Many content management system providers are moving their offerings to the cloud—or at least providing both hosted and on-demand options—and it seems that the security issues of cloud computing are becoming less and less of an issue for large enterprises. Earlier this week, software provider BMC announced that it would be adopting Clickability’s cloud-based content management platform. Interested in the trend of CM systems migrating to the cloud, enterprise software pundit Phil Wainewright sat down with Clickability CEO Jeff Freund to discuss the general concerns.
They determined the overarching issue to be the need for businesses to employ more dynamic web sites, and sites that provide the same use experience—that is, emanate the core business value—for both the business’s constituents, prospective leads, and customers. Web sites are no longer just platforms for comparison shopping, and with this in mind many content managing systems are widening their reach. Freund stressed that for a site to deliver that core value, it needs to be able to interact with the proprietary company’s CRM and marketing automation platforms. This necessary interaction is part of why CMS on the SaaS model is so handy—cloud-computing provides quicker integration.
In addition to being more cost-efficient than on-site systems, CMS in the cloud gives users quicker deployments in several areas. For instance, given the sheer amount of web content available, and the number of innovations that help people create innovations—and the speed with which these products become available—content management systems need to quickly accommodate this perpetual transformation, and the SaaS model can do this. Freund also notes that the cloud allows user to see their results faster, intimating that Clickability has seen integration times that are from a quarter to a tenth of the time it would take with a traditional on-site platform.
Cloud computing previously had benefits countered by seemingly obvious detriments, but it is interesting to see how it is gaining ground, and who will follow BMC’s footsteps in stepping from behind the firewall.
Social networking have given rise to a new phase in business software, dubbed Enterprise 2.0, and many tech pundits say that with its emergence will come the need for insightful community management. Communities and forums are expanding within enterprise solutions, as they offer key customer insight and accelerate customer service. Enterprise strategists Dion Hinchcliffe and Dennis Howlett are two experts encouraging companies moving into the 2.0 space to pay appropriate attention to community management.
Hinchcliffe argues that community managers must be dedicated to the post—not volunteers within the company who are splitting their time between it and another task—and thinks they must be a jack of all trades, versed in the corporate culture from HR to IT help desk practices. Howlett, on the other hand, does not think community managers need to be so widely versed, but he does acknowledge the asset they are to companies wanting the greatest ROI from implementing forums. Howlett’s argument comes as a slight surprise, as he has written of “Enterprise 2.0” as a space that only deserves a fraction of the consideration it has lately received. Still, the two both agree that community managers are a must.
Both Hinchcliffe and Howlett suggest a few guidelines for selecting a community manager, but perhaps more importantly urge employers to remember that these people will be the public face of their corporate culture. These ambassadors will need to be versed in social networking mediums, and naturally be very good with people. On this note, Howlett rightly points out that employers shouldn’t assume that community management is a simple task just because the tools of Enterprise 2.0 are pervasive and cheap. The extent of the community manager’s role will be better articulated with time, and according to the dictates of a company’s culture. The underlying message is to have one—from the very beginning if possible—to fully exercise what could be an extremely useful tool.
Has enterprise resource planning (ERP) software become too rigid? Many experts believe it has, with its lack of innovation and limited ability to truly conform to the unique operations and processes of its users. And so, open source ERP was born.
The flood of recent industry consolidation has taken a tremendous amount of competitive “heat” off of the top tier ERP providers. As a result, they haven’t been feeling much pressure to significantly enhance their offerings. But open source ERP software is changing all that, providing customers with a new option that delivers increased flexibility. Read more »
It’s the best of all worlds. Hosted and on-premise customer relationship management software. In fact — it’s the new market trend.
If you’re looking for are looking for the benefits of a hosted CRM solutions, such as low IT resource requirements and low cost of ownership, but you’re concerned about the security of your data (and you should be) since recent phishing scams have attacked some of the most well know pure hosting solutions, then a hybrid CRM solution is probably what you’ll require.
A hybrid CRM solution provides the ability to go with a purely hosted option, however it will also allow you to purchase the software and install the web solution on premise. Pure web solutions, like SageCRM, are easy to maintain (no client installs), can be maintained remotely by a business partner, and the total cost of ownership is so much lower than a monthly hosting fee. Do the math and you’ll likely find that in 2 years of hosting fees you’ve probably paid for the purchased system 2X or more depending on the size of your implementation. The cost of hosted CRM is one of the reasons why hybrid CRM is fast becoming the market trend.
Q: “Who should have access to my customer data?”