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Friday, January 16, 2004

Introducing The Social Software Alliance

The Social Software Alliance is an interesting group coming together that will be of interest to anyone involved with choosing social software solutions, writing related software, managing related solutions, or just interested in meeting the players. I've recently joined the organization to provide my feedback on social softwares role in building business relationships.

While this organization is still working on its charter, it looks like it has some promise. I recommend passing this information to some of your more technical members responsible for business relationships. Social software will play a big role in customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions in the future. You'll find the social software type technologies advancing the way we share knowledge.

Expect bumps on the way. No new technology is perfect. Meanwhile, I'll keep readers informed and will be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Justin Hitt teaches executives how to create strong business relationships that can increase profits while improving customer loyalty. To learn more about business relationships visit Inside Strategic Relations or call +1 (757) 282-7779

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Privacy Is Important To Any Type Of Relationships

Scott Allen and I were chatting about privacy concerns that arise when a company shares all their contacts with a third-party. This is an important consideration when you add your customers contact information to social networking environments like Spoke, LinkedIn, or one of the many others. Privacy matters in building any type of relationship.

Allen mentioned recently changes make at Spoke that improves privacy safeguards. My concern stems from the involvement of venture capitalists in social networking software companies. Remember, most start-up projects  funding in this way are built to be sold.  What happens when your data is purchased by IBM, Dun & Bradstreet, or some other company who would benefit from who you know?

To protect my clients, subscribers, and others to whom I interact, it is my policy not to enter any information outside of an individuals name and e-mail address. Only when I'm sure the social networking system is safe and this information will not be revealed to any third-party. I've even gone as far as to seed my address books so I'll be aware of any data abuses. (For more about my privacy policy.)

Many companies already use hosted solutions that use data similar to social networking environments. Some examples include CRM solutions like Salesforce.com and RightNow. Most companies don't intend for your data to be shared, but information theft is a reality in a connected world, after all, employees can be bought and credit cards can be stolen. How comfortable are you with sharing every detail of your business relationships with a hosted solutions provider?

/ "earning-trust" | bi-crm /

Justin Hitt helps executives build profitable relationships with customer, employees, and strategic partners. He can be reached by phone at +1 (757) 282-7779 or on-line at http://iunctura.com/

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