社交型CRM商机无限

    “CRM”对很多人来说只是又一个让人摸不着头脑的英文缩写，它的全称是“客户关系管理”。而就算是这个名词，听起来也颇为无趣。

    虽然名字起得缺乏吸引力，但是CRM却是一个风生水起的行业。各大CRM公司开发的客户关系管理软件能够帮助广大企业管理与当前或未来的客户和商业伙伴的联系。现在，这类系统已经广泛应用于市场营销、客户服务和活动策划等领域。在这个行业里混饭吃的软件公司不胜枚举，它俨然已经发展成了一个市值达180亿美元的市场。2012年这个行业的市值增长了12%。据市调机构 MarketandMarkets发布的一份报告预计，到2018年，该行业的规模有望增长至242亿美元。

    这个行业一些领军企业的大名早已经如雷贯耳，比如Salesforce.com、SAP、甲骨文（Oracle）、微软（Microsoft）、IBM等等。其中Salesforce.com在2012年的销售额达到了25亿美元，位列榜首。SAP以23亿美元的销售业绩紧随其后。

    尽管CRM行业已经取得了相当的成功，但是随着社交媒体的规模日益扩大且重要性日益提高，各大CRM软件公司发现，他们已经走到了一个重要的节点。

    美国富国银行（Wells Fargo）的一位高级企业软件分析师称：“现在一切都围绕着智能手机转，社会上发生的任何事都能用手机捕捉下来。”他还表示，人们通常认为只有年轻人对社交媒体着迷，但事实却并不是这样的。“我母亲已经六十多岁了，但是她上Facebook的时间比我还多。”

    社交媒体的力量已经影响到了商业领域。Twitter对于商业来说非常重要，商务社交网站LinkedIn更是不可或缺。很多公关公司都对企业客户表示，现在社交媒体几乎已经是唯一的重要媒体了。因此，CRM软件公司必须要善用社交媒体，否则将来就有靠边站的危险。这种需求为CRM界开辟了一个全新的市场，也就是所谓的“社交CRM”市场。MarketandMarkets的那份报告同时还预测，社交CRM市场的规模现在大约在19.1亿美元左右，到2018年，这个市场的规模将增长至90亿美元。

    Nimble是社交CRM领域里比较有代表性的一家公司。公司的创始人乔恩•费拉拉也是最早一批在CRM领域吃螃蟹的人。1989年，他和朋友共同创办了一家“金矿软件公司”，后来在1999年把这家公司卖给了FrontRange公司。2009年，阔别CRM行业十年后，费拉拉有在2009年创办了Nimble公司，因为他认为市面上针对小型企业的CRM产品要么不够令人满意，要么就是太贵、太复杂。另外他也注意到社交媒体的兴起，还注意到其他CRM公司对这股趋势不够重视。费拉拉相信他的产品“可以帮助正确的人找到正确的商机。”

    Nimble的功能很简单：它会从多个社交媒体（包括电子邮件、Twitter、Facebook、LinkedIn等）精选有用的数据，把它打包整合，方便用户与客户直接取得联系，而不必把自己所有的社交媒体都扫荡一遍。用户只需登录Nimble.com，输入密码，就可以进入一个类似Facebook或LinkedIn的系统，然后可以在这个系统里选择通过什么方式来联系客户。

    到目前为止，这个平台已经取得了一定的成功。自从今年五月Nimble发布第三次更新以来，它的用户数已经扩大了300%。费拉拉称，每个用户平均花在这个平台上的时间达到5.5小时。他说：“可以说我们已经找到了‘圣杯’。”

    网络媒体公司Plastick Media就是一个这样的客户。这家公司的业务开发副总裁肖恩•瑞利表示，他们公司在采用Nimble之前用的是一款名叫High-Rise的软件，是一个主要针对小型企业的产品。由于这款软件的界面存在缺陷，因此瑞利称Hight-Rise是一个“不好用，不亲民”的产品，之后就换成了Nimble。他说：“Nimble更漂亮，更先进，对用户更友好。而且说实话，它为我们促成了更多的生意。”不过High-Rise公司拒绝对此发表评论。

    "CRM" looks like yet another jargony business acronym -- it stands for "customer relationship management," which just doesn't sound all that sexy.

    Lack of appealing acronyms aside, the CRM industry is booming. CRM companies create software that helps businesses manage contact with current and future clients and partners. The systems are used in a whole host of fields including marketing, customer service, and event planning. Bursting at the seams, the business is $18 billion in size and saw 12% growth in 2012. A report by MarketandMarkets predicts that the industry's size could increase to $24.2 billion by 2018.

    The leaders in this space are well-established names you already know: Salesforce.com (CRM), SAP (SAP), Oracle (ORCL), Microsoft (MSFT), and IBM (IBM). Salesforce leads all CRM companies with $2.5 billion in sales in 2012, with SAP coming in a close second at $2.3 billion.

    With all its success, the CRM market now finds itself at an important juncture due to the constantly growing—in significance and size—role of social media.

    "Everything revolves around your smartphone now," says Jason Maynard, a senior enterprise software analyst at Wells Fargo. "Everything that happens can be captured." He adds that contrary to popular belief, the recent obsession with social media is not restricted to youth: "My mom is in her sixties, but she is on Facebook more than I am."

    Social media's potency means it now affects business. Twitter is important. LinkedIn is crucial. Many PR firms tell corporate clients that social media is the only media type of substance anymore. As a result, CRM outfits must be social media-proficient or risk becoming obsolete. This need has opened up a whole new market within the CRM community, called "social CRM." The same MarketandMarkets report estimates this fragment of the business is $1.91 billion in size -- and will grow to $9 billion by 2018.

    One company in the social CRM space is Nimble, founded by CRM pioneer Jon Ferrara. He cofounded GoldMine Software Corporation in 1989, which he later sold to FrontRange in 1999. After 10 years outside the business, Ferrara founded Nimble in 2009 to capitalize on his conclusion that CRM products for small businesses were either unsatisfying or too expensive and complex. Additionally, he noticed the upswing of social media and that other CRM companies were not paying attention to this trend. Ferrara believes his own offering "can connect the right people to the right opportunities."

    Nimble's function is simple: It culls data from a wide range of social sources (including email, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn) and combines it so that users can contact customers without having to scour all of their social media outlets. Customers navigate to Nimble.com and type in a password to access a system similar to Facebook (FB) or Linkedin (LNKD). There, they can choose how they'd like to reach out to their customers.

    So far the platform has appeared successful, boasting a 300% increase in users since launching its third update in May. According to Ferrara, the average time a Nimble user spends on the interface is 5.5 hours. Clients, he says, "tell me we have hit the holy grail."

    Plastick Media, an internet-based media agency, is one such client. Sean Reilly, its VP of business development, says that before Nimble, Plastick used High-Rise, a small business-focused CRM company, but after finding flaws with the interface, calling it "clunky and uninviting," Plastick made the switch. "Nimble is prettier, more sophisticated, and much friendlier to use," he says. "And let's face it, it helps us close more deals." High-Rise declined to comment.