Mitch Lieberman

Sword Ciboodle

Analyzing the Contact Center with a modern lens. The intersection of Social Media, CRM and the Collaborative Enterprise (How about Coordination?); It is this intersection, and the fast pace of Social Media adoption - by customers; which make this topic extremely important and interesting. I am a process driven implementer, building solutions that make sense, taking into consideration people, process and technology, and finding the balance.

Device Explosion – Just Deal with It

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Posted on 2012-01-25
- “DVD Player, Check”
- “LeapPad, Check”
- “Discman, Check”
- “Laptop, Check”
- “Car Chargers, Check”
“Ok, the kids are ready for the car ride!”
- “iPhone 4S, Check”
- “iPad 2, Check”
- “KindleFire, Check”
- “Macbook Air, Check”
- (Batteries last all day)
“Ok, I am ready to go to work now”

The Back Story

For those of you who can remember way back in the day; you know, when your work computer was faster than your personal one and you had a 17″ monitor in the office, but only a 14″ at home. The download speed at the office rocked (work had this thing called a “T1″). The Ink-Jet printer at home did not hold a candle the color laser printer at work, and you were on the list to get a company mobile phone. ‘Cyber Monday’ actually can trace its roots back to different time as well, because we had to go to...
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Mirror Images – Customer Experience versus Employee Experience

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Posted on 2012-01-23

In my first Mirror Images post, I referred to Social CRM as a “A complex overlay” on top of customer service, customer relationships and the supporting strategy, technology and processes. If we can accept this, that Social CRM is an overlay, then we should be able to agree that it does mirror Social business (or Enterprise 2.0), as Social Business is also an overlay on top of many standard business practices and concepts. Diving deeper to a more definitive concept; is employee experience the mirror of customer experience? Unfortunately, most people who talk/write on the topic of ‘experience’ focus on the customer aspect and neglect the employee experience; the literature therefore is not as extensive. In this area, topics typically include empowerment, engagement, and satisfaction. There is very little that directly talks to employee experience, after all it is just a job, right – no, wrong. Moving forward,...

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Mirror Images

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Posted on 2012-01-18

For a some time, I have been watching, reading, discussing and doing my best to understand the very broad field of customer service, customer relationships and the supporting strategy, technology and processes which go along with each discipline. Along the way, Social CRM – a complex overlay on all of the above, has become everything from a hot topic to nothing more than part of buzzword bingo and back again. At the same time I have also been trying to keep tabs on Enterprise 2.0, Social Business and Collaboration (not Emergent). Going back and reading my own early thoughts here I can see that in some ways my own thinking has changed, but in many ways it has simply matured.

I have been saying for a fairly long time that Social CRM and Entperprise 2.0 are closely linked. In September 2009 I said it here and...

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Engagement, Intent Driven Involvement

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Posted on 2012-01-09

Recently, friend Paul Greenberg penned a short post (ok, a not short, 2-part series very worth reading) where he talked about the end of one era transitioning to the beginning of a new one. The points are sound. But, I would like to explore a different viewpoint, or maybe just add my own perspective. I believe that when we look back in a few years, we will see that the transition is going to take a bit longer than we imagined it would (In other words, it is not “the End” but it is “Ending” slowly). I am not going to nit-pick on words, this, is not about that. I might even suggest to Paul that he consider updating a Wikipedia entry (more on that in a minute). I will say that a more meaningful mutual benefit can be achieved if each side is willing to give more, as the value exchange equation is always a bit one-sided.

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A Healthy Diet of Email

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Posted on 2012-01-05

Here is the question: How does Email communication fit into your 2012 corporate diet? Specifically, is there such a thing as a healthy diet of Email? Within your organization do you encourage email use, discourage it or leave well enough alone and go with the flow?

I know some would like this to be a really simple answer, but it isn’t. With New Years resolutions top of mind (back to the gym, lose weight and all that), if someone asked you to associate Email to a food group, which one would it be?

