Dreamers dream, analysts analyze and predict, and technology wizards build solutions for tough problems. We’ve just seen an instance of pure serendipity with a well-respected analyst’s prediction and the vision and execution of a group of technology wizards: the Customer Interaction Hub, or, in our words, the Insight Console.
One of the reasons we decided to host a webinar last week with Esteban Kolsky and Louis Tetu was to highlight the coming together of unrelated strands of strategy. Another CRM industry analyst and the proclaimed Father of Social CRM, Paul Greenberg put the wheels in motion to bring together Esteban’s vision with Coveo’s reality. Indeed, we found that Esteban’s forward-thinking vision from a decade ago – bringing together all customer interactions regardless of channel that was used – was prescient. Since then channels have continued to expand, and, rather than being reduced, the number of systems used by most companies has doubled. Indeed, the promise of a single platform for customer service could not be farther from reality today, even with CRMs taking on more and more functionality. Information continues to proliferate outside of systems of record – the vast majority of data is unstructured – and a large part of it is beyond the control of the enterprise, in social media. Not only is this data unstructured, and so does not fit in a structured database – it is complex and varied, in multiple formats. Seemingly, the dream of the Customer Interaction Hub would be farthest from reality at this point; however, technology advances have made it not only possible, but achievable in less time than originally imagined, and with tremendous results that allow costs to be reduced, while customer satisfaction increases.
Esteban blogged about this meeting of the minds. We were pleased to work with yet another forward-thinking industry expert with a vision that matches our own. I hope you enjoy the webinar recording and share your thoughts about it.