tomer relationship management (CRM)
technologies play a valuable role, offering
reps new opportunities to more efficiently
perform daily functions using technology.
For instance, Oracle Sales Prospector
can mash up internal and public data to
create profiles that include the products
and services existing customers have purchased, the units they purchased, and the
net dollars paid. It uses this information
to provide recommendations on what
products they are most likely to buy next,
based on the buying history of customers
with similar attributes.
“What is today a very essential part
of selling, but a very time-consuming
and somewhat unscientific one, becomes
much more productive and based in
science through rich, easy-to-use analytics,” says Mark Woollen, vice president
of CRM at Oracle. “Salespeople can very
quickly start to generate some new high-quality leads for their business.”
Another of Oracle’s social CRM applications, Oracle Sales Library, establishes a
social network in which salespeople can
create a collection of shared presentations
that they can rate, tag, comment on, and
alter to build their own presentations.
“Reporting and data entry are often the
least-desirable parts of a sales representative’s job,” says Woollen. “Sales reps
prefer to spend their time selling, and
these tools allow them to do so.”
THE CUSTOMER-FEEDBACK ADVANTAGE
Businesses are fast realizing that customers are already talking about them
on social networking platforms such as
Facebook, Twitter, and Yelp. The smart-est enterprises are finding ways to collect
those comments and provide immediate
customer service.
For example, a frustrated airline passenger with a canceled flight might post
about the experience on Twitter. If the
airline can apologize via Twitter and
forward details about a rescheduled flight,
it can turn a social media negative into
a positive customer service interaction.
Tools such as mashups in Oracle social
CRM applications can provide companies
with information about what customers
are saying about them on the Web, and
give them the opportunity to respond.
PN09_E20_R1.indd 51
Taking it a step further into Enterprise
2.0, businesses are even leveraging customer opinion collected from social media
into the product development lifecycle.
“In the coming generation, the use of
social tools with which folks provide constant input to the corporation, either consciously or unconsciously, will expand,”
says Sarvesh Jagannivas, vice president of
product marketing, Oracle’s Agile product
lifecycle management (PLM) applications.
“Oracle’s Agile PLM and other Oracle
application areas have Twitter, blog, and
Facebook pages now. We’re constantly
communicating information in terms
of new products, new opportunities for
networking with other customers, and
programs for providing input to Oracle.
When companies incorporate feedback
from these and other sources into their
CRM systems, they begin to see a set of
consumer data that can be relayed to
PLM to create better products.”
MAKE YOUR EMPLOYEES MORE PRODUCTIVE
Many Web-savvy employees are using
free time at work to check social networks and chat with peers. They’ll read
news, give advice, write reviews, and rate
products. Businesses are using this peer-to-peer interaction to their benefit.
Leveraging employees’ personal interest in social interaction can be a critical
benefit to the enterprise. But collecting
these interactions can be a challenge.
“How do I collect feedback on a
business process and put that into the
system? Or, how do I allow people
to give ratings on help topics?” says
Gretchen Alarcon, vice president of
product strategy, Oracle Fusion Strategy.
“Those are the kinds of things that we
want to make available to employees,
because that’s where they will see the
business value. That’s where Enterprise
2.0 is going.”
New Enterprise 2.0 social networking tools, often built within companies’
human capital management (HCM)
systems, help employees harness that
interactivity for their organization. With
products such as Oracle Beehive and
Oracle WebCenter Suite 11g, peers can
chime in on coworkers’ projects, advise
them on being more efficient with a par-
ticular business process, or give feedback
on new ideas and products. This interactivity can eventually build team spirit and
increase productivity.
“We realized that employees are
participating in these tools and sharing
information on the Web, but wouldn’t
it be great if that could stay within
the enterprise and add value to the
enterprise overall, rather than being on
external sites purely for social value?”
says Alarcon.
FIRST STEPS
Enterprise 2.0 experts advise that companies looking to implement Web 2.0
technology start small. After surveying
current practices and getting comfortable
with a level of controlled change, they
should use these participatory tools on a
limited level. Pick a neutral topic or area,
and define the rules of conduct. Try the
tool within the confines of one team or
project, and then expand.
Andy Mulholland, global CTO of
Oracle partner Capgemini, a global
technology, consulting, and outsourcing
services provider, says companies should
start out by thinking strategically about
Enterprise 2.0.
“Number one, this is about supporting
people and leveraging people to be able
to win deals,” says Mulholland. “Number
two, because it is about people and
providing them with flexibility, it’s also
necessary to think about how that will
fit within the rest of the company and
its policies. Number three, do not allow
this to become disconnected from your
existing IT base. It’s all about the way
you connect and leverage the two sides.
Although it’s a different environment for
a different purpose, success is when you
leverage the two pieces together.” <>
MONICA MEHTA is a writer for Profit and Profit Online.
>> FOR MORE INFORMATION
Oracle’s Enterprise 2.0 products
oracle.com/goto/e20
Profit Online: Five Ideas About
Enterprise 2.0
oracle.com/profit/features/5ideas_
social_technology.html
9/28/09 4:12:02 PM
