Consumerism Of The Enterprise by Rich Julius, Crimson Consulting Group

Slide 1: Consumerism of the Enterprise From Accounts to Communities in B2B eCommerce Rich Julius, Partner, Crimson Consulting Group, Interactive Services www.crimson-consulting.com © CRIMSON CONSULTING 2008

Slide 2: B2B vs. B2C eCommerce  Focus on Accounts vs. focus on Contacts  Considerable investment in the Account Management model:  Infrastructure: B2B companies invest in SFA/CRM systems to manage multiple contacts, contracts, projects, support cases, purchase history, special pricing, and sales marketing intelligence  Trust: the B2B customer agrees to register and be managed in the company’s systems  Considerable benefits:  Improved account management  Higher conversion rates  increased impulse buying through related-item selling  Increased customer loyalty and repeat business  Reduced support costs (especially through self-service online solutions) www.crimson-consulting.com © CRIMSON CONSULTING 2008 2

Slide 3: Who Are Your Customers?  Contacts  Accounts  Communities and what do they care about?  price and selection  site usability  relationship and trust  customer care  transparent collaboration  social networking www.crimson-consulting.com © CRIMSON CONSULTING 2008 3

Slide 4: From Customers To Accounts  B2C retailers who have moved to the expensive and difficult-to-achieve account model for a mass- consumer audience achieve impressive results.  In the early days, price and convenience was key.  Eventually the relationship became equally as important, if not more so. www.crimson-consulting.com © CRIMSON CONSULTING 2008 4

Slide 5: From Customers To Accounts www.crimson-consulting.com © CRIMSON CONSULTING 2008 5

Slide 6: From Accounts to Communities  Today, social networking helps boost sales, keep people in the store longer, and increase customer loyalty.  Competitors can compete on price and build account management systems, but they can’t easily duplicate a community that has reached critical mass. www.crimson-consulting.com © CRIMSON CONSULTING 2008 6

Slide 7: From Accounts to Communities www.crimson-consulting.com © CRIMSON CONSULTING 2008 7

Slide 8: Consumerism of the Enterprise  Just as forward-thinking B2C companies tackled account management, B2B companies are now looking at social networking even in the enterprise  Today, B2C companies are sponsoring online communities of customers and partners, resulting in open communications based on transparency and trust.  Command-and-control is giving way to participation and collaboration.  Carefully crafted marketing messages are being supplemented by moderated blogs and discussion forums.  Customer support systems are being supplemented with wikis and forums. www.crimson-consulting.com © CRIMSON CONSULTING 2008 8

Slide 9: Consumerism of the Enterprise  This movement has long been heralded by John Chambers, Chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems: "While first-generation Internet developments were driven by enterprises down into the consumer market, the reverse is now true, with consumer technologies such as social networking driving fundamental changes into the business market"  “Chambers Advises Partners To Embrace Web 2.0” ChannelWeb Network, CRN TV, April 7 2007 www.crimson-consulting.com © CRIMSON CONSULTING 2008 9

Slide 11: Enterprise 2.0 Point Andrew McAfee defines Enterprise 2.0 as “the use of emergent social software platforms within companies, or between companies and their partners or customers.” “Why are online communities so often so frightening? And when, if ever, are the fears warranted? I have so far seen virtually no evidence, and heard no stories, that corporate digital communities of practice blow up in the faces of those who host them.”  Andrew McAfee, Harvard Business School blogging at: http://blog.hbs.edu/faculty/amcafee/index.php/faculty_amcafee _v3/ sharp_responses_to_flat_communities/ www.crimson-consulting.com © CRIMSON CONSULTING 2008 11

Slide 12: Enterprise 2.0 Counterpoint Andrew Keen in his new book “The Cult of the Amateur” discusses the downside of Web 2.0 and its effect on the quality and reliability of information. “The key argument is that the so-called ‘democratization’ of the Internet is actually undermining reliable information... with user- generated content, we're actually doing away with information, high-quality information, … and replacing it with user-generated content, which is unreliable, inane, and often rather corrupt.”  Andrew Keen, Author and Entrepreneur Speaking on the MacNeil Lehrer NewsHour, 9/18/07 www.crimson-consulting.com © CRIMSON CONSULTING 2008 12

Slide 13: Consumerism of the Enterprise  Crimson is seeing a significant rise in social networking projects among our enterprise clients. “As the voices of customers and partners begin to be heard alongside the company’s own marketing messages, we’ll see social networking become as important as brand loyalty in the fight to retain customers.”  Me, I said that. Just now. www.crimson-consulting.com © CRIMSON CONSULTING 2008 13

Slide 14: Consumerism of the Enterprise  The issue is, how do you do it right?  Don’t just create communities for their own sake. Create a social marketing strategy. Think about how communities will achieve your key business goals.  Think about how you will both nurture and monitor your Web 2.0 initiatives for quality and accuracy. Don’t expect your community to do your marketing and support work for you.  Consider who will do the work:  IT departments aren’t typically tasked with letting barbarians through the gates, and likewise marketing folks are trained to control the messages.  Outsource it to collaboration vendors skilled in user experience design, application hosting, and moderating and monitoring.  Develop a set of metrics by which to measure success, and revisit your strategy quarterly, because flexibility is important.  And if you lack justification today, remember this: 10 years ago people were saying “I don’t know why, but I think we need a web site” -- and they were right! www.crimson-consulting.com © CRIMSON CONSULTING 2008 14

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