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SURVEY & WHITE PAPER
The Social Customer
Engagement Index
Survey by
The Social Customer &
The Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals
Analysis by Brent Leary
Sponsored by
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
Page 3
II. Survey Results and Analysis
Page 5
The moderated
III. The Impact of Corporate Online Communities
community
for social CRM
on Serving The Social Customer
A Conversation with Mark Yolton, Senior Vice President
and customer
service The SAP Community Network
professionals Page 9
Visit us at IV. A View of the Future
http://thesocial Connecting Solution Seekers to Trusted Solution
customer.com Providers in Real Time
Page 14
V. Q&A with the Editors
1to1 Media’s Ginger Conlon and CRM Magazine’s Josh
Weinberger on Trust, Social CRM and the Importance of
Universal Customer Engagement
Page 16
VI. Detailed Survey Results
Page 20
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SECTION I
Introduction
As part of a continuing effort to provide and analysis on areas related to survey topics.
members of TheSocialCustomer.com One of the key areas affecting how
The study data
community with information to enhance customers communicate with companies
reveals some their customer service/engagement is the growth of customer support
interesting activities, this white paper shares the communities. As you will see in the survey
results of our June 2010 survey of results section, the major social networks
patterns that
community members. are already playing a significant role in how
can help you companies surveyed are interacting with
transform your The goal of the survey was to gain insight customers. Company-owned community
company’s into how your organizations were utilizing sites lag way behind in usage compared to
social channels to engage your customers the general networks.
efforts to from a service perspective. In order to
integrate social maximize the number of people taking the In many instances, customers look to
and traditional survey, we partnered with the Society of other customers for assistance with
Consumer Affairs Professionals (SOCAP product/service information and insight.
methods of International) and its membership of These customer-to-customer interactions
communication seasoned customer-support professionals. can not only drive down the costs of
into a win-win Between the two communities, and in servicing customers, but also improve
less than one week’s time, we were able customer satisfaction while creating
for you and your
to gather 118 professionals to participate strong advocates. Mark Yolton, senior vice
customers. in our inaugural Social Customer president of the SAP Community Network
Engagement Survey. at SAP, shares his thoughts on developing
active, robust online communities—and
As you will see in the survey results how they can affect customer relationships
section of this paper, The Social Customer today and in the future.
community members are actively using
multiple social tools and strategies to Also, as more people turn to social
communicate with their customers. A channels in search of trustworthy
review of the study data reveals some information providers, we look at how
interesting patterns that can help you a service like Google’s Aardvark may
transform your company’s efforts to provide a model for facilitating efficient
integrate social and traditional methods of context-specific community support
communication into a win-win for you and networks. This may prove to be a very
your customers. important approach, as chatter/content
overload proliferates on major social
While the survey shows a great deal of networks, making it more difficult to
activity taking place—and provides us with connect information seekers with trusted
valuable information—we also thought it information providers. Additionally, we
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Introduction (cont’d)
1to1 Media’s Executive Director Ginger today’s social-savvy customer. As you
Conlon and CRM Magazine’s Managing will see in the results of the survey and
Editor Josh Weinberger. They share their in the examples provided, technology
considerable insights on a wide range is the enabler, but it still comes down to
of customer engagement topics and people. Introducing new technology only
issues–including the current state of gets you part of the way there. In most
Social CRM; the need to adopt contact- cases, delivering traditional messages
center implementation methodologies to with new tools will not suffice. Processes
other back-office processes to improve and approaches may need to change, but
the customer experience; and how attitudes may need the biggest change
engaging customers on social channels of all to create significant customer
should be the job of experienced service experiences.
professionals—not interns.
Thank you to all who participated in the
Finally, you will find a more detailed look at inaugural TSC survey. Your participation
the survey results, with some commentary provided valuable insights we share here
on a few key points of interest. We hope with the community.
your takeaway from this paper will help
you successfully integrate social tools and
strategies into your communication with
Brent Leary, Partner of CRM Essentials Recognized by InsideCRM as one of the 25 most
influential industry leaders, Leary also is a past
Brent Leary is a CRM recipient of CRM Magazine's Most Influential Leader
industry analyst, advisor, Award. He serves on the national board of the
author, speaker and award- CRM Association, and on the advisory board of the
winning blogger. He is University of Toronto's newly created CRM Center
co-founder and partner of Excellence. He's been quoted in several national
of CRM Essentials LLC, business publications, including the Wall Street
an Atlanta based CRM Journal, Newsweek and Entrepreneur magazine.
advisory firm covering Leary serves on the editorial advisory board of The
tools and strategies for Atlanta Tribune magazine, writes the Social CRM
improving business column for Inc.com, and blogs at BrentLeary.com.
relationships. In 2009 he co-authored Barack 2.0: You can reach him on Twitter at
Social Media Lessons for Small Business. http://twitter.com/BrentLeary.
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SECTION II
Survey Results and Analysis
Abstract of Key Findings Summary Analysis
As organizations Key points to improve your company’s Companies are turning to social channels to
ability to successfully combine social engage with customers and prospects and
adopt social engagement with traditional customer build better, longer relationships with them.
tools and support processes: And, as organizations adopt social tools
strategies and strategies to engage customers from
• Management buy-in is the key to a service perspective, they expect this to
to engage successful social customer-engagement have a positive impact on overall customer
customers programs. service goals and objectives.
from a service
• Integrating social channels with traditional While this survey included a number of
perspective, service processes is paramount. questions aimed at understanding how TSC
they expect community members are utilizing social
this to have a • Identify the social channels that your channels in their customer support efforts,
customers engage in. it also asked about the impact of using
positive impact
social channels on customer service goals
on overall • Engage with social customers in multiple and objectives.
customer channels if necessary.
service goals Of the 118 respondents, 61 percent (72)
• Customer support staff should take time said efforts so far have had a positive
and objectives. to engage with customers on social impact, 36 percent (42) reported no
channels. noticeable impact, and only 3 percent (4)
reported a negative impact.
