CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT IN MARKETING

RAHUL DWIVEDI

(Asst. Prof Of Management) in GICTS GROUP OF INSTITUTIONS, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh Contact no. 09889097327

ABSTRACT

Todays customers are harder to win and keep. To meet this challenge ,companies are focused on

fostering customer engagement :creating deep connections with customers that drive purchase

decisions, interaction , and participation over time. This paper reveals that Firms are using a

variety of channels to engage customers, and believe that the internet is essential to forming and

deepening these relationships.

Customer engagement takes direct marketing up several notches, by focusing more on two way

communication. The advent of social media added Engaging customers involves:

1. Listening to customers.

 Acting on the feedback you receive is the indication that you have heard what has been said

by the customer.  If you fail to act on this information, then you miss out on the opportunity

to improve your product and gain market share.

2. Creating value.  The brand must satisfy the need of the consumer so they must understand

what the product offers. This paper Emphasizes on the involvement of

customers in perspective of choice of marketing channels.

INTRODUCTION

What I Mean By Customer Engagement

For the purposes of this post and going forward, I'd like to start with a definition of what

"customer engagement' is and isn't, so there is no doubt about what the era of customer

engagement means.

1. First, It doesn't mean the era of customer intimacy though that is an optimally desired

"condition" for a company's view and relationship to its customers. But engagement

doesn't require intimacy or advocacy. However, aiming at creating advocates from

among your customers is part of a smart strategy.

2. It also doesn't mean customer loyalty.  That may and I mean may be an outcome of

successful engagement with the customer - though, as V. Kumar pointed out in 2000

3. , the correlation of loyalty to profitability is mediocre to fair, not good, so there are

questions of the value of that outcome.

4. It also doesn't mean it is identified by the length of time that the customer is involved

with you without some extra analysis. Otherwise, inertia, which occurs when the cost

of switching (financial, labor cost, emotional cost) is greater than the value perceived

of the result, would seem to be engagement, when it isn't. So it isn't just a function of

the time a customer and a company are involved.

5. What customer engagement does mean (so there is no nebulosity here) is the

company's and the customer's relationship is defined by the customer's ongoing

involvement with the company for their own specific reasons. The company doesn't

have to know all of them. But they have to have enough knowledge of the individual

customer to support the determination of what it will take to maintain or expand the

customer's relationship with them.

6. It does mean that it is an era where the engagement the customer has with the

company is controlled by the customer - and it can be at any level. Intense, casual

continuous, occasional, deeply involved, barely transactional. The key phrase is

"customer self-selection."

7. It does mean that the company model is to provide the customer with the products,

services, tools and experiences that the customer needs to make an intelligent decision

on how they want to be (selectively) engaged with the company. These are

engagement programs organized around an ecosystem that are based on customer

self-selection.

8. It does mean the provision of a measurable result when it comes to that engagement

via direct or indirect impact on revenue or some other key performance indicators that

show the value of the engagement to the company - and the customer. Though they  are different values.

9. It does mean the use of systems of engagement (see Ray Wang discussion here and

Dion Hinchcliffe here) which are systems that foster the interaction of the company

with the customer. They can range from enterprise feedback systems to insight

solutions to online communities to internal collaboration. But fundamental is that they

are systems that can foster activity among the choice multiple combinations of

employees and customers e.g. customer to customer; employee to customer.

THE ERA OF CUSTONER ENGAGEMENT

1. Starts from the assumption that you are going to incorporate social channels into your

customer communications.

2. Identifies both the need for and how you can enable collaboration at your business for

better productivity and effective employees.

3. Says that you might even go as far as converting your overall culture and business

focus to a social business which means empowering (and incentivizing) employees to

be able to deal with customers wherever and whenever (among other things). The

opportunity and some of the body of practice to guide your company is there.

4. Means that your business understands how internal collaboration and customer

interaction/involvement are not only converging but can be an important influence in

your strategic direction

5. Means that you understand that the customers social information is as important as

and complementary to their transactional information.

6. Also means that you recognize that there is clear evidence that the use of traditional

channels is not only not ending but will continue to be vibrant. While social channels,

which are now part of mainstream communications are more highly scalable and will

have more potential impact because of that, they will never replace traditional

channels.

7. Means that you'll stop treating the social customer as an object of wonder that you

bow down to because of their remarkable powers to change your business - and start

treating them like a customer who is operating in a set of channels that have unique

protocols that you have to learn.

