Sunday, February 22, 2009

Leveraging multimedia to reach out

[Update: This post does seem ironic in retrospect!]

I wanted to scribble a few lines on Social CRM. My research begins at alter of the almighty Wikipedia. Here’s my search for Social CRM. What? No page exists?! Let’s try CRM 2.0, shall we? Nada. But Wikipedia suggests ever so thoughtfully ‘Did you mean: CMR 2.0’. Unfortunately this time around I didn’t.

Strategy #2: YouTube. Much better! I got 63 results. Interesting and relevant too.

Now this post is not about how I seized the opportunity and created and a wiki page and neither is it a conspiracy to bash Wikipedia. Rather it’s about the growing trend to ‘multimediaize’, if I may use the term. Inevitable I’d say: Encyclopaedia Britannica vs. Animal Planet? For that matter books vs. TV? Let’s extend that one more time TV vs. Internet? Bandwidth prices are tumbling and the ‘other’ screen is catching up too - most newer handsets are capable of streaming YouTube or iPlayer. Podcasts anyone?

And in the enterprise space, companies should start taking notice: in the 3-4 minute time a visitor (a potential customer maybe?) is searching for information it’s a no brainer that you need (not) throw 10 pages! There are however obvious reasons to keep text, but I believe companies are still not leveraging multimedia. YouTube, Dailymotion or even your own website, but please start using multimedia to reach out (Product Offerings, Case Studies etc etc). Reaching out increases mind share increases knowledge increases consumption.

Case in point: Paul Greenberg & Brent Leary’s CRM Playaz discussion actually became Paul’s top rated post. It’s an audio with supporting text. Though I have to admit content still drives a fair amount of (listeners) readers.

Honestly if the Vatican has started taking notice of YouTube, then so should enterprises.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

On Technology for startups. Idea vs tech!

Last night a friend messaged over IM that Microsoft had selected him for some entrepreneurship sponsorship. He wanted my thoughts on a lot of freebies that came with the package. Excited as hell I replied 'ok. kinda busy tho'. Don't want him to know how excited we are, do we? :)

So I headed over to the page... Microsoft Startup Zone.

He was shouting 'its free man! all you need to do is pay $100 at the end of 3 years'. Eh? No free lunch. The 'What do I get?' page has the following:

  • All the software included in the Microsoft® Visual Studio® Team System Team Suite (VSTS) with MSDN® Premium subscription
  • Expression® Studio Version 2
  • VSTS Team Foundation Server (standard edition)
  • Production use rights to host a “software as a service” solution (developed during participation in the BizSpark Program, on any platform) over the Internet, with regard to the lastest versions of Microsoft products including:
    • Microsoft Windows Server® (all editions up to and including Enterprise)
    • Microsoft SQL Server® (all editions)
    • Microsoft Office SharePoint® Portal Server
    • Microsoft System Center
    • Microsoft BizTalk® Server
    • Microsoft Dynamics® CRM (coming soon)
  • In addition to the core program offering, BizSpark startups will be eligible for other Microsoft offerings, such as:
    • Microsoft Azure Services Platform
Not bad I thought... as a marketing plan of course. They pull you into their sofwares for free till you build up a considerable switching cost! Smart.
(But Azure would be fun to try out though.)

Anyway what got me thinking was not Microsoft. Rather this: he's got a business idea quite faraway from IT services. Nevertheless IT can help. Why would you need such a suite?

His explanantion 'I need to develop websites and I need a CRM system'. I can't disagree more, I believe that the Relationshiop should come before the Management part.

Bottom line: Build customer relationships, then see what technology can be useful. Don't retro fit your business idea into technology. Technology is dumb and will not get you money. Ideas will.