The worldwide social customer relationship management (CRM) market is forecast to reach over $1 billion in revenue by year-end 2012, up from approximately $625 million in 2010, according to Gartner, Inc. Worldwide social CRM is projected to total $820 million in 2011.
However, analysts said spending by buyers on social software for marketing, customer service and sales increased by 40 percent in 2010, but social CRM remained less than 5 percent of the total CRM application market. More than 100 vendors have social CRM offerings. Most are not profitable and generate annual revenue of less than $1 million.
Most vendors remain relatively small and unprofitable, although many grew 50 to 100 percent in 2010. In order to thrive in the future, analysts said that social CRM vendors will need to provide clear benefits for companies and communities, demonstrating multiple use cases for sales, marketing and customer service processes.
Today's vendors differentiate themselves on the basis of functions, process workflow, analytics and ease of use or superior experience delivered through professional services. The functions that social CRM vendors offer tend to reflect one of four typical starting points:
- Hosting and supporting a branded or private-label community, and providing the surrounding functions
- Monitoring, listening to, surveying and responding to private-label or independent social networks
- Facilitating the sharing of B2B or business to consumer (B2C) contacts through communities
- Establishing community product reviews largely to facilitate online sales
Four other factors will also differentiate vendors:
- Seamless interoperation between public social networks and internal collaborative communities
- Integration of processes with traditional, operational CRM applications, such as multichannel campaign management, a customer service knowledgebase or a sales lead application
- Application-specific analytics to help prove the ROI of the social CRM application
- Partnerships with global system integrators, or digital or interactive agencies and consultants, to promote and deploy the applications
Gartner analysts said that R&D in social CRM will center on five areas: (1) deeper integration with traditional CRM processes; (2) tools to measure ROI; (3) deeper integration with social network services -- particularly Facebook and Twitter; (4) increased use of analytics; and (5) new use cases for social CRM.
More information on CRM can be found at www.CRMindustry.com.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
Gartner Survey Highlights Consumer Fatigue with Social Media
There are signs of maturity in the social media market, as some users in certain segments are showing “social media fatigue”, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc. The survey reveals continued localization of usage, whereby certain country-specific social characteristics dictate preferences. However, large global brands such as Facebook are making headway in countries where they have not historically been strong.
Gartner surveyed 6,295 respondents, between the ages of 13 and 74, in 11 developed and developing markets in December 2010 and January 2011. Consumers were asked about their use of and opinions about social media sites with the aim of examining usage trends and how enthusiastic users were about social media in general across a range of countries.
Of the respondents, 24 percent said they use their favorite social media site less than when they first signed up. These respondents tended to be in segments that have a more practical view of technology. But 37 percent of respondents, particularly those in younger age groups and more tech-savvy segments, said they were using their favorite site more.
Gartner analysts also examined whether the type of social media site respondents used affected their enthusiasm. Given that 24 percent of respondents indicated that they were using their main social site “a little less” or “a lot less” than when they first started using it, respondents were asked what negative factors might be influencing their decision.
Although none of the options given to the respondents resonated extremely highly, 33 percent said they were concerned about online privacy. Attitudes to privacy were also age-related, with teenagers citing privacy concerns significantly less often than older respondents (22 percent of teenagers agreed or strongly agreed that privacy concerns were decreasing their enthusiasm, against an average of 33 percent).
From a geographical point of view, some of the more mature social media markets -- Japan, the UK and the US -- corresponded to the global average trend -- with roughly 40 percent of respondents using the site more than when they first started, 40 percent using it the same amount, and 20 percent using it less. Markets where enthusiasm was higher included South Korea and Italy, where nearly 50 percent of respondents said they used their social media sites more. At the other end of the spectrum, countries with the most respondents saying they used the site less included Brazil and Russia -- both with between 30 and 40 percent of respondents exhibiting less enthusiasm.
More information on CRM and Social Media can be found at www.CRMindustry.com.
Gartner surveyed 6,295 respondents, between the ages of 13 and 74, in 11 developed and developing markets in December 2010 and January 2011. Consumers were asked about their use of and opinions about social media sites with the aim of examining usage trends and how enthusiastic users were about social media in general across a range of countries.
Of the respondents, 24 percent said they use their favorite social media site less than when they first signed up. These respondents tended to be in segments that have a more practical view of technology. But 37 percent of respondents, particularly those in younger age groups and more tech-savvy segments, said they were using their favorite site more.
Gartner analysts also examined whether the type of social media site respondents used affected their enthusiasm. Given that 24 percent of respondents indicated that they were using their main social site “a little less” or “a lot less” than when they first started using it, respondents were asked what negative factors might be influencing their decision.
