Are You Ready for Social CRM

The latest buzz word in CRM is 'social', Social CRM. But what is it, and how does it impact what we currently know as CRM? I've been trying to find a straight answer to this elusive questions, but have come to the realization that there isn't one. After I though about this a bit more, I realised it makes sense for there not to be a definition for Social CRM. Let me try to explain why.

When we think about the word 'social' at a personal level, everyone's circle of friends is different. How one persone interacts with the world around them differs from others. Then so to does how one person views Social CRM is unique.

Social CRM is the process of interacting with customers and prospects beyond typical transactions to better understand one another

When we then apply this to a the business world, we see that how one company interacts with its customers can be very very different to how other companies do. This can be due to any number of factors, including the industry the company is in, the size, and the number of the customers they maintain.

So if 'socialising' is how individuals interact with one another, then, applying this at a company level, Social CRM is how companies interact with their customers, outside of any transactions.

More and more organisations are embracing the emerging world of online social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. It's becoming more and more common for companies to broadcast marketing and news through these means. Social CRM is the process of interacting with customers and prospects beyond typical transactions to better understand one another.

Introducing Sugar 6

With Sugar 6, the new release of SugarCRM's flagship product line, organizations can better leverage social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, as well as any number of social media feeds, inside their SugarCRM user interface. Sugar 6 is still undergoing the final stages of testing, but is just around the corner.

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