8. Means that we've reached the point that we can be proactive in dealing with all the

"conversation out there" on the social web, rather than waiting to react to every little

bad word that a customer says on Twitter when we see it.

9. Means that the strategies to be considered should be multichannel (which combine

social and traditional) and appropriate to the channels that your customers want to

communicate in.  If its phone, its phone. There is no requirement that social channels

be used.  They should be used if they provide some value in their use.

10. Means that we need to recognize that there are tools that actually can do some good in

a number of ways but they, like always, have to be chosen well, implemented

properly, and adopted by those that are needed to use them so that you get the results

that you are looking for.

11. Means understanding that now practitioners have their own perception of what Social

CRM is (see above).  That perception isn't entirely the analyst/pundit/influencer

definition, but it is going to have to do.

12. Is an understanding that while the strategies, programs et. al are now maturing and

have a sufficient body of knowledge to back them up, the technologies capabilities

tend to lag the strategies and programs requirements. It is time to set some standards

as to what can be called "Social CRM" software.

13. Is an understanding that while we have reached a more mature stage, that doesn't

mean that experimentation is entirely done for.  Each business still has to determine

what makes sense for them to try (proof of concept) and what makes sense for them to

use (roll out to the whole company).

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT

1. Customer engagement exists in a full spectrum of experiences.

Customer engagement is no longer a series of one-off experiences—it's an ongoing dialogue.

Companies need to be good listeners in the digital age, and that requires a new set of skills. It

means listening  to customers who are already having conversations about brands –yours and

others—in traditional online channels as well as over the social Web. So jump into those

conversations in a genuine and human way. Foster trust and form relationships through open,

honest interactions over time—interactions that create positive experiences and outcomes for

your customers. Positive outcomes include answering questions, solving problems, hearing

ideas and supporting them (when possible), and also amplifying praise.

Another aspect of this spectrum is the relationships that your customers form with each other.

The peer-to-peer relationships are core to the social Web. Because of course, your customers

won't just be interacting with you, they'll talk amongst themselves, sharing their perspectives

across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and even YouTube. Your job isn't just to sell your

product, it's also to facilitate an active, passionate online community around your product.

2. It needs to be results-driven.

Although communication with your customers is an ongoing dialogue, you need not be

chatting just for the sake of it. When you engage your customers, have a goal in mind

whether it's improving your product or nurturing loyalty and increasing sales. While

traditionally the product team manages product and marketing is responsible for increasing

brand awareness and driving sales, the lines are blurred now. Nurturing an ongoing and

genuine relationship with your customers will naturally make a major impact in both these

arenas.

Naturally, how you engage with your customers impacts how customers view your brand.

70% of Americans are willing to spend an average of 13% more with companies who they

feel provide above-par customer service. That means that all your customer engagement

efforts should lead clearly in the direction of resolution. Know what the outcome should be,

and provide your customers with clear tools that make it easy and efficient for them to get

what they need. 

3. It happens anytime, anywhere.

In the past, company-customer interaction happened in siloed, closed-off settings. Customers

had to make a phone call or write an email. But now, we're living in an "always-on"world

ruled by the mobile experience. In 2011, customers were using mobile apps 10 times a day

and a growing number of customers have used an app to buy a product. But here's the big

news: an astounding 78% used mobile apps for customer service purposes. In other words, if

you're not engaging your customers on-the-go—in the context of their daily lives—you're

essentially neglecting them, or are at least missing an opportunity to nurture the relationship

through an open, honest interaction.

You want to be able to interact with your customers in the context of their daily lives. Not

only are you able to provide them with better, more immediate service, but you also gain

loyalty and stay in the forefront of their minds. When the time comes to make a purchase,

they'll choose the product they've come to trust through a series of positive experiences. 

4. It's considered mutually beneficial.

The new customer engagement strategy should feel less like a marketing and sales campaign,

contest, or tool, and more like a well-developed friendship founded on the basis of

interdependent needs and mutual respect. The feedback you get from your customers isn't just

important for you, it's important for them, as well. If you can listen to what your customers

are saying and improve the product and their experience, everybody wins. You get more loyal

customers; they get what they really need and want.