• More interactions generate a higher
positive impact with social customers. An analysis of the survey reveals a few
factors that may help those involved in
• Companies that have a longer history of engaging customers on social networks
engaging customers on social channels improve their chances of positively affecting
from a service perspective experience customers.
a more positive impact on their service
goals. More Time, More Positive Impact
One obvious result from the survey is that
• Facebook and Twitter ranked similarly for the longer a company has been engaging
effective engagement overall. customers on social channels from a
service perspective, the more positive the
These guiding principles will help your impact on its service goals and objectives.
company meet support goals for engaging Eighteen percent (22 of 118) of respondents
today's social customer. overall said their companies have been
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Survey Results and Analysis (cont’d)
social channels for more than two years. One Employee Can Make a Big
But 53 percent (16 of 30) who reported their Difference
company has had positive results engaging The vast majority of respondents (79
customers on social channels have been at percent) said that fewer than five customer
it for more than two years—three times the service professionals engage customers on
overall rate for respondents. Of those who social channels—62 percent said from one
said they have seen very positive results, to five customer service employees were
64 percent (16 of 25) have been engaged assigned to that function. But where 17
through social channels for more than two percent of all respondents said they actually
years. have no customer service employees
engaged, only 4 percent (2 of 55) of those
Equally revealing: Of those who said that answered Very Positive or Positive to
their companies witnessed no noticeable the impact of social networks. Contrast
impact resulting from social engagement this to the number of respondents saying
with customers, only 24 percent (10 of their company has seen no noticeable
42) have been using social channels for impact—31 percent (13 of 42)—and you see
more than two years. the importance of having a customer service
professional engage customers, as opposed
Integrating “Social” with Traditional to marketing or public relations staff.
Service Processes Pays Off
Of the 31 percent of respondents who More Social Interactions, Higher
reported their companies have fully Positive Impact
integrated social interactions into their The survey also shows the impact that
customer support processes, a full 40 the volume of interactions with customers
percent (12 of 30) say their company has from a support perspective has on
experienced a positive impact from social sentiment toward integrating social
engagement. That number jumps up to with traditional support. While a large
48 percent (12 of 25) who see very positive majority of respondents (72 percent) say
results from social engagement. Conversely, a small percentage of customer requests
only 19 percent (8 of 42) of those seeing no are initiated via social channels, those
noticeable impact from social engagement with positive feelings have more social
say their company has fully integrated it into exchanges with customers. Forty percent
their customer support processes. (12 of 30 respondents) who report a positive
impact from social also say that at least
There appears to be a correlation between 6 percent of their support interactions
the length of time engaged and the degree are initiated and/or resolved via social
to which social has been tied to traditional channels. The number jumps to 60 percent
support. Indeed, you would expect to see (15 of 25) reporting a very positive impact
companies that have been at it longer to be from engaging with customers over social
able to effectively tie processes together. channels.
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Survey Results and Analysis (cont’d)
Just as telling is the fact that only 5 can be said for Zappos, which has built
percent (2 of 42 respondents) who a corporate culture of having employees
saw no noticeable impact from social engage customers over social channels,
had more than 5 percent of support even though the number of interactions is
interactions initiated (or resolved) over dwarfed by the 2 million calls the company’s
social networks. agents took in 2009 alone.
Once again, more time as well as more Management Buy-In Makes a
employee engagement may add to the Difference
number of interactions, so there may be a Understanding customer expectations
correlation between those areas. One other with social engagement was one of the
thought about the respondents reporting top challenges facing those surveyed—
no noticeable impact: 95 percent (40 of and it was a challenge across the board.
42) said that fewer than 6 percent of their Determining ROI and defining key
companies’ support interactions occurred performance indicators also were common
through social channels. The fact that these challenges to all. But having management
companies have little social interaction buy-in for social initiatives seemed to be
may well shape their assessment of the critical to recognizing positive impact.
importance or relevance of engaging While 31 percent of all respondents cited
customers through social channels. management buy-in as a major challenge
to their initiatives, only 12 percent (3 of
Companies that may not place much 25 respondents) reporting a very positive
importance on social interactions based impact cited management buy-in as a
on the low percentage of overall customer challenge. This compares to 45 percent
interactions may want to consider the (19 of 42) of those seeing no noticeable
approach of such companies as Comcast or impact with social engagement citing
Zappos. According to Emily Yellin’s book, management buy-in as an issue.
Your Call Is (Not That) Important to Us, by
early 2010 Comcast had helped more than Facebook and Twitter Usage Makes
150,000 customers since it began engaging a Difference As Well
them in 2008 over social channels—this Respondents’ answers to using specific
pales in comparison to the 308 million social networks for customer engagement
customer calls it handled in 2009 alone. generate some interesting insights. While
But the relatively small number of social Facebook was most cited for customer
interactions did not deter Comcast (led engagement, both Facebook and Twitter
by Frank Eliason) from leveraging social ranked similarly for effective engagement
tools to better engage with the growing overall. But, analyzing those declaring a
number of people who use such services very positive impact, 72 percent (18 of 25)
to connect directly with Comcast or with saw Twitter as being very effective while
other Comcast customers. The same just 16 percent (4 of 25) viewed Facebook
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Survey Results and Analysis (cont’d)
that way. However, those who saw only Money Does Not Seem to Make a
a positive impact, 57 percent (17 of 30) Big Difference
of respondents, said Facebook was very The overwhelming majority of respondents
effective, whereas 40 percent (12 of 30) say their companies have invested less
named Twitter. than $50,000 on the social initiatives. But
even when you compare those seeing very
While it may seem unusual to see this kind positive results to the general population of
of variance between the “Very Positive” respondents, 32 percent (8 of 25) invested
and “Positive” respondents when it comes more than $50,000, whereas 28 percent of
to which social networks are more effective, all surveyed invested more than $50,000.
the data show that smaller organizations
appear to be more comfortable describing Final Thoughts: Survey Summary
their results with social as being very Based on the survey results, the keys
positive, whereas larger companies tend to improving your company’s ability to
to prefer “Positive.” This may explain why successfully combine social engagement
Twitter seems to be the choice of smaller with traditional support processes are
organizations, while Facebook tends to be fairly clear. You need management buy-in
favored by larger companies. to give the initiative stability and support.
With time and effort thus supported,
Twenty-eight percent of those seeing a very the probability of success increases.
positive impact (and 30 percent of those Additionally, finding the social channels
seeing a positive impact) reported using through which your customers want to
both Facebook and Twitter to engage engage is critical, so it’s important to
customers. Those numbers compare with have a presence on them. This may mean
17 percent of all respondents who use engaging customers on multiple networks
them both. Also noteworthy is that only to get positive impact. Also, as the results
12 percent of those seeing no noticeable show, you have to have at least a minimal
impact engage customers on both of the commitment of customer-support staff
popular sites. time to engage with customers on social
channels. These actions will take time but
One other interesting outcome should will increase the number of interactions
be noted: 40 percent of those who taking place. According to the results of the
saw no noticeable impact from social survey, this should help your company meet
engagement cited their company’s support goals and objectives for engaging
own social site as an effective channel, today’s social customer.
whereas 28 percent of those who
responded very positive—and 17
percent of those responding positive— Detailed Survey Results section
said company sites were effective. begins on page 20.
