CRM at the Speed of Light: Capturing and Keeping Customers in Internet Real Time [Hardcover]

Paul Greenberg (Author)

Book Description

Series: ComputerWorld Books for IT Leaders | Publication Date: May 16, 2002

Get winning strategies for acquiring and retaining customers by leveraging the latest advanced technologies. This insightful and authoritative book shows you how to select the right tools for your business - so it can grow today - and on into the future.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"Throughout my travels and conversations with customers and partners around the world, I have been thoroughly impressed with how many of them have read and been influenced by Paul's first book CRM at the Speed of Light. Wait until they get their hands on this well-crafted follow up. Paul's 2nd book on the hot topic of CRM should become the standard for straight talk on what can be a complex subject. This guy really gets it and his readers will too!"--Bruce Culbert, Senior Vice President, and CRM Global Practice Leader, KPMG Consulting

"What Paul Greenberg does here in CRM at the Speed of Light is to help companies know where to turn for help as they decide what to do. He doesn't pull any punches (he even made us wince a few times), but his goal is not to flatter. It's to provide a handbook of what to do to build the necessary capabilities, and how to choose the partners that will lead to successful customer-based ROI."--Don Peppers & Martha Rogers, Peppers & Rogers Group

"CRM is becoming an enterprise strategy--an integrated and integral part of every successful company. CRM at the Speed of Light shows you how. Paul Greenberg gives great insight to the changing landscape and success factors that executives need to know."--Craig Conway, President and CEO, PeopleSoft Inc.

"Every business has a mandate to get, keep, and grow profitable customers. CRM technology has expanded quite a bit over the last year, and it is constantly evolving in search of better, smarter approaches to create ongoing dialogs with customers. In his eagerly awaited 2nd edition, Paul sheds light on this new era of CRM with his trademarked wit and candid honesty. Fortified with Paul's insightful commentary readers, will come away with a comprehensive view of the CRM market."--Roger Siboni, President and CEO of E.piphany

CRM--Customer Relationship Management--has entered the mainstream. Despite the uncertainty of the economy, CRM is being thrust into corporate budgets and talked about as a critical initiative by hundreds of Fortune 1,000 and tens of thousands of other companies. It has gone from being an important "edge" in the business world to a necessary tool for survival. The notion of the customer as king or queen is once again the rule. How you treat this is a mission-critical business issue.

But, what is CRM and how does it change the way companies do business? The changes in the world have been so dynamic and so dramatic that the path isn't necessarily all that obvious. How CRM impacts that business path is a continuing source of debate in the world of corporate management. The second edition of the best-selling CRM at the Speed of Light answers that question.

This vastly expanded edition has been updated to reflect the maturation of the CRM market. This insightful book reveals winning strategies and cultural changes necessary for leveraging the latest technologies to acquire and retain customers, despite the fierce competition. The biggest challenge in working with CRM is not that it is a strategy that relies on a technology, but that the landscape is complex and mined with pitfalls. International thought leader and CRM expert Paul Greenberg explains the terrain and shows you how to use it to your business advantage. CRM technologies and how to implement them are explored in detail for both new and experienced users. He examines the growing trends in market automation­­verticalization and personalization­­and describes the major players in each sector of the CRM world along with their current technology offerings. In addition, recommended strategies based on broad corporate profiles are detailed. Discover why CIO Magazine and the Asian business market considers CRM at the Speed of Light to be one of the twelve most important books on business a CEO will ever read.

About the Author

Paul Greenberg (Manassas, VA) is executive vice president of Live Wire, an eCommerce consulting firm and has many years' experience in ERP and CRM. He has built SAP and PeopleSoft practices and, in his current position, has established close partnerships with front-office leaders such as Siebel and SalesLogix. He is also the lead author on the book, Special Edition Using PeopleSoft (0789712814) published by Que.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Mcgraw-Hill Osborne Media; 2nd edition (May 16, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072224169
• ISBN-13: 978-0072224160
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,898,125 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

In addition to being the author of the best-selling CRM at the Speed of Light: Essential Customer Strategies for the 21st Century Paul Greenberg is President of The 56 Group, LLC, a customer strategy consulting firm, focused on cutting edge CRM strategic services and a founding partner of the CRM training company, BPT Partners, LLC, a training and consulting venture composed of a number of CRM luminaries that has quickly become the certification authority for the CRM industry.

His book, CRM at the Speed of Light: Essential Customer Strategies for the 21st Century, now in its third edition, is in 8 languages and been called "the bible of the CRM industry". It is used by more than 70 universities as a primary text. It was named "the number 1 CRM book" by SearchCRM.com in 2002 and is one of two books recommended by CustomerThink. The Asian edition of CIO Magazine named it one of the 12 most important books an Asian CEO will ever read. Paul has also authored two other books including "E-Government for Public Officials" (Thompson Publishing, 2003).

