RIM (Blackberry) = Social Business #Fail

OMG. Have you been following the RIM (Blackberry) outage snafu in the UK? This is an operational crisis accentunated by a communication crisis. And it's an anti-case study in how to be a failed social business that lacks customer centricity.

Update - Oct 12 - The crisis moved into the 3rd consecutive day so I updated my video analysis. Here it is...

Dr. Natalie and I are talking about The Business of Social Business in tomorrow's Focus Roundtable. We'll be providing important insight this week and next in how to avoid being a RIM. Because trust me, you don't want to lose customers the way they're going to.

 

Reference articles

BlackBerry Service Crashes in Europe

BlackBerry Outage Persists in U.S.; Customers Rely on Work-Arounds

Outages Plague RIM's BlackBerry for Second Day in Europe, India

Social Media Woes Highlight Marketing Faults

 

This article isn't specifically about the RIM outage, but you may find it an interesting perspective about RIM's future...

A third of BlackBerry's enterprise base to head for exits in 2012

 

4 Ways Rackspace Email Inspires High Customer Satisfaction

Rackspace Email is the example of a customer-centric companies all others should aspire to. Here's why...

Catch the replay of yesterday's Focus roundtable on Customer Centricity in a Social CRM World, co-hosted with Dr. Natalie and including our guest Emily Yellin.

 

How California Tortilla Exemplifies Customer Centricity

In last week’s Focus Roundtable on The Promise of Social CRM, Dr. Natalie and I talked about how Social CRM is emulating the human approach. Kelly asked the question “What is the antithesis of a human approach? Example?”

In answer to Kelly’s question, I said look at most companies call centers. Putting the snark aside, though, there are companies that are getting Social CRM and doing it right.

California Tortilla is one company and I'm going to tell you why.

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Stop Dominating Customers. Start Partnering.

Just stop it. Here's why.

P.S. Dr. Natalie and I are going to talk more about customer centricity at next week's Focus roundtable. And Emily Yellin is going to join us. So come. It's going to be good.

P.P.S. I mentioned this WSJ article in my video - BlackBerry Maker's Issue: Gadgets for Work or Play? (Subscription may be required).

 

Customer Centricity in a Social CRM World–Ebook now published!

The Simplifying Social Business ebook series just keeps rolling on. Customer Centricity in a Social CRM World, the 3rd book in the series, is now published on Kindle and Nook.

Social customer relationship management (Social CRM or SCRM) is one of the planks of the social business model and turns the focus to the customer, making them central to the business.

It goes beyond saying your customers are important, though. Companies with strong SCRM strategies build genuine and authentic relationships with customers by sharing two-way conversations with them.

A question begging an answer then is – What is “customer centricity” in a Social CRM world?

My answer goes against the conventional wisdom of some of today's thought leaders.

Crowd wisdom in social m

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Customer Centricity in a Social CRM World–Focus Roundtable

On October 5, 2011 at 11 am PT / 2 pm ET, Dr. Natalie and I will team with Emily Yellin, author of Your Call Is (Not That) Important to Us, to discuss what customer centricity really means.

10/5/11 update - Hear the replay.

This will be the 3rd week in our Simplifying Social Business series, sponsored by Focus.com.

We’ll will also delve into Social CRM strategies to build genuine and authentic relationships with that will help companies retain recurring revenues and add new sales.

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