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SECTION III
The Impact of Corporate
Online Communities on
Serving the Social Customer
A Conversation with Mark Yolton
Senior Vice President
The SAP Community Network
Brent Leary: Mark, you are involved in analysts, and media that watch SAP. We
developing online communities. One of do have a community—a social network
I see our the things we asked about in the survey is of our own—a professional social network
corporate social how companies are utilizing different kinds for anyone interested in SAP. We are also
network as a of social networks—Facebook, Twitter connected to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn
and some of the other general networks. and many other resources. So we are
key pillar in
Are they utilizing or building their own doing both, and we think it is important
strengthening corporate networks? Are they getting more to have both a company community and a
the ongoing involved in industry-specific sites? Some of strong presence in third-party, open social
relationship and the research showed that Facebook and networks.
Twitter are by far the most-utilized sites.
in delivering There was a big drop off between those We view our community as the place where
extraordinary major networks and companies’ utilizing or we can publish some very rich information
value creating their own customer networks, but we couldn't publish on Facebook,
you guys have been at this for years. What LinkedIn, Twitter and so forth. It becomes
throughout are your thoughts on companies looking the central repository for discussions,
the entire life to create better experiences with their blogs and forums. We have a wiki. We
cycle of SAP’s customers through their own community publish white papers. We have software
networks? downloads. All sorts of things occur within
connection to our SAP Community Network, but then
customers and Mark Yolton: Well, at SAP we've been we extend out from there into Twitter,
partners. doing exactly that—building our own Facebook, LinkedIn and so forth in order
online community for the past seven years. to reach other communities and catch
This thing I and my team are orchestrating people who might not know that the SAP
on behalf of SAP, its customers and its Community Network exists for them—so
partners, called the SAP Community those platforms becomes an amplifier.
Network, has grown in that time to two
million individual members from our BL: You have IT folks who are looking to
customer accounts, partner companies and integrate and use your products or set
all parts of SAP and also includes pundits, them up for their business users. You have
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The Impact of Corporate Online Communities
on Serving The Social Customer (cont’d)
business users who are trying to figure out through this larger community network.
best practices. How has the development What we get to do then, as you can
of your online community impacted the imagine, is capture people's attention
relationship you have with your customers? throughout the life cycle.
MY: It really provides this great depth We are engaging and crowd-sourcing
of relationship that we wouldn't have ideas so that we can be innovative and use
otherwise. We started out with a the wisdom of the crowds to supplement
developer network seven years ago, back the good ideas from 50,000 SAP
in 2003. That developer network started employees around the world. So now we
to grow and thrive, and we noticed the also get the ideas of two million customers
demographics starting to change. and partners about what features and
functions we should be including in the
We saw some business users and next generation of our products. What
consultants, people in the business world kind of trends they are seeing out in the
rather than just simply the IT organization, marketplace in their particular line of
starting to show up in this community. business, say, in the HR world or in the
We built community content specifically finance world, or in their industry. So
for them. We call it the Business Process number one, we are getting innovation
Expert Community. and insight from the marketplace that is
influencing our product direction.
We started to notice that students and
professors wanted to engage more actively The second thing we improve is the go-
with the practitioners who are working in to-market experience. As we engage with
SAP customer accounts or partners, so existing or prospective customers, we
we have a University Alliances community actually have members of the community,
that connects a thousand universities existing customers, talk to them about
around the world—students and professors how SAP products work...how they solve
collaborating and doing homework, particular challenges…where a particular
learning and sharing best practices, etc. solution might fit in. In short, we have
customer input that is helping to drive the
Finally, we have a Business Objects conversation. We also have a marketplace
community. We acquired a company that and app store called the SAP EcoHub
focuses on business intelligence, business where almost 600 SAP and partner
insight and so forth, so we have this fourth solutions can be discovered and evaluated
community and then an individual can start the sales
process if they wish.
We are, as you point out, looking at
different demographic areas, different And then we have a relationship with
slices of our ecosystem that are connected our customers throughout the entire life
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The Impact of Corporate Online Communities
on Serving The Social Customer (cont’d)
cycle post-sale, as the third major impact. question. When people blog and share
This is where the communities really their experiences with each other, they
have tremendous strength because other get points. When they contribute to the
customers and partners are helping the wiki, they get points. When they present
members of the community understand at a conference, they get points. Any
how best to configure, install, implement, time a member of the community shares
operate, optimize, and upgrade the with other members of the community,
SAP solutions they have in place. Often, they are awarded points. This is one of
companies have a relationship with us that the ways beyond the platform in a more
spans many years, decades, even multiple programmatic way that we're encouraging
decades, so offering value and benefits members of the community to engage,
post-sale is extremely important. interact, connect and share with each
other.
BL: How is it impacting the customer–to-
customer relationship, and how does that In essence, beyond the physical platform,
impact the overall relationship with your the tools and technology, we are also
customers? proving a culture of sharing where we are
encouraging customers, partners, SAP
MY: Well, number one, we are providing a folks and others to engage with each other
community platform and tools that allow and to share. By doing so, we're helping
customers, partners, SAP and others who our customers be more successful and to
are interested in SAP to engage with each execute faster. They get faster answers
other. That's the first thing: discussion to questions. They get better solutions.
forums, blogs, wikis, Twitter accounts, They get insight from their peers. They
events where we get people together in get recommendations. We are essentially
the physical world and not just online. encouraging the fostering of an eco-
Essentially, we are providing a physical system, a tight relationship between SAP,
platform, but we are also providing a its customers, its partners and all of those
culture of sharing. We are encouraging with each other.
people in various ways to connect with
each other. BL: You mentioned that you have millions
of members in these communities but still
We have a recognition program whereby thought it was very important to extend
individual members of the community that reach and engage the customers in
can thank or recognize each other with social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn
points. If I ask a question in a discussion and Twitter. Why was that important, even
forum and you answer that question for while you have millions of people on your
me, I can award you points as a thank- own sites?
you. I can decide how many points you
deserve depending on the difficulty of the MY: What we find is that different users
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The Impact of Corporate Online Communities
on Serving The Social Customer (cont’d)
with different roles engage in different that. But we use them all to reach out from
ways and in different places. In essence IT our community, often times to link people
people—developers, system admins and back into our community where the real
so on—are very comfortable in certain meat of our offerings exists.
situations where business people—
HR Managers, finance directors—are BL: Mark, one more question. If you were
less comfortable. We are meeting our starting a network or building on today’s
customers and our partners wherever they social tools, what role would the corporate
are, where they feel comfortable. online community play in building out that
customer experience?