Currently, he is working on the 4th Edition of CRM at the Speed of Light which is due for publication by McGraw-Hill in November 2009

Paul is also the co-chairman of Rutgers University's CRM Research Center and the Executive Vice President of the CRM Association. He is a Board of Advisors member of the Baylor University MBA Program for CRM majors, a unique national program.

Paul is considered a thought leader in CRM, having been published in numerous industry and business publications over the years and having traveled the world speaking on cutting edge CRM and topics geared to the contemporary social customer. He has been called "the dean of CRM" and "the godfather of CRM" and even the "Walt Whitman of CRM" by analysts and organizations throughout the industry. In fact, at the end of 2007, he was the #1 non-vendor influencer, by InsideCRM in their annual "25 Most Influential CRM People" announcement. He was also named one of the most influential CRM leaders in 2008 by CRM Magazine. He is known particularly for his work on the use of social media, such as blogs, podcasts and wikis and social networks in CRM as tools for customer collaboration with a company. He is seen often as the "voice of the customer" and is well known within the CRM industry for this work. His blog, PGreenblog was named the winner of the first annual CRM "Blog of the Year" in 2005 by SearchCRM and the 2007 "Whatis" Award for CRM Blogs, by their parent company, TechTarget. He also received the #1 CRM Blog Award from InsideCRM at the end of 2007 and in 2008. The blog is also the central focus of KnowledgeStorm's CRM Blog community. He now also writes the CRM blog for high profile technology media property, ZDNET.

He partners with another CRM industry influencer Brent Leary to do the popular industry based irreverent show, The CRM Playaz.

He is a member of the Destination CRM Board of Experts and the SearchCRM Expert Advisory Panel as well as a member of the Board of Advisors for GreaterChinaCRM for many years among many others.

Currently, Paul lives in Manassas, Virginia with his wife and five (yes five!) cats. You can follow him at Twitter or join up with him on LinkedIn or Facebook.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extensive review of current CRM and eCRM software, February 14, 2001

By 

"apsrose" - See all my reviews

This review is from: CRM at the Speed of Light: Capturing and Keeping Customers in Internet Real Time (Hardcover)

This book covers in depth the current CRM and eCRM software on the market. The author covers the theory behind CRM at the start then moves through the precurors of CRM such as Sales Force Automation software. Other topics covered are: sales management, marketing automation, personalization, partner relationship , call centers and integration with ERP applications. The focus of the book are current CRM packages which are Internet(e-business) enabled. The best part of the book are the detailed reviews of current CRM packages based on the authors experience. The author also reviews the company behind each CRM package and exposes its strategy for the future. This is a cutting-edge book detailing all the current CRM packages and anybody interested in CRM, e-CRM or e-business will benefit from reading this book. Relative to other books in the area this is first-class because of the reviews of all the software. Also, the appendix comes with list of current CRM web-sites and web- virtual communities.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When was the last time...you?, April 26, 2001

By 

Joe Donna (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: CRM at the Speed of Light: Capturing and Keeping Customers in Internet Real Time (Hardcover)

When was the last time you read a business book written by an industry insider, and was so captivated by the book's content that you couldn't put the book down?? Well, author Paul Greenberg treats the reader to such a rare experience.

Whether you're the CEO of a company concerned about customer loyalty/profitability, a project leader charged with selecting and imlementing a CRM initiative, or a consultant within the CRM industry, this book is for you.

The biggest challenge the Business/CRM world faces today is understanding the delineation between CRM as a business strategy, and CRM as an enabling technology. No easy task! But Paul Greenberg clarifies this with incredible ease.

The author also, with zero techno-geek language, provides significant insights into areas of CRM such as: What IS CRM/What is it NOT?,Why your company needs CRM!!, ECRM versus CRM(a topic in the business world that seems to be strewn with much confusion), Who the real CRM players are....and why they are REAL, and What roles the internet and wireless applications are playing today, and in the future, and much, much more.

So if you're looking to become "CRM literate", or want to add to your CRM knowledge base, and want to actually have fun doing it-Paul's book is interspersed with humorous tidbits- GO BUY THIS BOOK!!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great tehnology review, June 13, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: CRM at the Speed of Light: Capturing and Keeping Customers in Internet Real Time (Hardcover)

This is the bible for defining what CRM is, and is not, as well as categorizing all the technology offerings and giving good advice as to how to choose the right technology. I also read "CRM For The Common Man" by Russ Lombardo and thought it was a great precursor to CRM at the Speed of Light. CRM For The Common Man describes how to plan your CRM strategy up front, while Greenberg's book takes you to the next steps involving the technology. A great pair.