How about: “Email is the carbohydrate of the corporate diet”. We could say that there are good carbs and bad, right? We could easily talk about reducing carbs, but not getting rid of them completely (Atkins anyone?). Many (corporate) citizens are addicted to email (and M&Ms), clutching their mobile devices in cars, meetings and trains, turning them on instantly when their plane lands, wondering (hoping?) if someone sent them something very important.

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The Contact Center of the Future

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Posted on 2011-12-15
- The future of customer service is agility; the ability to adapt to the changing needs of your customers
- The future of service excellence is differentiation, the ability to create personalized and engaging service experience
- The future of service process is contextual optimization; the capability to coordinate and/or collaborate, internally, while staying focused on supporting customer jobs
- The future of the service desktop is an intuitively designed, content rich, positive user experience
- In the future (now actually) your team needs to provide a faster, superior, efficient service experience every day, to every customer on every channel
(Check out a video interview with Kate Leggett, Esteban Kolsky and a couple of Ciboodlers.)
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Time is not Social

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Posted on 2011-11-28

Time is more Valuable than Money
People are more Important than Things
Friendships are more Important than Friends
Relationships are more Important than Re..(careful)
Spending Time with People is Definitely Cooler than spending Money on Things

Likes are Lazy
Fans are Fickle
Followers are Disengaged
Retweeting (should not even be a word), is simply an Odd Duck
A Conversation Trumps a Comment, they are Different
Taking the Time to Comment, Converse and Engage is more meaningful than a flyby +1

Sharing is not Collaborating
Over-sharing is a bit Creepy, Caution Advised
Influence is not a Game, Though many Play
Email is a Tool, Use it Wisely
Listening is not the same as Hearing, Think before you Speak #justsayin

Social is not about Media, Nor Business – It is about Being Human
It is About the Journey, not the Destination…unless of course you are heading to the...

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The Phone, It Still Matters in this Social, Cross-Channel World

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Posted on 2011-11-23

(This is an expanded post based on the original – with a bit of a teaser on survey results at the bottom)

First talked about in 1844, written about again in 1854, patented (US) in 1876, argued about for another 10 years, connected across the US in 1915: The Telephone. We cannot forget the importance of Alexander Graham Bell (and many others, to be fair), a native of Edinburgh, Scotland a short trip from the Ciboodle HQ outside of Glasgow. So, here we are nearly 100 years from that first cross country call and the phone remains relevant, even more important than many communication channels which have come on the scene since. Friend Mark Tamis suggests that given my thoughts and writing regarding cross channel, I could have been a bit more creative and played on...

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Customer Experience; It does not Start nor Stop at the Door

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Posted on 2011-11-02
It is something many smart people have written about and it ‘feels like’ the right thing to do. Talk about it in a meeting, and you get ‘head nods’ of affirmation. But, we need to ask the tough question to find out where we really stand, as well as ‘why’. I am hoping that you are willing to be part of that process. Along with thinkJar, we are conducting a research project that challenges “Social Customer Service” a bit. Practitioners are invited to participate in the research, first by visiting the Survey (It should take about 10 minutes, tops) and/or participating in a follow-up discussion, if you are ready, willing and able.

But the question is: Is Customer Service Through Social, Is It Worth Doing?

The research and analysis will help to reveal insights in four key areas:
- Is the move to customer service using social necessary and beneficial?
- How to move from 'traditional' multi-...
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Standardized and Automatic are not the same as Efficient and Consistent

1 comments 593 reads

Posted on 2011-11-01

Modern customers (aka Social Customer or 21^st Century Customer) are demanding, multi-channel and empowered. Your customers, being modern, expect each experience to be positive, efficient and valuable. Finally, there is the desire that the brand experience will be consistent across the different points of interaction. That said, ‘consistent’ should not be confused with “the same” or “standardized” experience. When a customer logs onto a website via their mobile; a 2 inch by 4 inch form factor screen, there is no expectation that the experience will be the same as when this same customer logs on via their 27 inch iMac.

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Mitch Lieberman

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