The relationship you build is a two-way street. On one hand, your customers feel heard, and

they can see the ways they're actually contributing to your company. At the same time, you

get free feedback, and have the opportunity to improve your business, thereby by attracting

more customers.

5. It's truly customer-driven.

Remember the days when cold-calling part of your marketing strategy? Now, imagine the

opposite of a cold call, because that's how customer engagement works today. Your

customers decide if and when to communicate. Your job is simply to give them the tools that

make the interaction and communication easy and natural. Not only should these tools be

easily accessible and highly visible, but they should also offer options for different types of

conversation. Do they have a question?  Do they want to post a rave review? Are they

experiencing a technical difficulty? Present your customers with an intuitive tool for

communicating with you, and let them initiate.

When you put control in their hands, you're more likely to be able to meet their needs, but you also win their trust, and ultimately, you build the loyal customer base you need to grow and succeed.

FIVE NEW TRENDS IN CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT

1) Technology & Innovation

Marketers must recognize that all companies–your customers–are technology companies who

need your products or services to differentiate them in the market. Every industry today is

experiencing technology innovations and access to development tools that impact how

products are made, how they are used, and how they are delivered. More rapid development

cycles for customer specific solutions must be implemented to enable an organization to

respond to demands of customers when they arise.

First, make sure your website leaves a great impression and supports your brand essence. Give your business a professional and credible image with a website that

provides engaging content to draw customers in, provides an exceptional and

differentiated experience for them, and provides the reliability needed to build their

trust.

Stay abreast of and embrace new technology. This is a must in order to reach a

broader audience and engage your customers. QR codes, for example, aren’t exactly

new but they might be to you. Using them in your marketing efforts can help you

reach customers in a unique and exciting way. Whether it’s a new social networking

site that pops up, a change to Google’s search algorithm, or new software that can

enhance a users’ site experience, you must adapt with changing and emerging

technology so your business will stay current and relevant to your target audience.

Don’t deny consumers’ hungering for cutting-edge innovations and enhanced experiences, and their devouring of the latest and greatest. Innovative and creative

response to ever-changing consumer expectations is critical for brand leaders. For

example, more and more, smartphone and tablet apps will create an interactive nexus

to increase consumer engagement and brand differentiation.

Anticipate the escalating consumer desire for coolness and beauty in your products and services. Apple, for example, leverages engagement and loyalty not by

delivering “communication” or “entertainment” devices, but by delivering products

that are beautifully, creatively and organically designed.

Recognize increased consumer desire for simplicity as complexity pushes on people. This will result in the convergence of complex services and products into

simple, expectation-exceeding solutions, but only if brands know where to look in

their own categories for the “wow” button to press. Look for trends in smaller, higher-

quality products, and ease-of-service delivery methods.

Consider “gamification”: the integration of game mechanics into marketing activities to drive customer engagement and participation, and potentially improve

the effectiveness of your social media marketing. Increasingly, companies are

strategically looking at how to capitalize on the growing gamification trend.

“Gamification is about providing sustained user engagement,” says Sam Laird.

2) Mobile Marketing

According to the SocialMedia Today article “3 Secrets to Mobile Marketing Success for any Business” (by Brett Relander ), mobile marketing software is more important than ever in

today’s world and mobile marketing is on the rise. Fortunately for you, most

aren’t doing it effectively (at least not yet) and are largely just flailing around in the dark.

Optimize your website for mobile phone use to satisfy customer demands. Of

course, a mobile site is much different than your standard website. If a prospective

customer pulls up your website on their cell phone and it hasn’t been optimized for

mobile phone use, it will be hard to navigate and a frustrating experience overall. This

alone can make you lose out on mobile customers and, with over 70% of all mobile

searches resulting in action within one hour, you definitely want a piece of the mobile

shopping/experience pie.

Offer flexibility for efficient mobile monetary transactions, as consumers’ growing

use of handheld technology and smarter smartphones for mobile transactions

increases. Mobile digital wallets will mark a big shift in retail payments . With the

value of transactions made via mobile devices estimated to be $240 billion last year

(according to Juniper Research) and predicted to triple that size over the next five

years, and with prospects that consumers might be able to leave their physical

at home and pay for most of their shopping via their handsets by 2016 (according to

Forrester Research), retailers need to think about the impact of mobile wallets as they

build out their loyalty programs. Brands that do not facilitate and customize

experience for small screen transactions may lose formerly loyal consumers.

