The Connection Between Social CRM (SCRM) and Vendor Relationship Management (VRM)

Some great thinking by Paul Greenberg.  The lede:

Customer Ownership: Relationship? Conversation? Simply Put. SCRM is not VRM. Simple Being the Operative Principle

This is meant to be a simple post.  Flat out, I want to say that there is a difference between “ the customer’s control of the conversation” and “customer’s owning the relationship.”  Because there is a discussion that I see looming on the “ownership of the relationship” I’d like to clarify my thinking at the get go, if you’ll be willing to listen.  Before I do that, so that there is no misunderstanding on where I stand -

The customer is in control of the conversation. SCRM is the company’s response to the customer’s control of the conversation. There is no joint ownership of the conversation. But there is no control by one or the other of the relationship between them. Though the “power balance” can lean toward one or the other. Right now it leans to the customer.

He goes on to say...

That’s why there is a difference between SCRM and VRM.  Vendor Relationship Management is what the customer does to command their side of the relationship.  SCRM is what the company does in response to the customer’s control of the conversation – and all the other things associated with that.  But the company still owns itself – meaning its operational practices and its objectives and its records and its legal status as a company. Speaking for myself, and maybe someone else or some others, I’ve never said the customer owns the relationship. I think that the customer is at the hub of business ecosystem – to the point that you can call it a customer ecosystem. Meaning the customer drives demand and the company is now forced to respond to that.

Rest of Paul's post is here:
http://the56group.typepad.com/pgreenblog/2010/04/customer-ownership-relationship-conversation-simply-put-scrm-is-not-vrm-simple-being-the-operative-principle.html