I think Facebook is more of a consumer-
oriented, very friendly kind of a place. The MY: I see the corporate online community
tone tends to be very casual and informal as a place you can't control, but where
and personal. you can have more influence. If you think
of concentric circles, I would say SAP.com
Twitter, until recently, was primarily for early is at the center of a bull’s eye. It’s very
adopters, and was more tech- and geek- controlled—it's really SAP broadcasting
oriented—with fewer business people out to the world. It serves as a “yellow
and end-user types. We can have quick pages” to the rest of SAP's offerings. It
conversations in Twitter but they are often also has to serve the media audience as
not very sticky. They are quick threads that well as the investment community and
dissipate quickly. many others in an “official” capacity.
About LinkedIn: I was just in Latin America If we move out a ring from that—and give
and I asked how many people had up some control and really encourage
LinkedIn pages, and was surprised to find engagement from customers and
that almost 100 percent of the people in partners and others—that would be
the room had a LinkedIn profile. I think the SAP communities. What you get in
LinkedIn tends to foster more professional- exchange for giving up control is a lot of
type discussions and is a lot more oriented engagement, feedback and interaction.
around the individual’s career—your
biography, history and work experiences. I would say that Facebook, LinkedIn,
Twitter, etc., are yet another ring removed.
Each one of these social platforms has a You have much less influence on those
role—there are sweet spots where each platforms. You don't get to choose features
is valuable. For example, Twitter is great or functionality or add star ratings for
for monitoring for unhappy customers, or top contributors. You don't really get to
somebody who is frustrated and having have a recognition program. There are
difficulty, or has a quick question that you policies and practices that Facebook,
can jump in on; LinkedIn isn't so good at Twitter or LinkedIn put in place and you
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The Impact of Corporate Online Communities
on Serving The Social Customer (cont’d)
just have to live with them. But what you I see a corporate social networking
gain is engagement with different kinds of community as a critical pillar in a long-
audiences. term relationship with customers versus
a fleeting transactional one. I see it
In my world, the thing we really focus on as a place people can return to, from
is this SAP community where we have the Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., where you can
ability to implement some incentives for really publish a lot of content and offer
certain behaviors and disincentives for other unique value--where you can differentiate
behaviors we don't like to see. We can put yourself and your company and its
in place new functional capabilities and new offerings and programs from the volume
features. For example, a job board to cater of what's available through public social
to a university audience, or an idea crowd- media platforms. I see our corporate social
sourcing platform, or a download function. network as a key pillar in strengthening
We have more control over the platform the ongoing relationship and in delivering
and the policies and practices. We certainly extraordinary value throughout the entire
don't have control over the audience lifecycle of SAP’s connection to customers
because it is comprised of two million and partners.
members who are very actively engaged
there. And while we don't have complete
control over the content, we can influence it.
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SECTION IV
A View of the Future
Connecting Solution Seekers to Trusted Solution
Providers in Real Time
The search for information has been a In the end we’d like relationships with
driving force in the growth of the Web. people who can provide us with important
In the end
Internet searches have become a routine information and collaborative exchanges,
we’d like business activity. Keywords typed into in ways we’d like to receive them and in
relationships search engines return a list of links to time frames that work for us. This calls for
potential answers or solutions in the form a certain level of familiarity, comfort and
with people
of blog posts, forums, white papers and trust. And while technology has made
who can other forms of content. Based on the it much easier to connect with millions
provide us number of times a link is clicked on from of people via social channels, finding
with important a keyword search, and how many other trusted information sources to build
pages on the Web link to it, search engines multidimensional relationships is more
information and determine how far up a link appears on difficult. In many cases, the loudest and
collaborative that list of search results. most aggressive voices drown out the
exchanges, in more knowledgeable ones, causing a
While the information provided by linked decline in trust and greater potential for
ways we’d like pages may help with a specific challenge roadblocks in building, facilitating, and
to receive them or lead to some useful alternatives, it developing vibrant customer communities.
and in time doesn’t automatically provide something
even more valuable: a relationship with While traditional social networks do
frames that
the solution provider. It may not even provide opportunities to create or facilitate
work for us. connect you to the people who can successful online communities, the above
provide the best answer for your current issues make it difficult to efficiently connect
situation or with people with whom you trusted, knowledgeable information
can interact on an ongoing basis. providers with information seekers. This
is why Aardvark (http://vark.com) is a
The rise of Facebook, Twitter and other compelling model to discuss.
social networks demonstrates the need
for more than raw information. People Aardvark is a social search service recently
congregate on these sites for information, acquired by Google. Its main objective is
discussion, camaraderie and ongoing to connect people looking for information
human engagement. This progression can to people who can provide information—
turn information searches into contextual, in real time. It differs from Google’s
meaningful relationships that can traditional search, which links people to
eventually evolve into online communities. information.
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A View of the Future (cont’d)
The power of Aardvark is that it allows of connection opportunities. Aardvark
people to use natural language to also works over multiple channels such as
describe what information they are websites, e-mail, instant messaging, etc.,
looking for, and then uses special making it easier to initiate and respond
algorithms to create a list of the best to information requests while employing
people to answer this inquiry—based preferred methods of interaction.
on rankings of historical answers on the
subject, the questioner’s personal social The important thing about Aardvark is that
graph and the availability of an individual the emphasis is on connecting the right
to respond in real time. people at the right time around the right
information. The focus is on people, not
The Aardvark model is compelling in that a specific network or specific channel. It
it limits distractions from predatory social analyzes information, graded by people, to
networkers responding to information improve the quality of each connection. It
requests on open networks with a private also leverages social graphs to increase the
request that is analyzed and routed to the pool of potential respondents and to take
most qualified people in the network, with into account social behavior. It combines
ranking preference given to those with this social data with information quality
whom you have a relationship via social scores to determine the best people to
connections. It has the potential to more answer a specific question from a specific
efficiently create relationship opportunities individual. This provides an intuitive way
and grow context-based communities to grow a community, which should enable
without unwanted, trust-busting behavior. customers to connect more efficiently with
each other as well as with knowledgeable
While Aardvark is its own social network, experts—and of course with the companies
it enables people to connect with friends committed to engaging them across social
on other social channels (Facebook, channels.
