It’s darn near impossible to build a website today without needing to integrate it with some kind of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool. From Siebel to Salesforce.com to custom in-house solutions, CRMs have migrated from enterprises down to businesses of all sizes. The website and the CRM system need to share critical pieces of data in order to allow customers to maintain their own profile, while also giving internal teams the ability to provide the best customer experience available.

Because Application Programming Interfaces (API) have become so prevalent, keeping these two parties talking is doable. An API is like providing software with a phone that can receive calls to tell software to exchange data or execute commands.

The problems with APIs is they usually just sit there waiting for someone to call. Just because two separate programs have phones doesn’t mean they can call each other. One program has to learn - or be programmed - to dial the other. It also needs to know what data and commands to send over the line in order to receive back the proper response. It’s one of natures most fundamental processes.

What this means to the business is you are going to be changing code on either a sophisticated web application, or on an even more complex CRM system. In turn, this means developer costs, quality control testing and potential bugs can be introduced into one or more of these systems. Think of it as, Websites are from Mars and CRM systems are from Venus.

Enter data replication. Think of data replication as software’s match making friend. Data replication has a little black book of phone numbers and the notes on how to speak the other’s language. However, in this relationship, data replication doesn’t just setup the call and walk away. No, he sticks around logging the results, interpreting the responses and making sure no fights break out over who said what or who’s not being attentive to the other’s needs.

Sure, now every time the two pieces of software need to get together, data replication has to be there…in the middle…on a schedule. Awkward. But neither party is trying to be changed. Neither has to bend to the will of the other. No compromises. And if anything does go wrong, everyone can look at data replication to see how, when and where.

Now for the cheesy classified ad for data replication services, “Sound like a relationship you looking to create? Visit our Data Replication Engine page to learn how data replication can get your software together.”

Ok I’ll try to keep this succinct. A lot of us are always moving around and need a good document creation, transport, and sharing solution that emailing Word docs can’t really sustain. Track changes is good but still falls short of the reliability and trackability that some of us need. So we use tools like Google Docs, Basecamp and Zoho. I have really gotten into Zoho recently because I find the word processor interface to be far superior to the others.

It’s always nice when people get back to you

Yesterday the local chapter of the AIGA was hosting a talk by Kit Hinrichs and we wanted to tape the talk and interview him for our Podcast (stay tuned). So I had been collaborating with Leilani on the interview questions via a shared Zoho doc . I’m an early adopter of Zoho @ Twelve Horses, so not everyone is registered and fully on board yet.

So when I went to open the doc from the new Zoho Start dashboard (beta) I kept getting a server error on that file. Other files opened fine, but not the one i needed. [panic...] Remembering an interchange with Aravind a few weeks back where Colin and I Twittered about Zoho and got a response from Aravind, who was tracking the term “zoho,” I sent out a twitter pleading for my document back. (Those of you who think that sending out prayers and desperation to the twitt-ether is pointless READ ON [@mgastanaga and @tjcrawford, I'm looking at YOU!]

This morning I got the following email from Aravind at zoho.com:

Mike : Just saw your tweet - “ok zoho don’t make a fool of me give me my
document back “. Sincere apologies.

Were you able to get back at the document? We would like to help you in solving
this issue. Do mail me more details - like your Zoho user ID, the name of the
document, which Zoho service you were using, the browser name & version etc.

sorry once again for the inconvenience caused.

Regards,
Aravind

I did get my doc back. I went into zoho.com circumventing the Zoho Start and was able to open it. Wheeeeew! Though I seem to be seeing that ctl-Z = all text gone, but the history menu brings it back.

So Twelve Horses raises a glass to our friends @ Zoho.com for their adroit use of social media messaging, multi-modal and cutting-edge business communications, and down right kickass customer service. We could all learn a lot from this exchange!

Below the fold is some additional Q/A with Aravind.

-M
(more…)

So I went into my local franchised hair salon today. I won’t give the name to avoid embarrassing myself about how much I pay for a hair cut (or don’t pay as the case may be). Instead of taking your name as most franchises of this type do, they asked for my phone number. Since I had been in there once before, my info was available and the response was, “Thanks Josh, have a seat and we will be right with you.”

OK, I thought, they use my phone number to track customer data like what area the customer is coming from, how often they come back and their drop off rate. Boy was I surprised when the stylist came to get me and said, “Josh, would you like to do the #2s on the sides and shorten the top like last time?” Since this was a different stylist then my last hair cut, I quickly deduced that they asked for my phone number for their CRM.

Now, I’m not impressed that they could tell when and what my last hair cut was. But I am impressed that a business like this, which probably makes relatively small margins, invested in and actually uses a CRM. I now know they value their customers enough to invest in customer relationship technology. As long as their employees hold up their end of the bargain - be nice and courteous - they will have my repeat visitation for a long time to come.

EDIT: 06/12/06 2:09 PM.

I guess you could argue that they are using technology to replace a human relationship. The argument would be, “A salon that knows you, remembers your name.” Let me tell you why I don’t see it that way. In the world of commoditized items - which I would argue a low cost hair cut falls into - you are going to have employee turnover. Why? Low pay. If I am going to pay less then $20 for a hair cut, they can’t pay their stylist the wages needed to have them employed there for years and years. I - as the consumer - have made the choice to sacrifice service for price. If I wanted a stylist to pick me out a crowd and know me by name, I would go to a more expensive salon. The fact that this place has realized that and made an effort to employ technology to overcome this problem tells me they understand this and all they have to do to live up to their side of the bargain is be nice, be price sensitive and perform adequately.

Technorati : CRM

Seth Godin has a blog post title, "CRM is dead."  This was driven off a conversation with someone at Disney who told Mr. Godin that they now have a CMR or Customer Managed Relationship as opposed to a Customer Relationship Management or CRM.  This is an evolution of CRM not a replacement.  One can not exist without the other.  This is taking CRM and making it a two way conversation versus a business just talking and hoping its customers are listening.

Businesses can’t go completely to a CMR because that puts too much onus on the customer.  I can see it with a brand like Disney who has fanatics (term of endearment considering I am a Disney fanatic), but a lesser loved brand can’t expect a customer to manage the entire relationship just like I wouldn’t expect my wife to manage my relationship with her.  It has to be two way to be a relationship.