CRM and YouTube

I've never been a huge fan of customer-relationship management (CRM) systems. In principle, a great idea. In practice, it seems many have insufficient focus on the R. I've touched on the problem before - no. 2 in Seven Producitivity Tips

But here's an opportunity for CRM - integrate YouTube. In fact, integrate all the mainstream Web 2.0 technologies that give customers a voice. Then you'll be in a better position to work on that R. And if you choose not to? Well, hope that your competitors stick their heads in the sand too. Because if they don't, they might know more about your customer problems than you do...

Reported today on the BBC - BT customer's YouTube complaint. A BT customer spent six months trying to get to speak to a human being about problems with his bill. In the end, he tried an alternative approach. He recorded his complaint on video and posted it up to YouTube. And 2 weeks later, BT responded and the complaint was resolved. Naturally, BT claims the process was already underway before the YouTube clip appeared.

It's yet another example to show that you might not be comfortable with Web 2.0 trends but they are happenning anyway. Ignorance is not an option.