Twitter, Gmail, etc.) to improve the quality
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SECTION V
Q&A with the Editors
1to1 Media’s Ginger Conlon and CRM
Magazine’s Josh Weinberger on Trust,
Social CRM and the Importance of
Universal Customer Engagement
I recently had the good fortune to sit of companies trying to figure out the best
down with two of the CRM industry’s best way to do that. Hopefully, those numbers
It’s not just
minds to discuss some of the hot topics will improve over the next couple of years.
about the for companies committed to serving I think customers are always going to be a
marketing customer’s needs, today and in the future. little bit leery about determining if they’re
being sold to, or if the company actually
messages,
Ginger Conlon is editorial director of has their best interest in mind when it
it's about 1to1 Media, and Josh Weinberger is the engages them.
the company managing editor of CRM Magazine. As
itself —that editors at two of the leading publications I think the more relevant the messages
in the industry, Ginger and Josh cover a lot become and the more open companies
the company of ground with unique insights, opinions are (where they can be, as there are some
actually has and illustrative anecdotes. regulations in various industries), the more
the customer’s the “trustability” factor will increase. It’s
Below are a few key points from that not just about the marketing messages,
best interest conversation. We think they’ll answer some it's about the company itself —that the
in mind …. questions about what companies are doing company actually has the customer’s
and can do better to serve today’s social best interest in mind when it’s creating
customers. new products or delivering services, or
responding to a customer complaint or
Trustworthiness Factor request.
Ginger Conlon: I don't think it has
changed much, as you can see by those Important Developments
numbers (based on eMarketer.com’s Josh Weinberger: We’re seeing a lot
recent survey - What Makes Social Media of integration between social media
Trustworthy?). But I think what is happening and the enterprise, a lot of push into
is all of the conversations in the social the collaboration space. Much of that
world are forcing companies to be more is internally focused right now and not
transparent—to get in there and join those customer-facing, which I think is a shame.
conversations. I think there are still a lot Seeing things like Social Text, collaboration
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Q&A with the Editors (cont’d)
companies like Phantom Networks, there areas that ultimately affect the customer
are a lot of people who think that being experience.
able to make working better will make
the company better. I would like to see JW: Yeah, I would like to see the same type
that thought extended to HR software of work for management and performance
processes. Deciding how to hire, train management skill sets—metrics, process
and develop your employees and your and judgments—being applied across
staff should be a customer-facing process, the enterprise. I’m sure you need different
because those are the people who are metrics or business rules, but it matters
going to be dealing with customers. They that there is some type of holistic approach
are your face to the customers. to deciding what type of employees you
want, based on what kind of customer you
It's really about making sure that have and how they need to be serviced.
performance management and HR People shouldn’t just be hired based on
processes—and all of the things that go a resume. They should be hired based on
into making sure your staff and personnel an end goal, which is serving customers.
are doing the right things—actually Zappos still remains my top example of
translates into what matters: dealing with this. They do not sell shoes, they deliver
customers. happiness.
GC: That is so true. Look at a company like GC: That’s true. Their hiring process is
Southwest that “hires for smiles” as one of really in-depth, as far as the types of
their criteria. Obviously, there is a lot more questions they ask during the interview.
to it than that, but they started using that Actually, Mrs. Fields Cookies, when she
mantra with their customer-facing folks, first started her business, had specific
and then they moved that into the back questions. One of the things she did was
office. So it’s basically a “hire for attitude,” make all of her applicants sing “Happy
“train for skill” kind of thing. Birthday,” or something like that, on cue.
The thought was if you could do that to a
Then if you look on the technology side, a stranger on cue in a job interview, it said
lot of the companies focusing on workforce a lot about your personality. That was the
management are really making a push type of person she wanted serving her
into the back office. You can leverage cookies.
the process and execution that the call
center has mastered—process flows, Current state of Social CRM
execution times, defined roles, etc. A lot JW: I would like to think that we are more
of companies are trying to move those advanced than we were a year ago, but I
approaches into the back office into places think we are still a little bit in the chaotic
where it also makes a lot of sense, in phase. I still see people tussling about
things like billing and other process-heavy definitions. I still see people arguing about
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Q&A with the Editors (cont’d)
which hash tag belongs to which letters. But now, it actually seems to require more
I hope that we get beyond that soon. I’d legwork, not less. Until we get to a point
like to see us move forward in seeing how where we can automate things and actually
these approaches to social media and streamline processes, this is actually more
social technologies actually affect people. effort for companies.
We are seeing a lot of progress.
GC: I would like to echo a lot of what Josh
We are seeing a lot of companies actually said. I think service via the social channels
do things with social media now, not just is still what Josh alluded to—a little bit
talk about it. Not just do whatever comes silo-ed. There are companies trying to
up and hope something sticks. There are get the service interactions basically into
some trying to approach it with a kind of their queue. They are trying to use skilled
rigor. We see a push now for Facebook customer service agents to handle the
pages maybe replacing customer service questions on Facebook or Twitter. But I
pages. A contact center company called talked to someone recently who has a
Parature just came out recently with a couple of interns doing the responses.
Facebook integrator/accelerator. We are
seeing a lot of companies now saying JW: This goes back to the Pizza Hut Twitter
“contact us on Facebook.” We are intern. (Editor's note: In April 2009 Pizza
not seeing “go to www.company.com/ Hut offered college students a summer
support.” You are seeing Facebook.com/ internship tasked solely with monitoring
company, which is a change on the order of social channels and formulating responses
when people started seeing URLs on ads in according to corporate communications
the first place. But it happened a lot faster guidelines. For further insight visit:
than it did back when Web pages started http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/20/
coming up. business/media/20twitter.html
I am intrigued with how companies are GC: Like Josh said, they are trying to scale
applying these things in different ways. up and it’s kind of challenging. Here is
We are seeing a lot of customer service this new thing and they need to be there
support on Twitter. We are seeing a lot of because that is where their customers
customer service support on Facebook. I’d are, but they are not ready for it. So, their
like to see more customer service in other temporary response is to have a couple of
social media aspects—community forums interns take care of it.
and places where companies see people
gathering. You have to go where the I think we are going to see a transition to
people are. You are seeing that to some basically a universal queue in the contact
degree, but it’s hard because on some center. You have these people who are
level this is streamlined and optimized, for experienced in dealing with customers
lack of a better word, customer support. and you have processes to handle those
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Q&A with the Editors (cont’d)
issues. As the technology and processes could be a good thing. I think seeing what
evolve, that’s all going to wind up being works and then deciding where to go can
connected. I just think it is going to take be a huge plus.
some time.
