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The salesforce.com Web site proclaims that the company is the “leader in customer relationship management,” yet it recently chose to buy InStranet rather than partner with this provider of automated knowledge bases for customer service. Ventana Research believes this choice reflects a recognition that traditional customer relationship management (CRM) is no longer sufficient for companies seeking to deal effectively with and satisfy their customers. CRM has always been about marketing, sales and customer service, but over time it has focused more on supporting internal transactional processes and not much on interaction, analytics and the customer’s experience. Our benchmark research shows that these elements are particularly important during calls to the contact center and when customers use Web-based self-service. To improve the experience, the agent or the self-service application needs access to all relevant information about the customer. Both agent and customer need to be able to access it in an intuitive manner, and the information must be personalized for and relevant to the customer at the time of the interaction.

InStranet’s product addresses these needs. Contact Centers In-Line allows companies to build a knowledge base of information, and its search capabilities make it possible to retrieve information pertinent to the customer and the issue. The challenge for salesforce.com is to make the product  available on demand as software as a service (SaaS). Technically this shouldn’t be difficult, but more than the company’s core sales force automation product, knowledge management requires understanding of customer-specific processes and a more structured approach to accessing data sources. It also requires more professional service than normally is associated with deploying salesforce.com applications, and it will be more challenging to make operational for customers. As salesforce.com works to make this happen, potential customers will have the option of evaluating other vendors, such as Microsoft, Numero, Queplix and SmartPoint, that offer their own solutions to this key issue for companies fighting to win and retain customers.

Related Research Notes:
Customer Performance Management Research Agenda for 2008

Customer Experience Management Can Refocus Contact Centers

Customer Experience Management Technology