For Business Process & Applications Professionals

The ROI Of Online Customer Service Communities

A Total Economic Impact™ Analysis Uncovers Big Benefits From Social Technologies

by Natalie L. Petouhoff, Ph.D., June 30, 2009

Consumers are rapidly adopting social media communication technologies and behaviors. Customer service professionals are beginning to look at incorporating these collaborative tools to deliver better customer experiences at a lower cost. This approach . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Case Study: Yola.com Achieves Customer Service Scalability Goal Using Social Media

Best Practices In Customer Service Social Media

by Chip Gliedman, Natalie L. Petouhoff, Ph.D., September 28, 2009

Yola.com is an online Web site builder that allows anyone to easily create, publish, and host a Web site. Founded in 2007 on the premise that Web site creation should be easy if publishing tools focused less on the technology and more on the user experience, . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Best Practices: Five Strategies For Customer Service Social Media Excellence

Use Social Technologies To Improve Customer Experiences And Lower Costs

by Natalie L. Petouhoff, Ph.D., August 14, 2009

As consumers rapidly adopt social media — and use it to voice their displeasure about brands and complain about products and services — customer service professionals struggle with how best to harness the power of the cloud to transform customer . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Case Study: Intel Uses Social Media To Transform The Customer Experience

Best Practices In Customer Service Social Media

by Natalie L. Petouhoff, Ph.D., September 28, 2009

Most people know Intel as a provider of microprocessors for large manufacturers such as Apple, Dell, and HP. However, a large proportion of Intel's business comes from an elaborate network of customers, including resellers, from around the globe. To effectively . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Case Study: Cisco Consumer Business Group Builds The Business Case For Social Media

Best Practices In Customer Service Social Media

by Natalie L. Petouhoff, Ph.D., September 28, 2009

Consumer Business Group (CBG) — formerly Linksys — is a division of Cisco that offers a wide variety of consumer and small office voice over IP (VoIP) and networking solutions such as routers, switches, and storage systems under the Linksys . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

How Carphone Warehouse Uses Twitter And Social Media To Transform Customer Service

by Natalie L. Petouhoff, Ph.D., January 26, 2010

The Carphone Warehouse (CPW) is Europe's leading independent retailer of mobile phones and services, with more than 2,400 stores in nine countries. Because CPW's customers posted comments about service issues on Twitter, blogs, and e-review sites, CPW . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

How To Win Funding For Your Customer Service Project

Use The Discipline Total Economic Impact™ To Boost ROI

by Natalie L. Petouhoff, Ph.D., April 6, 2009

Given the current poor economic climate, customer service professionals need to back up their requests for funding with compelling business justifications. Your initiative will be stacked up against many others competing for the same resources and money. . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Case Study: Lenovo Takes Ownership Of Social Media To Reduce Customer Service Costs

Best Practices In Customer Service Social Media

by Natalie L. Petouhoff, Ph.D., August 14, 2009

When Lenovo acquired the IBM PC Computing division, it saw that customers were talking about its products in third-party forums like notebookreview.com and thinkpads.com, and it worried that it was being left out of these important conversations. Lenovo . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Case Study: ACT! By Sage Uses Social Media To Transform The Customer Experience

Best Practices In Customer Service Social Media

by Natalie L. Petouhoff, Ph.D., August 14, 2009

Sage North America, a leading provider of customer relationship and contact management software to small- and medium-sized businesses, faced the twin challenges of unhappy customers and a sinking economy. One specific brand, ACT! by Sage, was tasked to . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Case Study: NetApp Marketing Takes Ownership Of Its Community Initiative To Ensure Success

Best Practices In Customer Service Social Media

by Chip Gliedman, Natalie L. Petouhoff, Ph.D., September 28, 2009

NetApp is an industry-leading provider of storage and data management solutions. It has a presence in more than 100 countries; thousands of customers and a network of more than 2,200 partners; and a culture of innovation, technology leadership, and customer . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Case Study: Infusionsoft Improves Customer Experience Via Social Media