I am not a believer that Facebook is going
Final Thoughts to be around forever. For a while, it is the
GC: A year from now, I think we are going thing and then it’s gone. Friendster was
to be having a very similar conversation. the thing and now it’s gone. MySpace was
Especially with “trustability” and what the thing and now it’s gone. It’s not gone,
I mentioned on that topic. Privacy will but it has decreased in excitement and
continue to be a big issue. I do think we’ll certainly in new subscribers. Someday
be further along the path and comparing Facebook will be gone too, I really believe
where we’ve been and where we are going that. It’s just a matter of time. You have to
will be interesting. go where the people are now. Being able
to allocate resources quickly and nimbly is
JW: I think vendors are going to be playing not the most important thing. Seeing those
catch-up forever in order to keep up with companies that are nimble and learning
customer needs. I think we have tipped it not only from their customers, but also
the other direction where innovation is now from their young Gen Y employees, letting
going to be trickling up. Not necessarily ideas trickle up from the inside—those are
in a bad way, I think being a fast follower the companies that are going to succeed.
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SECTION VI
Detailed Survey Results
While the survey was comprised of a • The majority of respondents (60 percent)
relatively small number of questions, it say their companies have been engaging
Smaller
provided a good amount of insight that customers on social channels for less
companies you will see throughout this document. than a year.
are much Listed below are a few of the high- level
pieces of information that may help • Determining key performance
more positive
you understand where the TSC/SOCAP indicators and understanding customer
about the International communities are when it expectations are the two biggest
results of their comes to engaging customers, from a challenges to engaging customers on
organizations’ service perspective, over social channels. social channels.
engaging with • The vast majority (69 percent) of those • While Facebook is the most utilized
customers over taking the survey are customer support/ social channel for customer engagement,
social channels. service professionals. Facebook and Twitter are considered the
most effective channels.
• 76 percent of those surveyed are
employed at companies with more than • While many respondents at large
1,000 employees (46 percent) or less than enterprises say social engagement
50 employees (30 percent). hasn’t had a positive impact on customer
support goals and objectives, they are at
• 12 industries were represented by least satisfied with their company’s social
respondents, with Services, Food and initiatives to date.
Communications having the most
representation. • Small organizations appear faster to
adopt social channels for customer
• The majority of respondents (66 percent) engagement, and are more positive
are at the manager or director level. about that engagement than larger firms.
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Question Summary
with Segment Impressions
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What is your industry?
6–12 months 1–2 years More than 2 years
35 34 Company size
50 employees or less
51–100 employees
30
101–500 employees
501–1000 employees
25 1000 employees or more
Number of Respondents
20 19 20
15 14
13
11
10 9
6
5
2 2 1 1 1
0
Ser Ret Ma Hea Fina Foo Com Aer Agr Tran Com Fab Oth
vice ail nuf lthc nce da put osp icul spo mu ric a er
s actu are nd er a ace ture rtat nica nd
ring Tob nd and ion tion App
acc Ele Aut s are
o ctro om l
nics otiv
e
Industry
Overall Impressions various sizes. This will make for interesting
The 118 respondents represent a wide comparisons now and going forward,
array of industries. Some are very lightly i.e., Industry versus Industry as well as
represented, such as Fabric/Apparel and Large vs. Small enterprise within a given
Transportation. But they provide valuable industry. We will take a special look at
insight into how companies in these Retail vs. Manufacturing to see how these
industries are utilizing social tools and two industries compare and contrast using
strategies to engage customers from a social channels to support customers. We
support perspective. will also take a closer look at responses
from the Services industry and see how
Others, like Services, Food, large and small organizations in that sector
Communications, etc., have a good are adopting social tools to engage with
number of respondents from companies of their customers.
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Roles
Company size
60
81 50 employees or less
51–100 employees
101–500 employees
50
501–1000 employees
1000 employees or more
Number of Respondents
40
32
30
20
13
10
0
Customer Service Sales Marketing
Role
The overwhelming majority of survey towards the marketing and promotional
respondents identified themselves as functions. But, because many sales
having a role in customer service/support. and marketing (especially marketing)
This provides a better understanding than professionals participated in the survey, it
many similar surveys provide of the view presents a good opportunity to compare
from the customer service function of a their opinions on customer engagement
company’s efforts with social tools and via social channels.
strategies. Other surveys tend to skew
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Titles
Company size
60 50 employees or less
51–100 employees
101–500 employees
50 501–1000 employees
50
1000 employees or more
Number of Respondents
40
30
26
20 19
13
10 10
0
C-Level VP Level Director Level Manager Level Other
Title
Management and director-level employees for customer support at the companies
make up the vast majority of people participating in the survey.
included in the survey. These are the
executives that typically create and Additionally, with all 13 C-level participants
manage the strategies implemented coming from companies with 50 or
for handling customer support, case fewer employees, we’re able to gain
management, contact center and other valuable insight from the top of smaller
forms of customer service engagement. organizations regarding their views of
With this level of participation from these “social” and its role in engaging and
employee levels, we can get a good supporting their customer bases.
handle on the state of social engagement
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Length of Company’s Involvement in Customer
Service Engagement via Social Channels
1
1
Company size
50 employees or less
40
37 51–100 employees
101–500 employees
34 501–1000 employees
1000 employees or more
30
26
Number of Respondents
22
20
10
0
0–6 months 6–12 months 1–2 years More than 2 years
Time period
The majority of those surveyed reported engaged for less than a year, while 7 of 18
that their companies have only started companies with more than 50 employees
engaging customers via social channels said the same.
over the past year. Interestingly, 31 of
the 54 respondents from companies Comparing the retail and manufacturing
with more than 1,000 employees fit this industries, 7 of 9 retail respondents and 9
category, while 19 of 35 respondents from of 13 manufacturing respondents said they
companies with 50 or fewer employees have been engaged with customers on
also became involved with “social” in that social channels for less than a year.
time frame.
