The way ahead for CRM – Internet of Customer

How many times have we read the line “Customer is KING !!”. I have read it multiple times may be the words were different but the message was consistent. This fact has always remained unchanged since the day Ford cars were available in only one color- black. Moving into the second decade of the 21st century, companies still fail to acknowledge this fact. The evolution of customers have been faster that the companies themselves. The customer is way ahead of time and is ready to let go his newest possession (a product/ service) for a better one. This can be a car or an annual maintenance contract for car service.

The three things that will make this customer evolution faster in the coming years are:

• Social Media: A platform for customers to discuss/ praise/ complain/ provide  feedback on products/ services
• Mobile devices : Smart phones/ Tablets will shape how customers connect in Social media
• Connected Devices: This may raise a few brows, but I mean it. Recently launched Amazon Kindle has a “Mayday” button. On click of the button, the customer is connected to the customer service and can engage in a video chat to resolve the issue. Amazing right !!

These days customers are engaging faster among themselves as they share experience. They want the to connect with companies in the same way. And for this to happen, companies must go the mobile way. Why? Because this is the best we have succeeded in getting closer to our beloved Customers. The “Connected Devices” concept has given rise to the concept of “Internet of Customer” recently discussed by Mark Benioff in the recently concluded Dreamforce-2013 conference. 

The term Internet of Customer (derived from a similar concept of  IoT,Internet of Things by Kevin Ashton) says that in future every device will speak to other devices and each device will actually be representing a customer. A car will automatically call the customer service when it breaks down or when the annual maintenance is near to take an appointment. The same appointment will be sent to the car owner and added in the Outlook/ Google Calendar. This may be the future ahead.

Taking this thought further Salesforce.com introduced their new offering the Salesforce-1. The salient features include:

• Enhanced API functionality. The platform will provide 10 times more API feed when compared to previous products.
• Visualforce (Enhanced UI in Salesforce.com through APEX codes) will now be able to build UI for Mobile devices.
• Salesforce’s app store, AppExchange is getting refreshed with partnerships from DropBox, LinkedIn, Evernote, Docusign, HP (ePrint), FinancialForce.com, Concur.
• Salesforce-1 Admin application to configure Salesforce applications on the move by Administrators.

I feel this is a highly ambitious step in the way forward for the CRM industry.  There are not many companies who are prepared to go the mobile way. But, there is also no denying the fact that this is the Future of CRM.