Some great thinking by Paul Greenberg. The lede:
Customer
Ownership: Relationship? Conversation?
Simply Put. SCRM is not VRM. Simple Being the Operative PrincipleThis
is meant to be a simple post. Flat out, I want to say that
there is a difference between “ the customer’s control of the
conversation” and “customer’s owning the relationship.” Because there
is a discussion that I see looming on the “ownership of the
relationship” I’d like to clarify my thinking at the get go, if you’ll
be willing to listen. Before I do that, so that there is no
misunderstanding on where I stand –The
customer is
in control of the conversation. SCRM is the company’s response to the
customer’s control of the conversation. There is no joint ownership of
the conversation. But there is no control by one or the other of the
relationship between them. Though the “power balance” can lean toward
one or the other. Right now it leans to the customer.
He goes on to say…
That’s
why there is a difference between SCRM and VRM. Vendor
Relationship Management is what the customer does to command their side
of the relationship. SCRM is what the company does in response to the
customer’s control of the conversation – and all the other things
associated with that. But the company still owns itself – meaning its
operational practices and its objectives and its records and its legal
status as a company. Speaking for myself, and maybe someone else
or some others, I’ve never said the customer owns the relationship. I
think that the customer is at the hub of business ecosystem – to the
point that you can call it a customer ecosystem. Meaning the customer
drives demand and the company is now forced to respond to that.
Rest of Paul's post is here:
http://the56group.typepad.com/pgreenblog/2010/04/customer-ownership-relationship-conversation-simply-put-scrm-is-not-vrm-simple-being-the-operative-principle.html