Overall, from a support perspective, it
Looking only at the respondents who appears that many companies are still
reported being in the services industry, 8 relatively new to engaging customers in
of 16 respondents from companies with social arenas.
50 or fewer employees said they’d been
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6–12 months 1–2 years More than 2 years
35 100
37
30 34
9
25 30
10
2 26
1
20 5
6 22
15 20 6 5 1
2
11
10 4
1
5 10 18
16 2
Number of Employees Engaging
13
0 8
0
Customers on Social Channels
0–6 months 6–12 months 1–2 years More than 2 years
1
1
80 Company size
73 50 employees or less
51–100 employees
101–500 employees
501–1000 employees
60
1000 employees or more
Number of Respondents
40
20
20
9 7 6
3
0
0 1–5 6–10 11–20 21–50 Over 50
Number of employees
What stands out when looking at this three companies with fewer than 50
area is that three times as many large employees that have at least six people
enterprises (over 1,000 employees) had engaged—and two have at least 11 people
no employees engaging customers engaged. So companies with no more
than companies with fewer than 50 than 50 employees, with at least 11 using
employees—12 to 4. This is significant, social channels to communicate with
as only 20 more employees from large customers, account for at least 20 percent
enterprises took the survey than from of employees.
small companies. And while there are two
companies of more than 1,000 employees Overall, it appears that smaller companies
with more than 50 employees engaged, surveyed here are engaging customers via
that accounts for a very low percentage social at higher rates relative to the number
of companies. Conversely, there are of employees than larger enterprises.
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Financial Investment
1
1
100
Company size
50 employees or less
85 51–100 employees
80 101–500 employees
501–1000 employees
1000 employees or more
Number of Respondents
60
40
20
20
6 7
0
less than $50K $50K–$100K $100K–$250K Over $250K
Amount invested
While 55 percent of respondents from Even in a relatively small sample size,
companies with over 1,000 employees three out of 13 manufacturing industry
spent less than $50,000 on their social respondents said they invested more than
initiatives, 18 percent spent more than $50,000—with one of them investing more
$100,000. Of that number spending than $250,000. Retail also bucked the
over $100,000, half are spending more spending trend, with two of nine spending
than $250,000—or 9 percent of the total over $50,000, and one company investing
respondents from large enterprises. over $100,000.
Surprisingly, there are even two companies
with fewer than 50 employees who have
spent more than $250,000, with another
spending more than $100,000.
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100
80 6–12 months 1–2 years More than 2 years
35 100
37
60
30 34
9
25 30
10
2 26
1
20 5
6 22
15
40 20
2
6 5 1
11
10 4
1
5 10 18
20
16 2
What percentage of customer service requests is
13
0 8
0
initiated/resolved via social networks?
0–6 months 6–12 months 1–2 years More than 2 years
0
1
1
100
Company size
50 employees or less
85 51–100 employees
80 101–500 employees
501–1000 employees
1000 employees or more
Number of Respondents
60
40
20
10 12
5 4 2
0
0–5% 6–10% 11–15% 16–20% 21–25% Over 25%
Percentage of customer service requests
The vast majority of respondents say their than 1,000 employees said 25 percent or
companies’ interactions with customers more of their customer service interactions
come mostly from channels other than took place over social channels. Also,
social. And while the majority of businesses looking at retail versus manufacturing
with fewer than 50 employees fit that again, retail respondents appear to
category (18 out of 35), a significant engage more frequently on social channels
group of those businesses (10 out of 35) than manufacturing respondents, with
say 25 percent of their customer support two respondents saying at least 16%
interactions are over social channels. of their companies’ customer support
interactions take place on social channels.
As a comparison, only two of 54 Manufacturing had only one respondent
respondents from enterprises with more making it into the “6-10%” category.
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Which social networks does your company
engage customers on from a customer
service perspective? 1
1
100
Company size
91 50 employees or less
51–100 employees
80 78 101–500 employees
501–1000 employees
1000 employees or more
Number of Respondents
60
47
40
33
20 19
0
Facebook Twitter Company-owned Industry-specific Other
social network network
Social network
While the above answers to the “percent Company-owned social sites also seem to
interaction” question show low levels be fairly popular at both ends of the size
of engagement compared to traditional spectrum. Roughly a third of all enterprises
communication channels, companies of with more than 1,000 employees use their
all sizes, across industries, are using the company social site to engage, while about
best-known social channels to connect with 30 percent of companies with 50 or fewer
customers. The majority of respondents employees also engage on company-owned
say their companies use Facebook and sites.
Twitter to engage customers. Many of
them are also using general sites other Looking at the service industry respondents,
than those two, indicated by the large large and small companies largely mirror the
number who selected “Other.” A popular overall survey results. But comparing retail and
business social site like LinkedIn may be manufacturing industries, it appears that of
well represented in that number, as well as respondents at manufacturing companies—
other general networking sites. while engaging on Facebook and Twitter—
nearly 25 percent cite industry-specific sites as
a place to engage their customers.
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On which social network do customers most
often engage with you for service inquiries?
1
1
60 59
Company size
50 employees or less
51–100 employees
50
101–500 employees
501–1000 employees
1000 employees or more
38 38
Number of Respondents
40
30
21
20
11
10
0
Facebook Twitter Company Industry-specific Other
social site site
Social network
While all areas are fairly well represented main engagement network, only about a
here, Facebook was cited much more than third of smaller businesses cited it. In fact,
any other site as the most frequently used Twitter and “other” both received more
social channel. And while Twitter is usually votes than Facebook.
mentioned along with Facebook in just
about any article or study on social media, According to Anita Campbell, a small-
this survey found Twitter was tied with business expert and publisher of Small
“other” for frequency of engagement. It Business Trends, this is not a surprise—
would be interesting to see how many of particularly for business-to-business (B2B)
those “others” would include LinkedIn. companies. She says, “I think Facebook is
a much better platform for B2C businesses
Although it appears that Facebook is than B2B businesses. That’s because of
the most-used social channel by those the informal nature of Facebook, and the
surveyed overall, it is not as popular for the fact that it brings together the personal
companies with fewer than 50 employees. and business sides of a person.” A lot of
While approximately 60 percent of large Facebook users use it to catch up on news
enterprises surveyed said Facebook is the among far-flung family members and to
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On which social network do customers most
often engage with you for service inquiries?
