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great blogs, sites, and portals

Don't waste time searching for great content on business and customer management issues. Come meet these great folks.
- Paul Greenberg's award-winning blog
  
  Paul is a rockstar in CRM and social media. No one has done more to advance the concepts of Social CRM and the customer ecosystem.
- Bruce Temkin's personal blog
  
  Bruce is one of Forrester's stars on customer experience management, and I like his personal blog very much. Check it out - it will become a regular stopping place for you!
- Dennis Pombriant's blog
  
  Beagle Research rocks. Very smart consulting coming out of this shop.
- Michael Thomas on Social CRM
  
  With all the noise in the media about social networking, and all the noise generated by social networks, how can a company find its way? Ask Michael.
- Meta-blog list: A list of great customer experience blogs
  
  I found this list of blogs on a blog. Very nice list! Top 10-style, and includes some recent headlines from each. Bookmark this one for sure.
some articles i've written

Collected from the Web. At some point I'll gather them all here in a uniform format. In the meantime, you can do your part in boosting the web stats of these sites by clicking on the links.
- CEM and Insurance
  
  A few months ago, my wife, who acts as our family chief financial officer, called to get a car insurance quote from American Automobile Association (AAA). Our provider at the time was Progressive, which is part of the $4 billion...
- Defining CEM (group white paper)
  
  The G-CEM gurus come together to look at CEM from multiple vantage points to answer the question: What is it?
- Carrefour in China: A Business Case
  
  I'm quoted here at the beginning of a very good analysis put together by ICRM India, as a teaching guide.
- Inventor Basics: IP and China
  
  Lessons learned from the Energizer case, and how China is turning a corner - at last - on protecting intellectual property. It's messy, but the situation is getting better.
- Goofing up Global CRM
  
  The article in CRM Today (at which I am a contributing editor) from which the above case quotes. Terrible headshot of me, and it lives on in Internet immortality.
- Managing the airline experience
  
  I answer a question from a major luxury international airline on the G-CEM site.
- Fast moving consumer goods and the retailers who control them
  
  An article on the battle for the minds and hearts of consumers by P&G and Unilever, using experience management principles.
- Who says you can't differentiate a gas station? Using experience design and segmentation to create loyal customers.
  
  Banks, gas stations, convenience stores ... you patronize them because they're "on the way", not necessarily because the service is good, and you're not loyal. Uh, really? How to fix this.
- Call centers: What's new, what matters.
  
  Customer experience management as applied to the least loved part of many organizations: smile-and-dial sales, and customer support.
- Multi-touchpoint management. Bringing in new technologies and architectures.
  
  Things have changed at the margins since this article was written, but it's still helpful, I think. I'll update this topic in Ideas & Observations.
- Financial Services and CEM
  
  You pick financial products rationally, right? You want a factually better return, or better fit with your cash needs. It's not emotional at all. Then, why CEM? First, question your assumptions.
- Jerome Guilbert, now of McCann, gets started on high-end branding and customer strategies.
  
  While we sit in a lime-green meeting room in a converted clothing factory. Awesome.
- Interview with McCann's Jerome Guilbert - Part II
  
  M. Guilbert, now at McCann, schools me in the intricacies of bringing clients into a customer-centric, fact-based approach to marketing.
customer experience management pillar concepts

It doesn't matter who wrote the article - friend, colleague or stranger - if it's on a topic that is a pillar for CEM, I will include it here.
- Voice of the Customer: Listen but don't jump
  
  Sampson Lee, head of G-CEM (Shanghai), presents detailed statistical evidence that listening to the voice of the customer should not be done with understanding what drives brand differentiation. Louis Vuitton is the case study.
- Customer Driven Innovation
  
  A short interview with a P&G executive on how to embrace and manage an open innovation culture.
- Social Media Models
  
  Business models are emerging from the complexity of social networks. Actually, not really business models anymore, but types of relatedness among business, customers and non-customers.
Other articles worth reading

Colleagues and thought leaders say smart things. The power of one new idea for you is measured in competitiveness, saved time, clear action, inspired leadership. Ideas are the petrie dish for your success.
- Do you accept the terms of engagement?
  
  Michael Thomas lays out how social media changes the way CRM companies do business.
- CRM, Meet Your Future: Social media and CRM converge at the Wharton School of Business.
  
  Michael Thomas schools some Wharton students, who of course get it, because they are digital natives.
Random favorites

Hey, I'm not all-business all-the-time.
- Heather's guide to the best of Paris
  
  I have never met the woman behind Secrets of Paris, but I expect we would become fast friends. Under her watch, the city's very best, most interesting, sexiest, and oddest characteristics come to life. If you love the city, you'll love the newsletter.

great blogs, sites, and portals

some articles i've written

customer experience management pillar concepts

Other articles worth reading

Random favorites