Although none of the options given to the respondents resonated extremely highly, 33 percent said they were concerned about online privacy. Attitudes to privacy were also age-related, with teenagers citing privacy concerns significantly less often than older respondents (22 percent of teenagers agreed or strongly agreed that privacy concerns were decreasing their enthusiasm, against an average of 33 percent).
From a geographical point of view, some of the more mature social media markets -- Japan, the UK and the US -- corresponded to the global average trend -- with roughly 40 percent of respondents using the site more than when they first started, 40 percent using it the same amount, and 20 percent using it less. Markets where enthusiasm was higher included South Korea and Italy, where nearly 50 percent of respondents said they used their social media sites more. At the other end of the spectrum, countries with the most respondents saying they used the site less included Brazil and Russia -- both with between 30 and 40 percent of respondents exhibiting less enthusiasm.
More information on CRM and Social Media can be found at www.CRMindustry.com.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Half of all Organizations Will Revise Their Privacy Policies by End-2012
Gartner has identified the top five issues that privacy officers must pay particular attention to in 2011 and 2012:
1. Data Breaches Continue to Be a Top Concern
Data breaches rank high on the priority list because of their visibility, but preparing for and following up on breaches is actually straightforward. Most controls exist anyway if security management is working properly. This topic should not consume more than 10 percent of a privacy officer's time.
Organizations should compartmentalize personal information, restrict access, encrypt data when transmitting it across public networks, encrypt data on portable devices, and encrypt data in storage to protect it from users who have been given too much privilege, from rogue administrators and from hackers. Consider data loss prevention tools, tokenization, data masking and privacy management tools.
2. Location-Based Services Exploit Personal Information in Unprecedented Ways
Location information can be GPS information, the nearest cell tower, information about wireless access points, indoor positioning information, speed, altitude, smart meter identifiers and IP addresses. Not every organization processes geolocation data, but the area is evolving rapidly, and a specific way of processing may suddenly surface as a privacy scandal (e.g. smartphones storing more location information than expected).
Many providers are still in the "collect" stage rather than the "use" stage. They compile vast amounts of information, often without a clear plan of what to do with it. This violates a fundamental privacy principle: Collect information only for the purpose for which you need it. Depending on the nature of the business, privacy officers will focus 5-25 percent of their time on location-based services.
3. Cloud Computing Challenges Traditional Legal and Technical Privacy Protection
Cloud computing and privacy are innately at odds. Privacy laws apply to one country; the public cloud, in its ideal form, is not related to any country. Privacy officers should not accept "no" for an answer when asking whether the processing of personal information in the cloud or abroad is allowed. Most privacy laws have some flexibility, guidance is evolving slowly and, in many cases, there are legally acceptable solutions.
Organizations should focus on the location of the legal entity of the provider, not on the physical locations of its operation centers. Privacy officers — and enterprise decision makers — should support IT's cloud and offshore initiatives where possible while achieving maximum privacy protection for the individual customer or employee. This will consume 20- 30 percent of the privacy officer's time.
4. The Value of Privacy Determines Necessary Protection, but It Is Difficult to Quantify
The value of privacy and the sensitivity of personal information are impossible to determine without context. Personal information has hardly any value or sensitivity. Rather, it depends on how data is being processed. There is no right or wrong. Finding the balance between "not enough" protection and "too much" protection is an ongoing process. Legal requirements are a bad guideline as they trail technical innovation and cultural change by several years.
Privacy officers should set up a process to identify stakeholders for personal information, gather requirements from them, influence the design of the business process and applications, and plan for adjustments. Once this process has been created, its execution should take the privacy officer no more than 10 percent of his or her time.
5. Regulatory Changes Are Imminent and Ongoing
Regulatory changes should not distract privacy officers from pursuing their strategies, because most regulatory changes will only have a mid- to long-term effect. Absent of any specific laws or regulatory guidance, organizations must interpret existing, generic privacy legislation for emerging technologies like smart meters, indoor positioning, facial recognition on smartphones correlated to photo databases, vehicle and device locators, presence detection, body scanners, and others.
Monitoring of regulatory changes and, consequently, adjusting the organization’s privacy strategy are important tasks, but they should consume more than 5-10 percent of the privacy officer’s time.
More information can be found at www.CRMindustry.com
1. Data Breaches Continue to Be a Top Concern
Data breaches rank high on the priority list because of their visibility, but preparing for and following up on breaches is actually straightforward. Most controls exist anyway if security management is working properly. This topic should not consume more than 10 percent of a privacy officer's time.
Organizations should compartmentalize personal information, restrict access, encrypt data when transmitting it across public networks, encrypt data on portable devices, and encrypt data in storage to protect it from users who have been given too much privilege, from rogue administrators and from hackers. Consider data loss prevention tools, tokenization, data masking and privacy management tools.
