Here at American Unit, enterprise CRM is generally top of mind when it comes to providing solutions with the greatest potential for positively impacting the operations of our clients.

But we also recognize that the traditional concept of customer care has been rocked to its foundation by the rapid advent of social media.

CRM guru Paul Greenberg via his personal blog, has made a nice attempt at defining the differences between 1.0 and 2.0.

CRM 1.0 (2003): “CRM is a philosophy and a business strategy, supported by a system and a technology, designed to improve human interactions in a business environment.”

CRM 2.0 (2008): “CRM 2.0 is a philosophy and a business strategy, supported by a technology platform, business rules and processes, designed to engage the customer in a collaborative conversation to improve human interactions and provide mutually beneficial value in a trusted and transparent business environment. It is the company’s response to the customer’s ownership of the conversation.”

On the CRM 2.0 Wiki, Alex Schultze has codified Greenberg’s thinking and proposed that CRM 2.0 is actually CEM 1.0, Customer Experience Management, because, as he posits:

We are talking about the behavioral changes of our customers but I guess we have to more precise than that. The underlying change is significant: It is the change in the customer education process. Just 5-10 years ago customers where mainly educated by the experts in the respective companies, by their solution providers, analysts and media. Not today. The previous education process and therefore influence is rapidly declining and has just minor importance today. Customers educate themselves over the Internet. But not the Internet from 5 years ago but through their connections in the social networks, blogs, discussion forums, wikis, the whole nine yards.

A view to the complexity of the process that we are now talking about comes from a recent report by Forrester analyst William Band.

Locking in customer loyalty through deeper engagement and differentiated experiences will continue to be critical priorities for organizations in all sectors in the decade ahead, but navigating the complex customer relationship management (CRM) technology landscape remains challenging – particularly in light of the rapid rise of Social Computing, the increasing adoption of software-as-a service (SaaS) solutions, and the need to provide mobile capabilities for front-line personnel. But by selecting the right solutions to invest in, CRM professionals can take the proper steps without taking unnecessary risk.

This diagram from that report highlights the complexity of today’s CRM environment and the many technologies involved in successful CEM.

The challenges to CRM ISVs, system integrators and customers to create a successful CRM/CEM platform going forward will be manifest.The evolution will definitely be worth watching.