I understand @Tenacious. But think broader.
- A customer that's part of the conversation, on a blog or Facebook, is more engaged and likely more satisfied.
- Quick, proactive communication with customers can resolve misunderstandings before they get out of hand.
- Social networking is in real-time, which allows companies to be responsive and accurate.
- Reaching out to companies on a blog or other form of social media is non-threatening and offers a non-confrontational way to ask questions or offer suggestions.
Growth industry
Tenacious
1/27/2012 5:59:31 PM
First social media, now social media customer management. Oy vey. Doesn't anyone care about anything beyond the ramblings that used to go unnoticed anymore?
only problem with NetSuite is the valuation is 10X sales! hard to stomach (unless you are Larry Ellison I guess)
After following RightNow since January 2006 and watching the shares fall to $5 in October 2008, it was nice to see the buyout at $43.
I definitely could see NetSuite getting taken out. The company is benefiting from a significant trend in which larger enterprise customers are moving more of their ERP applications (including accounting, CRM and e-commerce) to the cloud. In many cases, these enterprises are keeping legacy ERP products from Oracle and SAP at the headquarters, while adding a second tier made up of on-demand solutions, which are cheaper than legacy offerings and easier to implement. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison owns nearly 49% of NetSuite.
I bet Oracle is more than a little scared of privately held cloud vendor Workday, which was formed by ex-PeopleSoft managers. In October, Workday closed a round of funding worth $85 million from several large investors (including T. Rowe Price, Janus and Morgan Stanley) that valued the company at $2 billion.
There is no love lost between Oracle and this old PeopleSoft team, which has not-too-fond memories of that painful hostile takeover made by Oracle. Workday, which could go public this year, started out in HR solutions, but will be a full ERP provider. I have read that Workday is growing so fast that it's on track to have billings of $1.5 billion by 2015; it is quickly becoming a formidable rival.
Re: Need to know
Phoenix
1/27/2012 12:34:14 PM
Like you said it is good to know what people are saying about your company from the company's point of view. But I'm a bit worried about data privacy. Facebook is already gathering much more information about its users than strictly necessary. They keep changing settings etc and it is getting more difficult to maintain your privacy. I wonder how the industry plans on tackling privacy and data security issues?
Facebook recently added a notification when an account name is mentioned in a post by someone in the network. Keying words in on-line posts to network notifications is taking the information value of a social network presence to the next level.
Facebook's IPO is also in the news today. Not exactly getting in on the ground floor but still should be seeing a lot of action. We aren't seeing any signs of a new dotcom bubble but there certainly is growth.
Funny, last night I was having drinks with some of the folks from RightNow, which is a local Bozeman, MT company. A bit sad to see Montana's largest tech company acquired by Oracle, because it would have been nice to keep it local. The employees seemed happy though (must be those stock options) and said early indications are that Oracle intends to keep most of the MT staff.
Another Social CRM company that you didn't mention that often comes up in M&A chatter is NetSuite (N). Several people told me that Oracle considered this company in addition to RNOW.
BTW, I first wrote about RNOW back here on RaynoReport.
Interesting sector
tokyogai
1/27/2012 9:44:01 AM
This looks like an interesting business area. As companies have lost personal contact with their customers because they automated customer service, they need a way to get back in touch. I think this will be a wake up call for many companies who think they are doing well, but have really generated ill will. Maybe Netflix could use this type of system( although the voices have been so loud that they could not miss what their customers are saying).
Need to know
ProfR
1/27/2012 8:58:05 AM
Yes, this is a growth sector. In the past companies had a lot of control on what was said about them and where it was said. Today is a little of the wild west in this area. Everyone has a voice and a platform. So having tools to help find out what is being said and analyzing it, will be key for businesses going forward.
I am familiar with Radian6. They do seem to be in the right place at the right time.
Thanks Rob. Pretty active sector. Just heard today that CRM and 500 Startups incubated company Intercom has raised a seed round of $1 million from angel investors including twitter co-founder Biz Stone, Huddle founder Andy McLoughlin, Dan Martell, 500 Startups and Digital Garage.
Intercom's customer relationship management tool (CRM) is designed specifically for web businesses. The web-based SaaS features Google Analytics-like integration so that its database of customers is always automatically up-to-date, tracking every interaction. With its flexible filtering function, users can be segmented into groups for whom the business has different goals (i.e. converting free users into paying customers).
The blogs and comments posted on Investor Uprising do not reflect the views of Investor Uprising, PRNewswire, or its sponsors. Investor Uprising, PRNewswire, and its sponsors do not assume responsibility for any comments, claims, or opinions made by authors and bloggers. They are no substitute for your own research and should not be relied upon for trading or any other purpose.
|
 |
Latest Blogs
Telecom-equipment maker Ciena is a stock trader’s dream, as long as the timing is correct.
The FTC is offering a $50,000 cash prize to the person or group that can come up with a solution to those annoying robocalls.
Akamai is in the middle of four significant tech trends.
John Malone of Liberty Media will be taking over Sirius XM satellite radio when the existing CEO Mel Karmazin steps down. What's it mean?
Demand for students of the humanities exists, despite widespread aspersions on the discipline.
IU Education
Resources to help you become a better investor
Investor Uprising on Twitter
25 market-moving companies we're tracking
|
Tweet This