Marshall Lager

Marshall Lager is the founder and managing principal of Third Idea Consulting LLC, a firm that provides advice on the confluence of customer relationship management (CRM), social media, and brand management. Third Idea's mission is to help businesses navigate the changing currents of customer-facing technology so that all parties can get the greatest benefit from the relationship. For details on Third Idea’s approach and services, please see Services.

Smart People Look Into the Future

0 comments 613 reads

Posted on 2012-02-01

I tweeted a link to this Software Advice article a few days ago because it looked pretty cool, it had a lot of my friends in it, and another friend (Lauren Carlson) wrote it. That’s good enough for most people, and I hope you read it and got something out of the experience. I can’t let it go at that, however, so I’m going to respond briefly (you hope) to some of the ideas the article brought up.

Not so briefly, though, that I could just write, “They’re all totally on target. The end.” Smart they may be, but not so smart that I can’t have a variant opinion or two.

Read More »
InfusionSoft Ain’t Soft, Just Easy

0 comments 597 reads

Posted on 2012-01-12

This is one of those articles that’s hard for a guy like me to write, because I place so much value on professional detachment and vendor neutrality. But sometimes my enthusiasm for a company just boils over, and I have to share.

I love InfusionSoft. There, I’ve said it.

I’ve known the company for several years, and every time I meet with a representative or take a briefing, I come away thinking, “These people have a really good product and a really good attitude; I wonder what they’ve got in store for us next.” It’s not that they have some secret alien technology on their side or anything like that—they just have a knack for cutting away all the crap and finding out what users need, and delivering it in a simple yet powerful format.

I took a briefing today with Laura Collins and Rebecca Sprynczynatyk to discuss the...

Read More »
Insight on Salesforce’s Next Move

0 comments 738 reads

Posted on 2011-11-10

It’s my pleasure to share somebody else’s research with you from time to time, and this time it comes from Lauren Carlson. Lauren is a SFA software analyst with Software Advice, a consultancy that does exactly what it says on the tin. Her latest article, “Salesforce’s Next Buy: Applications or Platform?”, takes a close look at Salesforce.com’s M&A activity over the past five years and what it suggests about the company’s direction. It’s a good read, and her conclusions are...

Read More »
CRM Idol 2011: The Winners

0 comments 893 reads

Posted on 2011-11-08

Ahh,so much to do, so little time. I’ve got at least one more blog to put up this week, a column to write (two actually), and a pipeline to keep moving. But I have got to take a few minutes to report on the winners of CRM Idol 2011—not because somebody’s making me do it, but because it’s important and we all had a lot of fun.

Congratulations to all the contestants, but especially to the two winners: Get Satisfaction (Americas) and BPMonline (EMEA). If you tend to think of my blog as tl;dr (and you should tell me if that’s the case), here’s a link to the CRM Idol page, including the winning videos and the reviews each company earned. No muss, no fuss.

But the muss and fuss are warranted, and I’ll tell you why. If you’ve ever wondered why so much of the news in CRM is about the same handful of companies, it’s because they’re generally the...

Read More »
Oracle and RightNow get engaged

0 comments 976 reads

Posted on 2011-10-25

The usual disclaimer: As I’m at RightNow Summit, you should know the company paid for my flight and accommodations. I am not being paid by RightNow for any comments or analysis I make. I’m also a bit tipsy at the moment, following a very nice dinner with awesome wine pairings. If the pink elephants make this entry less than it should be, I’ll fix it in the morning.

Vendor conferences usually are a good source for industry news, but this year’s RightNow Summit was host to a bombshell before it even started. Oracle announced its intent to acquire RightNow Technologies for $1.5 billion. The deal is far from final, and most of the RightNow employees were themselves still reacting to the news when guests were arriving. The press release is here; you can read news coverage...

Read More »
Final thoughts on Oracle Open World 2011

0 comments 1,247 reads

Posted on 2011-10-10

I got back from San Francisco a few days ago, after attending Oracle’s annual conference, and have been ruminating ever since. You can see a summary here (I wrote some news coverage for CRM magazine), but that’s journalism—there’s no place for my own opinions. What follows are the impressions that don’t belong in a neutral-toned article. Nothing horrible, but still inappropriate for news articles outside of the New York Post.

I should point out first, however, that Oracle paid for my flight and hotel accommodations, and treated me to a couple of meals to boot. The Oracle analyst relations people are top notch, and the company is smart enough to allow them to do their job without undue interference.

1. Oracle Is Too Big. This should not...

Read More »
I think I just killed the radio star

0 comments 960 reads

Posted on 2011-09-14

In case you thought I was going to cheat you out of some CRM Evolution 2011 goodness, I’ve decided to post some links to interviews I gave during the conference. Aren’t you thrilled?

This one is with Lauren Carlson, CRM analyst with Software Advice. While the interview itself is mostly me talking, we actually had quite a good discussion about social CRM and its various aspects. I encourage you to keep an eye on her and her colleagues.

David Sparks got me on camera for Zoho, talking about—what else?—small and medium...

Read More »
Enterprise Social CRM a la Tibco

0 comments 1,232 reads

Posted on 2011-06-29

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned them before, but TIBCO (Tibco hereafter, because I hate capitalizing entire company names) is one of those wicked-smart companies that is moving social CRM forward in a usable, well thought out way for the enterprise. Tibco, and its tibbr product in particular, needs more exposure, because it has got a really solid grip on what businesses need to make social computing part of the work day.

Today marked the launch of tibbr 3.0, which Tibco is calling “the 21st century universal inbox for social computing in the enterprise.” Tibbr 3.0 will be generally available in August 2011; you can read the launch press release here, but I’m inclined to give my own thoughts about what...

Read More »
Customer experience, via Ciboodle

0 comments 1,086 reads

Posted on 2011-05-23

[Disclaimer: Sword Ciboodle is a client of mine, and I'm posting this in response to a request from my liaison and friend Mitch Lieberman. While that's the motivation, the opinions in this post are my own, and I have editorial control.]

Customer experience is a term that covers a lot of ground. Some get into the meta-experience of being a customer in a world where businesses compete loudly and intrusively for attention. Others use it to describe the look and feel of a brand when customers interact with it—what it means and how it feels to be a customer of that company.

I’m on board with those, but I am an especial fan of a third idea (imagine that!) related more to the second than to the first. Customer experience in this case is what a customer must go through to be your customer. Practically speaking, what happens when they have a question or comment? How often do you expect them to want to hear from you, or to reach out to you? What do your customers say about you...

Read More »
Sage Moves Forward with Cloud Services, New CEO

0 comments 629 reads

Posted on 2011-02-17

I recently had the pleasure of attending Sage Analyst Day 2011, hosted in Boston on February 9, 2011. A select group of industry watchers got to hear about plans for Sage North America in the coming year, especially its CRM product line.

One early order of business was to announce (reiterate, actually) the pending retirement of Sage North America CEO Sue Swenson later this year, after nearly three years of service. While I didn’t get many opportunities to speak to Swenson directly during her time with Sage, I was impressed with her focus on moving her division forward, and her success in achieving her goals during a bad stretch for the global economy. The company returned to profitability in the second quarter of 2010 under her leadership.

This summer (the guess is mid-June) Swenson will hand over control to CEO-designate Pascal Houillon...

Read More »