Different types of businesses look at customer satisfaction differently, but loyalty is always a measure of customer satisfaction.A loyal customer not only brings an increased volume of business to a company; such a customer also is likely to provide good references to other customers.

How to provide a customer with a positive experience?

There are many ways to assure customer satisfaction. Most organizations have already implemented business or service systems that solve the automatization of business and service processes. In many cases, however, the human approach is missing. Surprisingly, modern technology helps return the relationship between the supplier and customer to a level where it has traditionally been – and still is, in face-to-face business transactions. A businessman can easily address significantly more customers with new technologies than would be possible with traditional sales methods.

What is meant by Web 2.0 CRM concept?

Basically, the concept can be perceived from a technological or factual perspective. From a factual point of view the concept can be explained as a new approach to the customer, who is not just passively included in the events of the supplier's company, as is the case with current CRM systems. Instead, the customer becomes an active consumer of professional assistance, with the supplier or supplier's association providing services tailored for the customer. The goal of pro-active assistance is to provide the customer with a positive experience when purchasing or using a product or service. From the technological point of view the concept uses advanced tools for creation of CRM applications (i.e. Ajax or Flash on the client's side and Web Services on the server's side) and interconnects the provided services with information sources and suppliers.

What benefit does Web 2.0 CRM bring to an organization?

Until recently, the fundamental problem for the implementation of CRM solutions in an organization was to convince a company's employees of the concept's acceptability. Business representatives do not like to give up their contacts for the benefit of an organization, and they do not want to use a solution that is slow, is difficult to get used to, or is hard to manage, etc. However, with Web 2.0 technologies the CRM solution becomes more comprehensible, easier to apply and sometimes even friendly to work with. Through the use of integrated tools for closer team cooperation, such a solution improves communication with a client and brings a more professional quality to such interactions. With such technologies, organizations can more easily share business--and also technical--know-how to ensure higher revenues and better customer service.

Influence of the new technology on an organization's business model

The new technologies bring new opportunities for cooperation between suppliers and sub-suppliers of products or services. The technologies allow organizations to prepare closely integrated offers. Close integration of sub-suppliers into the customer chain has already been working for many years in the automotive industry. The technologies are at present more affordable than ever before, allowing even smaller organizations to enter alliances of service providers. Suppliers are thus able to provide the final customer with a high level of comprehensive service. In the future, suppliers will act jointly to provide the customer with an exceptional experience with service.

A new bubble or substantial change?

It is up to you. Any organization can turn the high-quality Web 2.0 technology into a pile of unnecessary ones and nulls. An organization must first make internal changes, strengthening high-quality products and abandoning those that are unpromising. At the same time it should ensure that high-quality products receive such good service that they will keep the organization in the field for at least 5 more years. Organizations actually have no option except to look for a competitive advantage in the form of high-quality service. Otherwise the organization will just concentrate on looking for any cost savings in order to survive price wars. The level of provided services is what differentiates products from their competitors

What about it?

1.) Identify the key areas of customer satisfaction that you want to strengthen.

2.) Look for alliances with your partners or even competitors.

3.) Find a technological solution that will help you manage the present demanding customer.

Which solution to choose?

Is it possible to achieve a technological lead with classical tools? No. Just as you do not produce a new generation product on an old manufacturing line, you do not provide advanced generation services with an obsolete contact database, a simple e-mail client and spreadsheet processor. The tools based on the newest technologies for creation of Web 2.0 CRM solutions can help you already today. Atollon is a provider of services and solutions in the area of Web 2.0 CRM since it is concerned with development and implementation of advanced solutions of Web 2.0 and Web Services. Now it is up to you.