Take advantage of mainstreaming of mobile coupons. Juniper Research forecasts

that the total redemption value of mobile coupons worldwide will be more than $43

billion by 2016, representing an eightfold increase from $5.4 billion in 2011. Cost-

effective mobile coupon campaigns provide merchants with an easy way to build

customer loyalty.

3) Added Value & Consistency

Customers have more choices than ever, and are more frugal in the current economy. This

affords them the luxury of demanding more. Offering your customer base value-adding

information and sharing tips about products and services will be expected by consumers.

Recognize customers at all touch points to deliver a consistent quality customer

experience. A 2011 poll by Loyalty 360 found that 78 percent of respondents believe

that a great customer experience makes them loyal. This requires the delivery of

the call center into the overall customer experience. (This is not a new concept, but

needs ongoing attention.) Smart marketers will identify and capitalize on unmet

consumer expectations. Those companies that understand where the strongest

expectations and gaps exist will be the companies that survive and prosper.

Address the critical constraint and value of peoples’ time in your business

interactions. Today, one of the most precious elements we struggle with is the time

we have to spend and balance the demands on our lives and to keep up with the world

around us. The more time you seek, the stronger the value proposition of your

encounter must be. Take Michael Petrisko, CIO at Hill International: “What’s

important to me is that a discussion with a vendor has purpose and is relevant to

my business – anything short of this is a waste of my time.” Realize that every

encounter must have a compelling business cause and provide reason to engage with

you and your business. Make sure your contact leaves the encounter with the

that time spent with you and your organization was a valuable use of their time.

Accept that the consumer gets to say how “valuable” is actually defined. Employ

effective systems to listen to them and then figure out ways to tune in the consumer’s

frequency. Differentiated and believable brand meaning – emotional, rational,

functional, and experiential – will increasingly become a more effective and profitable

surrogate for value than low-lower-lowest pricing strategies.

4) Personalization / Customization

According to Anthony Leaper of SAP: Ideally, we aim to meet customers with precisely the

right offer, delivered at precisely the right time, and at precisely the right price and

conditions. CRM solutions can facilitate this, but only if it can sort through and connect all

that information and expose the opportunities that you seek.

Look at a mix of location-based behavioral data and attitudinal and preference

data. Use data gathered from loyalty programs about buying patterns to help

marketers with segmentation and messaging. Brands will want to have this data in

order to control personalization of their messages rather than offer the same

promotions, discounts, or specialized products/services to everyone. The information

on customer transactions, likes, dislikes, and preferences gives brands the deep level

of customer intelligence needed to deliver the most relevant, highest-quality customer

experience and drive long-term loyalty.

Talk, engage and interact with customers more often and more meaningfully in

new and innovative ways (such as via dynamic content, interactive blogs, and

emerging social networks and apps). To create a more loyal customer base, businesses

need to offer what the customer needs, and this determination should be based on

their actions and interactions, which you need to monitor.

5) Feedback / Recommendations

Social media and review sites are changing the game of how businesses need to respond to

customer needs and, with acceptance of that, the time has come to become more proactive in

encouraging reviews and persuading customers and prospects to follow their friends’ leads

(e.g., refer-a-friend programs). Glean intelligence from social media feedback and harness the

power of recommendations and referrals.

Embrace connected consumers’ growing use of social network streams to talk

about brands, as peer-to-peer feedback will have more and more influence on

purchase habits than ever before. Consumers are looking for reliable information

when making decisions on products and services, and are looking for experiential

the product? Businesses must develop effective approaches to mining and analyzing

this data to derive valuable insights, actionable intelligence, and an overall deeper

understanding of what drives the success of the brand in the social world.

Actively develop evangelists for your product or service for a competitive edge.

According to Alex Goldfayn, CEO of Evangelist Marketing Institute and author of the

book Evangelist Marketing, when you have evangelists for your product or service,

you have the best possible kind of customer. Your evangelists are passionate, loyal,

and thrilled to recommend you. They are your public defenders when times are

difficult. Evangelists are also forgiving; they assume your mistakes are honest and

believe you have their best interests at heart. No matter what business you are in –

large or small, product or service, public or private – you should be doing everything

humanly possible to develop and retain these kinds of customers.