2. Location-Based Services Exploit Personal Information in Unprecedented Ways
Location information can be GPS information, the nearest cell tower, information about wireless access points, indoor positioning information, speed, altitude, smart meter identifiers and IP addresses. Not every organization processes geolocation data, but the area is evolving rapidly, and a specific way of processing may suddenly surface as a privacy scandal (e.g. smartphones storing more location information than expected).
Many providers are still in the "collect" stage rather than the "use" stage. They compile vast amounts of information, often without a clear plan of what to do with it. This violates a fundamental privacy principle: Collect information only for the purpose for which you need it. Depending on the nature of the business, privacy officers will focus 5-25 percent of their time on location-based services.
3. Cloud Computing Challenges Traditional Legal and Technical Privacy Protection
Cloud computing and privacy are innately at odds. Privacy laws apply to one country; the public cloud, in its ideal form, is not related to any country. Privacy officers should not accept "no" for an answer when asking whether the processing of personal information in the cloud or abroad is allowed. Most privacy laws have some flexibility, guidance is evolving slowly and, in many cases, there are legally acceptable solutions.
Organizations should focus on the location of the legal entity of the provider, not on the physical locations of its operation centers. Privacy officers — and enterprise decision makers — should support IT's cloud and offshore initiatives where possible while achieving maximum privacy protection for the individual customer or employee. This will consume 20- 30 percent of the privacy officer's time.
4. The Value of Privacy Determines Necessary Protection, but It Is Difficult to Quantify
The value of privacy and the sensitivity of personal information are impossible to determine without context. Personal information has hardly any value or sensitivity. Rather, it depends on how data is being processed. There is no right or wrong. Finding the balance between "not enough" protection and "too much" protection is an ongoing process. Legal requirements are a bad guideline as they trail technical innovation and cultural change by several years.
Privacy officers should set up a process to identify stakeholders for personal information, gather requirements from them, influence the design of the business process and applications, and plan for adjustments. Once this process has been created, its execution should take the privacy officer no more than 10 percent of his or her time.
5. Regulatory Changes Are Imminent and Ongoing
Regulatory changes should not distract privacy officers from pursuing their strategies, because most regulatory changes will only have a mid- to long-term effect. Absent of any specific laws or regulatory guidance, organizations must interpret existing, generic privacy legislation for emerging technologies like smart meters, indoor positioning, facial recognition on smartphones correlated to photo databases, vehicle and device locators, presence detection, body scanners, and others.
Monitoring of regulatory changes and, consequently, adjusting the organization’s privacy strategy are important tasks, but they should consume more than 5-10 percent of the privacy officer’s time.
More information can be found at www.CRMindustry.com
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Technology Sector Job Cuts Plunge 60%
In past years, the 6,500 job cuts announced this week by Cisco Systems probably would not have stood out, particularly in a sector that at one time commonly saw job-cut events numbering in the tens of thousands. This year, however, the Cisco announcement stands out as the largest job cut of the year in a sector that is experiencing record low downsizing.
Technology firms announced just 14,308 job cuts in the first half of 2011, a 60 percent drop from the 35,375 cuts announced during the same period a year ago, according to a special report on technology-sector job cuts released by global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
While first-half job cuts announced by telecommunications, electronics and computer firms were up slightly from 11,450 job cuts announced in the final six months of 2010, the increase probably does not signal a resurgence in tech-sector downsizing.
The 14,308 tech-sector job cuts announced so far this year represent just 5.8 percent of the 245,806 job cuts announced across all industries. In contrast to the 60-percent decline in tech-sector job cuts, the overall job-cut total for the first half of 2011 is down only 17 percent from last year’s six month total.
The biggest decline in tech-sector job cuts was experienced by computer firms, which saw the number of planned layoffs plunge 81 percent, from 16,964 in the first half of 2010 to 3,178 this year. The only other industry to see a bigger drop in layoffs this year is pharmaceutical, where job cuts declined 86 percent from 34,987 to 4,771.
Job cuts announced by telecommunications firms dropped 57 percent from 16,005 in 2010 to 6,813 this year. Firms in the electronics industry were the only segment of the tech sector to see an increase in job cuts. Layoffs among these employers increased 79 percent from 2,406 a year ago to a 2011 six-month total of 4,317, which is still very low by historical standards.
According to payroll figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment within computer systems design and related services has grown by 42,000 since the beginning of 2011. Computer and electronics manufacturers have added more than 12,000 workers to their payrolls.
More information on the technology sector can be found at www.CRMindustry.com.
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