What large Enterprises need to learn from Small Business - The Social Individual

We have been trying for a very long time to get closer to our customers. Or, should it be returning to where we used to be?  Up until recently, we did this face to face, one on one and in small groups. The owner of the general store knew your name, what you needed, the members of your family. We then we scattered; moved away from friends, moved away from family - yes, moved away from the stores that knew us - and it was/is a bit traumatic. Then the Internet happened,  email, chat, AOL, we were stuck behind our computers, 9600 baud and still struggling, getting closer… Then Web 2.0 happened, along with increased bandwidth, FaceBook, YouTube, Twitter and everything became clear, or did it?

We are substituting technology for proximity, email for relationships, and Twitter for customer service.  However, there is simply nothing like being there, sorry, it just is. A handshake, eye contact, body language and tone cannot be replaced, no matter how hard we try. It all begs the question, how close can technology get us to where we need to be? In this talk, I will talk about lessons from the field, and how small business is actually leading the charge and showing how it is done, not how it should be done. Somewhere in the Web 2.0 transition we moved from one on one interactions to a focus on many to many. The Social Individual, who represents the Social Customer cannot get lost in the E2.0 shuffle.

The get a sense of my thinking, feel to read my blog: http://mjayliebs.wordpress.com

A technology executive with expertise in software architecture including both transactional and analytical business applications. A passion for solving business problems by the optimal alignment of people, process, and technology. Experience in product management, systems architecture, implementation services, and technical sales. Successful leadership in selling and delivering creative solutions which integrate cloud computing, open source software, customer relationship management (CRM), and an innovative combination of social media with CRM. Equally comfortable working with a 5 person start-up team as a $1B Enterprise.

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SugarCRM is the world's leading provider of commercial open source customer relationship management (CRM) software. Founded as an open source project in 2004, SugarCRM applications have been downloaded over five million times and currently serve over 500,000 users in 75 languages. Over 5,000 customers have chosen SugarCRM's On-Site and Cloud Computing services over lock-in based, proprietary alternatives. In the last year, SugarCRM has been recognized for its customer success and product innovation by CRM Magazine, InfoWorld, Customer Interaction Solutions and Intelligent Enterprise.