Invest in measuring social media, understanding customer value and modeling

customer behavior. Marketers that have loyalty and engagement metrics in place will

have a handle on emerging trends and be more prepared to provide the value

consumers are seeking. Examining relevant data carefully and identifying changes in

customer trends tied to your brand early on will enable you provide meaningful

customer experience at just the right time. If you do not use your data to talk to your

customers, others will.

COMPANIES SEE THE INTERNET AS KEY TO CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT

What do firms do to engage with customers in this way? To find out, Forrester

Consulting conducted a survey commissioned by Adobe of more than 200 business

decision-makers — including customer service, support, and marketing professionals

— from around the world about their customer engagement efforts.1 Results show

that:

• Engagement activities span channels. The Web might be more ubiquitous

addressable, and measurable, but physical locations and interpersonal interactions still

engagement programs involve both offline and online touch points (see Figure 1).

• Online engagement programs will skyrocket this year. Although most companies

said they use the Web to engage customers in some way today, only 41% said they

rely heavily on digital technologies to drive customer engagement (see Figure 2). But

when we asked how heavily they will rely on these technologies 12 months from now,

this number jumps to 70%.

• Technology choices focus on making the Web site more engaging. More than

60% of respondents said their firms use Rich Internet Applications and multimedia on

their Web sites, both of which have the potential to enhance interaction (see Figure 3).

A similar percentage use online forms that enable customers and prospects to

complete key transactions online and companies to gather information about buyers

and influencers who are willing to provide personal information.

• Firms plan to experiment with new forms of technology-enabled participation. Many respondents to our survey said they plan to add technologies such as online

customer reviews, mobile Web sites, and user-generated content to their portfolios

over the next year (see Figure 4). This comes as no surprise, given that tools like these

offer customers a new way to engage with brands. And, when implemented properly,

this type of technology also provides a reason for customers to return to a Web site

again and again (see Figure 5).

HOW ENGAGED ARE CUSTOMERS

The big question facing executives in charge of customer engagement programs is: “Is what

we’re doing actually working?” The majority of respondents to our survey think that it is (see

Figure 7). But to really be sure, they must define how fully-engaged customers compare to

those who are less engaged, use these criteria to assess and segment buyers, measure the

of engagement among them, and track how it changes over time. We asked survey

participants how they go about doing this, and found that metrics used to track engagement

fall into three categories:4

• Results. Of the 10 most popular metrics used to track engagement, three — sales volume,

new customer acquisitions, and customer retention — capture business goals for customer

engagement programs.

• Emotion. Also popular were metrics or data points that capture the emotional side of

engagement. Examples include opinions expressed during customer service calls,

customer satisfaction ratings for Web sites, and satisfaction ratings for products and

services. Although not as popular, metrics such as brand affinity were seen as highly

effective measures of engagement among firms that use them.

• Web site activity. Rounding out the list of most popular metrics were those that capture

levels of customer activity on firms’ Web sites, such as frequency of site visits and logins,

average number of pages viewed per visit, and completeness of information submitted by

customers in online forms.

SUGGESTIONS

TO REALLY UNDERSTAND ENGAGEMENT, MEASURE LESS

Given all the challenges inherent in trying to measure customer engagement, what should

firms do to get the best, most complete picture possible? In a word — simplify. It’s tempting

the high level idea of “customer engagement.” But realities of time, resources, and

complexity make that impractical. Companies are better off focusing their measurement

efforts on the behaviors and opinions that most represent the ideal form of customer

engagement, and tracking just a few key pieces of data about each one. What are those

critical few behaviors and data points? To find out, companiesshould:

1. Identify the ten most important things that engaged customers and prospects do.

List all the channels in which customers can interact with the brand, and the things they can

do in each channel. Prioritize the entries in that first list, giving more weight to activities that

affect the bottom line, require a high level of effort from the customer, or are initiated by thecustomer without prompting from the firm (see Figure 11). For most organizations, the top

two activities will be purchases and recommendations. Other candidates include visits to a

store, creation of content for a blog, discussion thread or contest, requests for product

configurations, pricing, or proposals, and participation in market or product research efforts.

2. Define which channels support each form of engagement. The activities on this top-ten

list are likely performed through more than one channel. For example, customers research

products in a store (e.g., by reading a brochure, using a kiosk, or talking to an employee),

over the phone (e.g., by talking to a service rep), and online (e.g., by downloading

collateral, clicking on options, or sorting by style, color, or price). List the channels through

which each activity can happen today, and identify the internal systems that contain data

about what goes on in each one so you’ll know where to go to get data later on.