Best Practices In Customer Service Social Media

by Natalie L. Petouhoff, Ph.D., Chip Gliedman, August 14, 2009

Infusionsoft is a Web-based provider of marketing automation software aimed at the true small business with fewer than 25 employees. Infusionsoft wanted to leverage a community of users of its products to simultaneously reduce costs and improve customer . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Topic Overview: Social CRM Goes Mainstream

by William Band, Natalie L. Petouhoff, Ph.D., January 5, 2010

Forrester's customer relationship management (CRM) research helps business process professionals embrace best practices — from process optimization to technology implementation — to improve customer interactions and drive top-line growth. . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: Customer Service Software Solutions, Q4 2008

Define The Customer Experience Before Choosing A Vendor

by Natalie L. Petouhoff, Ph.D., October 21, 2008

Forrester evaluated the leading customer service solution vendors across an average of approximately 180 criteria and found that the vendors still need to be grouped into three groups: interaction-, process-, and record-centric. Forrester found the Leaders . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Customer Service: A Keystone Of Your Corporate Revenue Strategy

by Natalie L. Petouhoff, Ph.D., May 8, 2008

Despite the pressure to become a profit center, most organizations' customer service and contact centers continue to miss the mark on becoming a strategic business partner and are not considered part of the corporate revenue strategy. However, new Securities . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Forrester's Customer Service Innovation Framework And Self-Assessment

Use Our Assessment To Improve The Customer Experience And Get Quick Wins

by Natalie L. Petouhoff, Ph.D., January 13, 2009

Customer service disappointments are often a result of poor strategy. Forrester's Customer Service Innovation Framework provides you with 150 best practice capabilities — organized into six categories — that drive customer retention, loyalty, . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Why Talking To Your Customers Is Ruining Your Business

Five Ways To Deliver Extraordinary Customer Service Agent Interactions

by Natalie L. Petouhoff, Ph.D., August 29, 2008

To answer questions and resolve service issues, forty-five percent of consumers prefer to speak with a customer service agent. But most walk away from customer service agent interactions disillusioned, disappointed, and disgruntled. Why? Consumers and . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

The Economic Necessity Of Customer Service

Five Recession-Busting Strategies To Cut Service Costs And Increase Sales

by Natalie L. Petouhoff, Ph.D., January 21, 2009

In this economic climate, no one can afford to lose a customer. Rather than halting spending, smart customer service executives will use this economic downturn as an opportunity to regroup and reprioritize. What should they focus on? Top customer service . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Forrester's Customer Service Innovation Capabilities Self-Assessment

by Natalie L. Petouhoff, Ph.D., January 9, 2009

This is the self assessment workbook that accompanies the document "Forrester's Customer Service Innovation Framework and Self-Assessment".

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise CRM Suites, Q3 2008

Buyers Face Difficult Choices In A Crowded Market

by William Band, August 29, 2008

Forrester evaluated leading enterprise CRM suite solutions against 516 criteria and found that with the latest releases of their solutions, Oracle's Siebel and SAP maintain their status as Leaders with comprehensive functionality and much improved usability. . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: Midmarket CRM Suites, Q3 2008

Solutions From Microsoft, Oracle, RightNow, And Salesforce.com Lead The Way

by Pete Marston, August 26, 2008

In Forrester's 517-criteria evaluation of midmarket customer relationship management (CRM) solutions, we found that Oracle's Siebel CRM Professional Edition and CRM On Demand products, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, RightNow CRM, and salesforce.com's salesforce . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Trends 2009: More Tech Choices For Customer Service Improvement

by Chip Gliedman, January 29, 2009

The convergence of many trends — both internal and external to client organizations — portend a dynamic year for customer service. Tough economic times are forcing companies to tighten their relationships with customers and prospects. Fortunately, . . .

Self-Assessment Tool: Best Practices: Five Strategies For Customer Service Social Media Excellence

...Self-diagnostic for Natalie Petouhoff's report "Best Practices: Five Strategies For Customer Service Social Media...

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Business Process & Applications Professionals: Must-Read Research In An Economic Downturn

by Sharyn Leaver, October 23, 2008

Although the first half of 2008 showed a steady pace of technology spending, according to our latest research it's very likely that a slowdown is coming. And in a down economy, businesses face tough decisions and inevitably look to cut spending. The good . . .