CRM and Social Media: Maximizing Deeper Customer Relationships

Although today's use of social media technologies is limited, there is evidence that companies see great benefit in their use, which will drive better use of the technologies going forward. 40 percent of companies (47 percent in North America) can already associate an increase in sales with new forms of media. Social media technologies have the potential to transform the way companies build and manage relationships with their customers. Companies have to find new ways of adding value to customer interactions. Almost 77% of all companies agree that social media will allow them to add new value to their customer interaction-a clear indication that social media technologies play a major role in customer relationship management. Two-thirds of companies also feel that social media technologies provide an excellent means of uplifting customer relationships. The study clearly shows that social media technologies have an important and positive role to play. The new generation of employees will drive increased use of social networking technologies within a business context. CRM and Social Media study reveals that few companies are taking steps to adjust their strategies and technologies to improve the customer experience, foster deeper relationships, and build brand loyalty to fundamentally change the nature and quality of the customer relationship. Avanade believes that social media technologies will allow companies and customers to establish deeper relationships.