3. Track how many people do any of these activities. The simplest way to measure

engagement is to look at the percentage of customers who exhibit any of the behaviors that

you’ve deemed “engaged” behaviors. Start by asking a representative sample of customers

and prospects which, if any, of the specific engagement activities they’ve done in the past

year. Calculate the percentage of people who have done zero, one, two, three, etc. of the

target activities. If the segment of people who do multiple high-value activities is large, the

customer base as a whole can be deemed highly engaged. Now, it’s true that this is just

one of many dimensions of engagement. But this approach, though simple, is highly

actionable because it enables companies to track whether or not programs designed to get

customers and prospects to do things they don’t normally do are working.

4. Capture frequency metrics in addition to program adoption. In addition to profiling

engagement activities across the customer base, firms should track the average number of

times a purchase decision-maker performs these activities in the course of a week, month,

or year.6 For physical channels and offline, word-of-mouth recommendations, firms will

have to rely heavily on surveys that ask customers how often they do key activities. But

wherever possible, companies should use the frequency metrics calculated by their existing

Web, email, and call center analytics packages. Although these metrics reflect just one

aspect of engagement, they enable companies to understand the success of programs

designed to get current customers to act more quickly and do more of what they already

do.

5. Measure intimacy using surveys and sentiment tracking. To measure the emotional

side of engagement, firms should again focus on choosing just one or two metrics that

represent the type of intimacy they want their customers to feel. Candidate metrics include

reference, and Net Promoter score. Regardless of the specific intimacy metrics in use, firms

should calculate both the average rating from customers and the percentage of customers

who exhibit strong, neutral, and weak emotional connections based on their answers. Once

from third-party brand monitoring services to summarize the volume and tone of sentiments

expressed outside the walls of the company. These services are likely to reveal feelings

that customers might not express when asked directly, and can be valuable for measuring

the success of the social marketing tools and initiatives many companies indicated they

plan to add in 2009.

6. Summarize adoption, frequency, and intimacy metrics in a single dashboard. To get

a sense of the overall direction of customer engagement, firms should aggregate the three

types of metrics listed above onto a master engagement dashboard (see Figure 12). The

dashboard should show the current value for each metric as well as the change in that

metric over a time period appropriate for the business. The goal is to have a positive

change in each of the metrics on a regular basis. The dashboard can, and should, alsoindicate goals for lifting each metric and how well the organization is progressing toward

those goals.

7. Generate the engagement dashboard regularly. The data needed to populate an

engagement dashboard like the one described here will come from a variety of sources,

most of which are not integrated. That means the process for generating the report is likely

to include both manual and automated components. Even so, firms that invest heavily in

engagement programs need these metrics to guide their efforts. They must allocate the

required resources to produce an engagement dashboard so they aren’t flying blind as they

execute engagement initiatives. Once executives see the power of these metrics, they’ll be

more likely to allocate funding for a better data collection and reporting infrastructure

CONCLUSION

Companies can drive business value through customer engagement by understanding that:

• An empowered customer is an engaged customer. Giving customers a voice, letting

them be involved, interact, influence, and build intimacy in new and different ways is the

central theme of engagement. Engaging the customer through a cohesive customer

experience can empower the customer to be a brand and product promoter, and influence

the marketplace in ways not possible with traditional marketing.

• Engagement must drive business results. Although the promise of engagement is

enticing, it involves commitment from organizations to invest time and effort up front in

identifying the right engagement metrics to track, focusing on the four I’s (involvement,

interaction, intimacy, and influence). Ultimately, what will matter is the ability to tie

engagement metrics to financial metrics in order to demonstrate tangible business results.

Discussions of engagement should use the language of business (improved efficiency,

increased effectiveness) to maintain and grow funding for engagement efforts.

• IT plays a new and vital role. For engagement to succeed, IT roles will need to adapt to

new systems with less control and greater ability to drive engagement. Content will be

monitored, not published. As well as deploying and managing systems, IT will need to

explore and sanction systems that exist outside its span of control. This shift requires that

IT rethink its internal processes and relationship with the business. Success or failure at

improving engagement will not rest solely with IT; however, getting IT to adapt to new ways

of thinking about the relationship of data and customer interaction will maximize the

benefits of engagement.