In January, I wrote a blog about change creating opportunity, because I believe that massive change creates massive opportunity. Over the past few years I’ve met individually with hundreds of executives tasked with delivering great customer experiences in over 300 firms. One thing has become apparent: there is huge change underfoot, it is massive and it presents massive opportunity.

The change is the increasing empowerment of the consumer, driven largely by social networking. Consumers now have an unprecedented arsenal of social options to magnify their voice to either advocate or tear down companies if their high expectations don’t turn into reality. Organizations will thrive if they proactively tune into this social consumer power to deliver better customer experiences.

RightNow recently made a strategic acquisition; we purchased HiveLive, an enterprise-class social platform provider. We went through an extensive evaluation process and can now offer our clients a social platform for customer support, engagement and loyalty, and ideation communities. These help organizations get in front of the opportunity to deliver great customer experiences.

With all this in mind, we’ve developed what I think is a very pragmatic view of social networking. This disruptive force presents a great opportunity for organizations to grow and differentiate themselves. Over the next few days, I’ll be sharing my thoughts.