(cont’d)
share photos. B2C content, contests and doesn’t feel as natural. For instance, if a
offers seem to fit in well with that kind of law firm is putting on a free seminar for
activity. business owners, it doesn’t feel as natural
to see references to that on Facebook
With B2B businesses, it’s harder to profiles, as it would to see information
seamlessly blend into the personal about the latest fashions or vacation travel
interaction that Facebook users seek. It’s information.
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Which social network has proven to be the most
effective channel to engage customers from a
customer service perspective?
1
1
50
Company size
45 44 50 employees or less
51–100 employees
40 101–500 employees
501–1000 employees
1000 employees or more
33
Number of Respondents
30
21
20
10 9
0
Facebook Twitter Company Industry-specific Other
social site site
Social network
Facebook and Twitter are much closer social channels for effectiveness, smaller
in terms of effectiveness, with “other” companies appear to find other channels
not terribly far behind. This, in itself, is almost as effective. Twitter, “other,”
interesting as Facebook seems to be Facebook and even their own company
used much more frequently than Twitter, sites all seem to have good support for
but they are basically even from an being efficient.
effectiveness perspective. This would
lead me to guess that the customers may As for retail and manufacturing
find they prefer engaging on Facebook, respondents, manufacturing employees
even though from a company perspective find Facebook, Twitter, company sites
Twitter may be just as effective for getting and industry-specific sites close to equal
requests initiated or resolved. in effectiveness; retail skews slightly to
Facebook, Twitter and company sites for
While larger enterprises seem to cite effectiveness.
Facebook and Twitter as their main
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How have social networks impacted overall
customer service goals and objectives?
1
1
50 Company size
50 employees or less
51–100 employees
40 42 101–500 employees
501–1000 employees
1000 employees or more
Number of Respondents
30
30
25
20
17
10
3 3
0
Very Positive Slight No noticeable Slightly Very
positive positive improvement negative negative
Impact
Smaller companies are much more positive noticeable improvement or saw negative
about the results of their organizations’ results from social initiatives.
engaging with customers over social
channels. Nearly 69 percent of those In the service sector, large companies
surveyed from companies with fewer seemed to be more pleased with the
than 50 employees said they were “Very results from social activities than the overall
pleased” or “Pleased” with the results group. Just over 60 percent of large service
thus far. Conversely, just over 50 percent enterprises say they were pleased or very
of those from companies with more pleased with results so far.
than 1,000 employees said they saw no
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Is your social media/social networking fully
integrated into traditional customer service
problem resolution processes?
1
1
100
Company size
50 employees or less
51–100 employees
101–500 employees 82
80
501–1000 employees
1000 employees or more
Number of Respondents
60
40 36
20
0
Yes No
Fully integrated?
Twenty-four percent of employees from have already fully integrated “social” into
large enterprises said their companies customer service processes. Thirty-nine
have already fully integrated social media/ percent of those who are not fully
networks into their customer service integrated say they will be within a year,
processes. This compares with 43 percent while 29 percent say their companies have
of the small business respondents who say no plans to do so.
they've already integrated “social” into
customer service processes. That's a sizeable At the enterprise level, with the complexi-
difference, which may be due to more ties involved in integrating internal
complex processes and integration needs for processes with external social connections,
the large enterprises. It could also point to a it’s noteworthy that more (39 percent)
difference in defining what “fully integrated” respondents said their companies would
means to large and small organizations. integrate within a year—as opposed to the
respondents whose companies have no
As mentioned above, 24 percent of plans to integrate social (29 percent). It will
respondents from enterprises with more be interesting to see how those numbers
than 1,000 employees said their companies trend over time.
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What have been the biggest challenges to
engaging customers on social networks?
Company size
50 employees or less
51–100 employees
60
101–500 employees
501–1000 employees
60
1000 employees or more
49
Number of Respondents
50
40
37 35
30
27
20
14
10
0
Management Technology Determining Determining Getting employee Understanding
buy-in KPIs ROI buy-in customer expectations
Biggest challenge
Companies with more than 1,000 An interesting contrast develops between
employees cited three main challenges the retail and manufacturing industries
when engaging customers on social here. More than half the manufacturing
networks. First, obtaining management respondents cited customer expectations,
buy-in was chosen by 40 percent of those technology and management buy-in as big
respondents. But the two answers selected challenges to the success of implementing
most were determining appropriate social engagement with customers. While
key performance indicators/metrics (51 technology did not appear to be a major
percent) and understanding customer challenge overall, it seems to be a main
expectations (49 percent). And while concern to manufacturing employees,
understanding customer expectations was as it was cited second only to managing
the most cited challenge at companies customer expectations.
with fewer than 50 employees (at 60
percent), developing key performance These areas appear important, but not
indicators and metrics fell way down in nearly as much to the retailers. The main
importance, to 15 percent. challenge cited by retailers was identifying
key performance indicators.
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Overall, how satisfied are you with your
company’s effort to effectively engage
customers on social networks from a
customer service perspective?
1
1
100
Company size
44 50 employees or less
51–100 employees
101–500 employees
80
501–1000 employees
1000 employees or more
32
Number of Respondents
60
22
40
12
20 9
0
Very satisfied Satisfied Neutral Disappointed Very disappointed
Level of satisfaction
While large enterprises represented in this are making to engage with customers
survey were not sold on the idea that social via social channels. Roughly half those
engagement from a customer service companies were “Satisfied” or “Very
perspective had helped their companies Satisfied” with efforts so far, with only
meet certain goals, they seemed more approximately 20 percent admitted being
positive about the efforts their companies “Disappointed” or “Very Disappointed.”
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Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals (SOCAP International)
This study and survey were produced collaboratively with the Society of Consumer
Affairs Professionals (SOCAP International). SOCAP International is a member-driven
organization committed to promoting customer care and customer engagement as
a competitive advantage in business by providing educational tools and professional
resources to drive business transformation within their companies.
For more information visit: www.socap.org
The Social Customer
The leading web destination for customer engagement professionals to connect with
trusted influencers in the CRM/SCRM space. Owned and operated by Social Media
Today LLC, with the mission of helping global organizations create purpose-built
B2B social communities designed to achieve specific, measurable corporate goals by
engaging exactly with their customers and prospects.
For more information visit: www.thesocialcustomer.com
SAP
SAP is the world's leading provider of business software, offering applications and
services that enable companies of all sizes and in more than 25 industries to become
best-run businesses. With more than 102,500 customers in over 120 countries, the
company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and
NYSE, under the symbol "SAP."
For more information visit: www.sap.com
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