Will Google Wave Change the CRM Landscape?

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New Gadget or Has Everything Finally Come Together

***tier3square.shtml***I've had a few days to digest the Google Wave video I watch last week. It was 90 minutes of one thing after another that just had me nodding my head. Had I thought of all these features before? No, but as they were laid out, it just made so much sense.

There have been many technologies and innovations over the years. Totally independent tools that never grew together because of Corporate walls and ROI horizons.

Will Google be able to change all of that? I can't wait to find out. The will be an Open Source package, so they started off right for wide adoption. 

http://wave.google.com

What is Google Wave, Really?

Sometimes there just isn't a word or phrase that captures how the human brain works in collaborative and social ways. Calling this collaboration doesn't do it justice. Calling it email falls well short of the potential. Calling it Social Media misses the mark too.  So let me quickly run down a few of the attributes of this innovative idea.

• It's both synchronous and asynchronous - You can actually watch someone type or edit a message in real time. But, if they are offline, they will see it once the log in.
• Playback - someone just logging in, or someone added to the wavelet after it's begun will see the unedited stream. But, if they want to see how the wavelet progressed (including what was edited and by whom), they can tap into the playback feature. Much easier than parsing out quoted text from replied to emails (if it was quoted at all).
• You can embedded Wavelets into websites and blogs. This extends the conversation / collaboration / project planning beyond the Wave client...but you can watch updates from your website or blog in real time from the client. Central administration of scores, hundreds, thousands of wavelets you particpate in.
• It's like a Wiki because participants can edit anything contributed by anyone else. It's OK, because hitting the playback will step you through the changes, should you need to. The perfect audit trail.
• Auto-spell check and auto-translate can happen as you type
• Drag and drop file sharing means as soon as it's dropped, everyone in the wavelet has access to them.
• Open source means that the innovations will come from more than just Google.

Integrating this sort of collaboration into a stream is probably what I find so ingenious. I mean, I should have thought of these years ago; each time I saw tools like OneNote, Groove (I remember when that first came out so many years ago), instant messenger, Twitter and of course email. How could I have missed it?

Innovating CRM with Google Wave

I'm not a huge fan of the Social CRM people chirping about how their industry will take over CRM. I hear the chirping, but I don't see any solutions. Just a bunch of talk in 140 characters or less.

I believe CRM is about the customer, but it manifests itself in business process not in gadgets. Google Wave is no gadget. It facilitates a process that interacting humans can get their minds around.

As a CRM guy, I've always been thankful that I didn't have to sift through historical data like so many of the users of my systems. Sure, it's organized. But, it's not easily pulled and collated into meaningful analysis by the average sales person, customer service rep or marketing guru. Even with BI tools, the end result doesn't flow through your brain.

Picture the typical history grid in a CRM system. It's a series of rows of sent emails, notes, replies, mail merges and whatever else might end up in there. The problem is that each step is a separate record, sometimes with no definitive means of linking to related records...certainly not in their proper order or context.  Designing the interface to make this simple ends up being complex.

Now imagine a Sales Opportunity. Instead of having this data grid, you simply had a wavelet that spanned the entire life of the Opportunity? Are you imaging it? Can you visualize your prospects' reactions when they're asked to participate in this type of collaborative process? Man, I can. And the best part is that you can embedded the opportunity wavelet wherever it's convenient for them! No integration or associated costs needed.

If you're not imagining it, please take some time to watch the Google Wave video. Place a pillow under your chin. http://wave.google.com

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