2008 Summit
Featured Presenters
The Future of Digital Media: Tips for the Fortune 500
by Bob Pearson, Vice President of Communities and Conversations, Dell
In the last two years, Dell has developed one of the most robust and respected Customer Community programs in the world. And it has the metrics to prove it: it's customer satisfaction scores now top all Windows PC makers, and its customer 'negative sentiment' rating has been cut by more than half. Bob will describe how Dell has achieved this remarkable turnaround, and provide a glimpse into the future of digital media and customer relationships. He'll address such issues as:
- How companies will interface and learn from popular social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook, and others,
- How to manage and monetize the growing deluge of customer information online about your firm,
- How companies can make sense of customer input to improve innovation without getting sidetracked by vocal but unrepresentative community members,
- How companies can empower customers in ways they appreciate and respond to,
- How companies can ask customers to join them in solving technology issues together,
- ...and more.
For more about Bob, please click here.
Taking Enterprise Customer Programs Online
by Josh Hilliker, Architect/Community Manager, Intel® vPro™ Expert Center & Rhett Livengood, Director, Intel Business Customer Programs
Taking enterprise and medium-sized customers online presents a unique set of challenge for B2B sales and marketing teams. The greatest is security: you must convince Global 2000 customers that you can create an environment that is safe for them to exchange frank ideas. Josh and Rhett will tell how Intel is building communities for these customers, and will address critical issues in the process, such as how to develop content for such communities, how to keep it updated, whether to form global or regional customer communities, how to staff community building efforts, and the like. "One of the most important lessons we've learned," notes Rhett, "is that if you can’t fully staff a particular community effort, don't start it."
For more about Josh, please click here.
IdeaExchange: How salesforce.com Built a Large Community of Innovation
by Kingsley Joseph, Senior Product Manager, salesforce.com
Two years ago, the saleforce.com customer community was "small but tight" as Kingsley Joseph puts it. The firm wanted to leverage a small but enthusiastic group of customers into a force for innovation. Today, its "ideas communities" attract 100,000 visitors per month to some 200,000 pages of content. But more than attracting huge numbers, Kingsley will show how SFC is making sense of their input – de-duping customers' feature requests, and prioritizing them - in remarkably innovative ways. Kingsley created its platform for doing so, IdeaExchange inspired by leading edge Web 2.0 tools such as Digg, Twitter, Linkedin and others. It's become so robust that other firms such as Dell and Starbucks are using it to make sense of their customer input and improve new product development as well.
For more about Kingsley, please click here.
Keynote
The State of Online Community: Findings from Forum One's Research on Online Communities
by Bill Johnston, Chief Community Officer, Forum One Networks
The Online Community Research Network (OCRN) has emerged as one of the most dynamic and respected sources of information in the world of online community. Bill, who leads the effort, will present current OCRN research on how leading firms are building and engaging with customer communities. The research will address such issues as:
- What is the current state of enterprise online communities?
- What are the current best metrics and ROI practices?
- What does the community team look like?
- Who typically "owns" the community function in an organization?
- What does a community team, and the team's compensation model look like?
- What are some of the most promising areas in which communities create value for the business?
- What are some areas of supposed great promise that aren't panning out?
- How are communities changing the dynamics of marketing to customers?
Copies of the OCRN research will be made available, free of charge, to attendees.
For more about Bill, please click here.
Customer Communities: Building the Business Case
by Susan Zellmann-Rohrer, Community Strategist and Development Lead, EMC
What do senior decision makers expect from their investments in customer communities? Susan will share 7 years of experience in helping build communities for Bose, Intel, HP, Cox, SolidWorks, Citrix, American Express and others. One question she poses to senior executives contemplating an investment in a community is, "If you could put 400 customers/partners in a room - to solve one of your biggest challenges - what would it be worth to the company?" Susan will describe specific, achievable results that can impact the bottom line such as customer co-innovation and faster product development cycles. An engineer by training, she will show how she thinks about engineering communities. Key quote: "First, determine what questions you want answered. Then figure out what the 1 page report looks like. What will drive action? Then comes the art, how will you design the engagement you need - company to members and members to members - that will yield the action."
For more about Susan, please click here.
It's Not About the Tools: How Oracle Builds Customer Communities
by Paul Pedrazzi, Vice President, Product Strategy, Oracle
With its legacy as the information company, Oracle has moved aggressively to mine the tremendous success of social media for business opportunities. Paul will show in particular how Oracle builds and engages with customer communities, while keeping its eye on tangible business goals. He will also present "lessons learned" from years of experience in building internal and external communities, such as "Know what to ignore and what not to," "Viral spreads fast, be ready," "Move quick, say maybe often," and several more. Essential knowledge for any firm building communities today.
For more about Paul, please click here.
Customer Communities and the Marketing Revolution at Dell
by Jeff Johnson, Enterprise Strategist, Global Commercial Marketing, Dell
WE'RE SORRY BUT JEFF HAS HAD TO CANCEL HIS PRESENTATION DUE TO UNFORSEEN CIRCUMSTANCES.
For more about Jeff, please click here.
Case Study: Intuit and its Communities of Innovation
by Scott Wilder, General Manager of Small Business Online Communities, Intuit
Intuit has one of the world's most respected cultures of innovation. Scott will show how it brings that talent for responding to customer needs to its communities. You'll learn:
- How Scott and his team find conversations on the web about Intuit (including the practical notification and monitoring tools they use),
- How Intuit classifies and engages with both its Intuit-created communities and non-Intuit created communities,
- How Intuit's corporate culture impacts and enhances the success of its Online Communities,
- How Intuit turns communities into business assets,
- What factors are essential for success with online communities,
- How Intuit engages with Generation Y community members, and much more.
For more about Scott, please click here.
Case Study: How Riverbed Technology Uses Communities to Leverage its Passionate Customer Base
by Bob Gilbert, Director of Marketing, Riverbed Technology
Riverbed has a problem that every company should have -- a rapidly growing, evangelical customer base. But long term growth and fierce competition from the likes of formidable competitors like Cisco demand that Riverbed leverage such customers to help develop new products and accelerate sustainable growth.
Bob will show how Riverbed is doing that with an online user community consisting of almost one third of its customer base, together with regional live events that strengthen bonds between Riverbed customers, a monthly podcast series that gives customers a voice, and a blog that provides a critical communication channel for demonstrating thought leadership through insightful conversations.
For more about Bob, please click here.