1. Social business is about making money

Welcome to the first installment of the Pathlight Solution's Business of Social Business series. 

 

There is sooooo much talk about metrics and KPIs to support social business design.

And metrics = good.  Business needs to be measured and monitored.  And KPIs = good so individual and group contributions can be identified so folks can be rewarded.

However, don’t be fooled by articles or professionals professing that business is really about people and culture and not money.  Or about how you should focus your business solely on creating value for your customers and then the numbers will take care of themselves.

Those are ivory tower sentiments -- and of little help to executives.

 

This article is now part of The Business of Social Business eBook, available on Pathlight Solutions, our sister site.  Click here to learn more about the eBook.

0. Introduction to the Business of Social Business eSeries

It's time to get serious about the Business of Social Business and our new Pathlight Solutions eSeries eBook will jump start your efforts.

The opt-in eSeries eBook will arm you with the insights you need to incorporate sound business fundamentals into your social business design.  At a high level, the series will focus on the topics of:

  • Social business strategy and its implications,
  • Blasting through social media ROI myths.
  • Valuation of social initiatives and solving its inherent challenges.

 

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Chatting with Paul Greenberg about social media ROI

Yesterday, I had a great chat with Paul Greenberg, Mr. Godfather of CRM and all-around nice guy, while demo’g ValueRight Social Media.

Our convo took a number of twists and turns, spanning from valuation methods that take a more traditional approach to social media like ValueRight.  We also segued into the need for new metrics that will better reflect the full value of social media.  The sort of metrics centered on Customer Lifetime Value (think V. Kumar).

Absolutely!

We both agreed, though, even innovative new metrics will still conversion into

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Talking Around the Town -- December 20, 2009

Here there and everywhere. Bloggy places I've recently been.

 

More Crazy Talk, Social Media, No Measurable Value But You Have To Have It?

John Moore responding to a statement made by an independent analyst who should know better. Oh boy did I have comments.

 

The Three Realities of SCRM Right Now

Esteban Kolsky gives an excellent round up of 2009 and forecasts into 2010.  Added my $0.02.

 

My wish for 2010: Consolidating Strategies

Wim Rampen weighs in with his Christmas wish list.  Esteban's post, referenced above, inspired Wim's.  My thoughts are mixed.

Why Value differs from Benefits & the impact on social media

If you want to understand how to perform valuations of corporate initiatives, including social media, then you need to understand the difference between value and benefits.

Benefits are what you get from a corporate initiative but Value is the money you receive from increased revenues or cost savings.

Benefits are intangibles and some will directly derive from specific feature functionality.  Others will be sourced by emotions.

In contrast, Value is tangible -- and it's currency.

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FREE Webinar - How To Determine Social Media and SCRM Value and ROI

Find out how to determine social media and SCRM value and ROI at a complimentary webinar sponsored by Pathlight Solutions, a subsidiary of Intellicore Design Consulting.

Date: December 10, 2009
Time: 2 pm EST (USA)
Presenters: Kathy Herrmann, partner, Pathlight Solutions (and Intellicore Design Consulting).

In the webinar, you'll discover:

  • Social media gains and costs - and the time-value of related cash flows.
    • Gains = Revenues and cost savings
    • Costs = Personnel and technology
  • The secret to managing uncertainty.
  • How to determine social media and SCRM Net Present Value and ROI.

Who should attend:  C-Level execs – as well as anyone interested in understanding how to perform a rigorous valuation of social media and its supporting technology.

 

Register today for the must-attend Social Media and SCRM Valuation and ROI webinar and focus your efforts on determining whether social media is the best customer-facing initiative for your company to undertake.

If you have any problems registering, contact me for help here.

Talking Around the Town – Friday, 10/30/09

Thanks to all the folks who took time to write articles and share their thoughts. 

So many good topics on technology, CRM, and social businesses.  So many opportunities to comment.

And I did, I did. Here are the places I visited this week.

 

Sales is much more than just sales people

A Twitter discussion on the lead to opportunity life cycle moved to a Mitch Lieberman's blog (sometimes you need more than 140 characters for conversations).  My 2 cents on the customer life cycle and it's place in lead nurturing through opportunity to conversion to customer.

Also be sure to check out the article I wrote as a follow up to Mitch's.  It's Take ownership of your customer relationships - And win.

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Talking around the town – Friday, 10/23/09

This week, I had much to say about a number of topics.

Holding central place is my continuing championship of letting business objectives and strategies lead technology.  The latter is the servant of the former, by gum. 

Go. Read.

 

The Next Big Thing is not Social “XYZ”

Wim Rampen wrote a short article that generated active discussion on the topic of the co-creation being at the core of Social CRM and Social Business Design.  Much of the discussion centered on the Next Big Thing. 

I'm a technology lover and, hey, partner in an IT firm here.  In my mind, though too much discussion still centers on technology, when many businesses are still at the starting point of defining objectives and strategies for social business design. 

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