RightNow Embraces "Social CRM," Upgrades Analytics

As part of its May '09 release, available now, RightNow is introducing a new "cloud monitoring" feature that enables agents to enter search terms (e.g. brand or product names) and find posts on the social web. Initially Twitter and YouTube, with Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace to come later.

But monitoring is just the start. RightNow's "SmartSense" emotion technology can help identify unhappy customers and put them toward the top of the queue so agents can post a reply directly in the social media (e.g. tweet), create an incident or even direct the customer to another support channel.

This new service is included at no extra charge with RightNow's enterprise and contact center suites, and priced at $40/seat for the entry-level solution.

Here's a graphic that shows RightNow's approach:

Source: RightNow

Social CRM

Earlier this year, RightNow CMO Jason Mittelstaedt gave a strong indication that RightNow was heading this direction, when he told me: "We believe that leading customer service organizations will treat social channels just like another interaction channel." Couldn't agree more. Increasingly, customers expect you to join their conversation and use their preferred method of communication.

This announcement brings RightNow in line with what other E-service vendors have already announced, including Parature and Salesforce.com. I think adding a "social" channel has already become a must-have feature for E-Service suites. But is it driven by customers, or vendors jumping on the social bandwagon?

Andrew Hull, RightNow director of product management, agreed that "social" is a hot topic in the media, which has caught the attention of some of its customers. Some large customers are already monitoring blogs, Facebook and Twitter in an ad hoc fashion, and are looking for something more integrated.

We need to keep in mind that the so-called "Social CRM" wave is still in the early stages. So it's good that RightNow has officially joined the movement, but what will be more interesting to me is to see what companies actually do with the new social integration tools in the months ahead.

Those interested in seeing a demo of Twitter integration from RightNow and other vendors are invited to tune into our E-Service Showcase event on May 28.

On-demand analytics

Another addition to the May '09 release is a new analytics tool which Hull says is mainly designed to help existing customers "augment existing systems internally."

Contact centers generate a massive amount of data. Now RightNow customers can do more advanced analytics without jumping through the hoops necessary to use more conventional (installed) data warehouse and BI solutions. The new analytics offering is part of an OEM deal with Birst, which is fully integrated into the agent destop and supported by RightNow.