an opportunity for the company to comment before the story is to break in the Washington Post. The article ran on December 13, 2013; we're told it was then the true depth of the privacy problem was revealed.