Social Dynamx Turns CSRs Into Rock Stars

Social Dynamx has just launched a new enterprise-class social customer care (social CRM) platform that will allow customer support and community management teams to identify, prioritize and handle millions of one-on-one customer social media conversations daily.

As a subscription-based platform, it is designed to quickly identify relevant conversations and intelligently route them to the appropriate customer service agents, while tracking and measuring results according to contact center-specific service level agreements (SLAs).

“The fact is, most posts submitted in social media circles are simply not responded to,” Jan Ryan, president, COO and cofounder of Social Dynamx, told CRM Buyer. “Most social media analytics tools to date have been designed specifically for marketing and PR people and focus on aggregate numbers and trends, not high-volume customer support.”

There are significant untapped opportunities in the social media space, based on recent statistics:

• Three out of five brands claim to use social media for customer support (Booz & Company)
• More than 70 percent of tweets to companies go unanswered (Maritz Research – Evolve 24)
• Only 5 percent of Facebook wall posts on brand pages ever receive answers (Socialbakers)

Providing frontline personnel in high-volume call centers with relevant information allows them to interact with customers more effectively and increase conversion, according to Ryan.

“We are trying to help companies redefine their relationships with customers by prioritizing the flow of posts to customer care representatives,” she said. “It enables companies to sort through the noise and bring information from Facebook, Twitter and other social media tools to agents so they can take action and engage with the customer.”

Platform highlights include the following:

• Role-specific interface for agents, supervisors and managers
• Automated prioritization and matching
• SLA-driven analytics
• Advanced conversation management
• Enterprise-scale workflows across distributed teams
• Continuous self-learning
• Pre-built enterprise ecosystem integrations (CRM, Listening and Knowledge)

“Our focus is on the front line and giving organizations the tools to really delight their customers,” Ryan said. “We’re looking to make rock stars out of social customer care agents.”

Customer Relationship Metrics Adds Desktop Analytics

Customer Relationship Metrics has launched Desktop Activity BI, the latest addition to the company’s suite of managed analytics services. Desktop Activity BI analyzes desktop activity and application performance data to provide insight into trends, best practices and needed improvement.

“When you think about the customer service experience, everyone has heard an agent asking them to hold while the agent says they are waiting on their system or that their system is moving slowly,” Jim Rembach, chief spokesperson for Customer Relationship Metrics, told CRM Buyer.

“That’s all associated with system latency” he said, “but if you ask the IT person, they will tell you the application is working properly.”

In larger-scale environments, these types of delays can translate into a significant cost impact on organizations, added Rembach. “Being able to quantify desktop productivity and performance becomes very important if you really want to focus on cost control and customer experience maximization. You can easily determine if there really is a problem, to what degree, and how to prioritize it.”

A Desktop Activity BI deployment begins with a thorough assessment of the company’s current customer experience-based business intelligence solutions, followed by the creation of a targeted project.

Based on this plan, Customer Relationship Metrics puts the proper tools in place to collect and analyze data. Once the findings and impacts are calculated, clients meet with analysts who are trained to review and interpret the data.

SugarCon Buzz: All About Open Source

SugarCRM has just wrapped up its most successful customer event ever. Themed “Explore the Possibilities of CRM,” SugarCon 2012 attracted more than 1,000 attendees.

That number represents a new benchmark for the company, Clint Oram, cofounder and CTO, told CRM Buyer. “That was a big testament to our community and open system approach.”

Open source was the topic of focus for many of the presentations at the event, he said. “There are a lot of technology trends happening in the world of CRM. Mobile, social, cloud and big data are driving technology discussions. But what about the open source ecosystem? It’s a big part of all this.”

The show provided the opportunity to showcase a number of technology and partner-related announcements:

• The launch of Sugar 6.5, the latest version of the SugarCRM’s flagship product. Sugar 6.5 introduces significant architectural enhancements, as well as performance improvements to increase productivity and satisfaction for the end user.

  Enhancements included an updated user interface, a higher-performing database, improved navigation with full-text search, and integration with LinkedIn and Microsoft Outlook. It also integrates with IBM Connections and SmartCloud for Social Business, as well as iCal.

• The Annual Global Partner Awards Program Winners, including Partner of the Year winner Opensymbol and Rookie of the Year W Systems.
• An expanded channel partner program and a new distribution agreement with Ingram Micro.

Next year’s event will be held at the Waldorf Astoria in New York on April 7, 2013.