Survey Software, Web Survey, Online Surveys, and Enterprise Feedback Management solutions from Vovici

Your email:
   

Welcome to the Listening Post!

Your single source for everything Voice of the Customer (VoC) and Customer Experience (CxP). And, don’t forget you can follow us on twitter @vovici, or come check us out on Facebook and join the Vovici Network on LinkedIn.

 

Current Articles | RSS Feed RSS Feed

EFM: The Who, When, Why, Where & What of Surveying

 
Today at the Gartner CRM conference, Jim Davies gave his presentation, "EFM: The Who, When, Why, Where & What of Surveying".  Some highlights:
  • What? I noticed in Jim’s other presentation this morning, he used “feedback management” and “survey” rather than “EFM”: it’s still an acronym that prompts quizzical looks. Jim described enterprise feedback management systems as the feedback “hubs” of their organizations, the central repository for survey data, across departments and across channels (web, paper, phone, etc.).
  • Why? Without EFM systems, organizations trip all over themselves, oversurveying customers and missurveying them, because of a lack of attention to process and results. A big failure is the lack of personalization. Jim related the tale of a colleague who bought a Mini Cooper online:  he was kept up to date with each stage of the manufacture and shipping of the car, to the point that “the car” emailed him e-postcards from its cruise across the Atlantic (“Playing shuffle board with the other Minis. Looking forward to meeting you!”). It was a great, personalized experience. Until the survey came! Ten pages, 80 questions, beginning by asking which car was ordered, what option package was selected, and so on. Apparently the survey researcher hadn’t played shuffleboard with the car.
  • Who? Jim mentioned two firms as leaders in enterprise feedback management: ConfirmIt and Vovici. He said that there were 60-70 vendors, though most had less than $2M revenue. He mentioned Allegiance as an up-and-coming vendor for its acquisition of Inquisite; he also mentioned MarketTools. I thought it was notable that, having mentioned consolidation was coming to the industry, he discussed the four firms that have made acquisitions in this market: ConfirmIt, Vovici, MarketTools and Allegiance have each made at least one acquisition (Vovici has purchased three companies: Perseus, WebSurveyor and Surveyo, as well as Raosoft web-survey assets).
  • When? Begin planning for EFM implementations now! As Jim said, “Your competitors are getting better at this!” Gartner estimates that EFM implementations will grow 15-20% in 2010 over 2009.  When planning to implement an EFM system, Jim noted that “EFM functionality is more diverse and complex than many organizations perceive.” 
  • Where? By department and across the organization. In online communities. Set up an online community with member profiles containing information such as the member’s product portfolio, demographics and geographic location. Use forums for ad-hoc feedback, with text mining supporting the qualitative analysis.  For the quantitative side, field surveys to not only community members but to customers who aren’t community members as well; let customers select their preferred modality. 
So there you have the 5 W’s of EFM.

Comments

Jeffrey, 
 
Your opening statement gave me cause to pause - why? I am wrapping up an ebook on EFM compiling the brightest (little) and boldest I ever wrote on EFM and I was considering changing the name to feedback management instead (I did that for the SCRM post i wrote last week if you remember). 
 
Why? 
 
For some reason EFM does nto seem to talk to the SCRM or SM crowd. Not sure why. I think it is because the emphasis is on Enterprise (not feedback or management) and that sounds like the command-and-control world that we are trying to move away from. Then again, management as the second word is not much better - right? 
 
However, FM sounds more like what it is actually doing - a super set of EFM of sorts that also encompasses the SM channels. 
 
Unless we want to change it to SEFM -- what do you think? 
 
Anwyay, going back to read the rest of the post -- but wanted to leave that comment (if something else strikes I'll come back and leave another comment). 
 
Esteban
Posted @ Monday, September 14, 2009 5:51 PM by Esteban Kolsky
I'm hesitant to change it, but "enterprise" is definitely starting to sound very 2004. :-) I will mull it over and get back to you with some ideas.
Posted @ Tuesday, September 15, 2009 10:49 AM by Jeffrey Henning
Feedback Management without Enterprise misses an important point about the market space, I think. Feedback Management without Enterprise is just surveys – department segregated, uncoordinated surveys. Having a centralized (Enterprise) system is a differentiator. Enterprise means tapping in to existing customer information so responders don’t have to enter information that the enterprise already has. Enterprise means coordinating feedback initiatives to avoid over-surveying your base. In my view Enterprise relates to scope, not command and control.
Posted @ Sunday, September 20, 2009 5:04 PM by Carl Henning
Mrsrs. Henning, 
 
The dichotomy you mention (control vs span) is the same one that flows through my mind. I don't want to remove the E from EFM, but I am afraid it is limiting the value that the new social practitioners will see from EFM if it remains (anything that smells of control is thrown away with the baby and the bath water). Thus the dilemma. 
 
I know that EFM is the best tool to measure and integrate feedback, there is no question about it, but I also want to make sure it gets placed in the right place as the best tool to measure community feedback - which it can easily do. 
 
I am trying to finish the EFM (FM?) book this week and will probably address the inclusion of the word Enterprise in similar way you did above. 
 
Thanks for the input! 
Esteban
Posted @ Monday, September 21, 2009 8:26 AM by Esteban Kolsky
Gentleman: Perhaps "Integrated," or "Coordinated," or "Centralized" Feedback Management might work given the various concerns expressed here. This blog is consistently excellent, thank you.
Posted @ Thursday, November 26, 2009 5:57 PM by C. Biehl
Post Comment
Name
 *
Email
 *
Website (optional)
Comment
 *

Allowed tags: <a> link, <b> bold, <i> italics

Latest Posts

Loading
What's New
Don't Be in the 4%
VoC on Twitter
Verint Blog
Verint Blog: Read the Latest from the Verint Systems Blog