Know what your platform is capable of - and not

Meeting with someone recently they asked me what my favourite CRM platform was.  I've had a chance to work with a wide variety and what struck me about it was it doesn't matter what my favourite one is, but knowing what the capabilities and constraints of the one you are working with does.

In previous roles I've had the opportunity to be a part of the implementation teams for some large deployments, which are massive endeavours.  My role was typically to understand how the business requirements and corporate vision would align strategically to the tool being implemented. 

In the marketing and advertising world the scope is simply understanding what system you are going to be interacting with and what you'll be able to do with it.

The enterprise tools are incredibly similar in terms of capability and it would be very difficult to rank them as a lot of the factors align with their compatibility with your companies current infrastructure, and budget.

The types of tools that I like the most of those that are able to hold customer records of all (or most) of their interactions with you.  Tools like Eloqua are extremely helpful as they offer deployment and analytical (although limited) within it, where as Salesforce.com and it's integration of Radian6 offers another level of social behaviour tracking.


The trick then becomes in knowing what your tool can't do.  Sure, the sales guy said your tool "could" do triggered emails based on interactions or track Facebook posts from linked accounts - but did you buy the module?  I often find that marketing clients only remember what was said in the sales presentation, not what they bought.

Over the last couple of months I've had the unpleasant experience of finding that what a client says they can do (or data they have) is far from the truth.

Adjusting a strategy into phases to show return and demonstrate value can be tough in these instances, particularly when the client has no ability to add new functionality.  Conducting a full discovery process and objective setting can also help prevent these surprises from popping up.

Employee Tracking, Big Brother or No Big Deal?

I recently had a chance to visit a someone at another company and noticed something while waiting in the lobby.  For any employee to get in or out of the office they had to use their passcard.  Accompanied by this was a small screen beside the door that showed the name, title and picture of the person.

Initially, it freaked me out.  I stopped someone who came through and asked him what he thought about it.  He said it was great because he could find out where anyone was at any time.  I then asked him about the flip side of that coin (everyone can find you at any time) - he had to agree.

To develop customer segmentation and create meaningful campaigns I rely on activity data like this all the time.  Without knowing who viewed what page, clicked on what add, posted what tweet or opened what email I have very little ability to effectively market to people.

We have the option to hide some of our internet activity, unsubscribe from communications or make our tweets private - but do we not enjoy the customization and relevancy that is delivered to us because of it?

Consumer behaviour dictates the type of programs, offers and engagement opportunities we put into market - so why not apply the same thinking to employee behaviour?

Smarter decisions about office layout, team dynamics and interactivity can be made with something like this in place, and I think it's just the beginning.  Network monitoring could tell when my computer was overheating and in need of a replacement.  Using alerts and GPS to tell me when someone was back in their office rather than stalking or waiting would save a lot of time.

Screenshot from Gmail for an ad offering Wedding Photo services alongside an email for what else?

Every office has a passcard system and network monitoring, it would be naive to think that the information wasn't available.  Seeing it in use is definitely provocative and reminds me of the first time Gmail Ads were tailored to me based on the content of a particular email.  Troubling at first, but once I understood what it was for and how it was being used I welcomed it.