It has been refreshing of late to see some of our friends in the analyst community have an open debate  regarding whether it is appropriate to continue to categorize solutions such as ResponseTek as EFM (Enterprise Feedback Management) or by a newer term CIA (Customer Insight & Analysis). You can read more about Forrester’s perspective on EFM on Andrew McInnes’blog here, and Bruce Temkin’s perspective on the terms on his great Customer Experience Matters blog here.  EFM is a term formalized by the CRM group at Gartner back in around 2001 and you can read all about its genesis here.

In 1999 when ResponseTek started using the term CEM (Customer Experience Management) and we defined it as, "the people, process and technology strategies focused on monitoring all customer experiences across the customer lifecycle with the aim of connecting frontline employees and management to the actual customer experience to improve the quality and consistency of those experiences."

Back in 1999 no one else was talking about CEM, it was all CRM and when Gartner did start looking at the kinds of things ResponseTek and a few other companies were doing they eventually defined it as EFM in 2001. I always had a problem with Gartner definition of EFM and what it encompassed as I found it way too narrow a definition compared to the actual conversations we were having with clients. EFM always seemed more like a proxy for a ISO 900x system than something focused on customer experiences and employee behaviours.  In 10 years I can't remember a single client that has talked about their objectives as being the implementation of a EFM system. Our clients have always spoken about their goals in terms of "connecting to customer, improving quality, satisfaction, consistency, etc." I believe everyone has been aware of the framework that EFM embodies but always recognized it as a subset of the broader goals covered by CEM or VOC strategies. At ResponseTek, we have always considered EFM to be a subset of CEM and EFM solutions are a subset of the capabilities that most leading enterprise CEM vendors can offer.

As for CIA I think it is too early to tell whether this has legs (read more here). I know and respect Bruce and he has done a huge amount to getting the customer experience space understood. If Bruce's objective was to start a dialogue and challenge the relevance of EFM then I think he has done the job. However, I am not sure we need another term when CEM and VOC are still ill defined and expansive in the topics they cover. I believe that Bruce and Ed Thompson over at Gartner have some of the best thinking on how the CEM space fits together and I hope they can find a way to rally around a single point of view in relation to CEM.

As for the EFM vs. CIA  debate I would say the answer is irrelevant at the moment because clients are not using either, EFM because it is outdated and CIA because it is too new. For me and our clients it is all about CEM and Voice of the Customer but I am not an Analyst so you don't have to listen to me ;)

Syed

While we're all busy trying to figure out Apple's Ping, using Google Instant and trying to get our hands on the new Blackberry Torch - there are people on the other side of the world worrying about where they're going to sleep tonight, what they're going to eat for their next meal and how they're going to get medicine for their sick child.

I'm talking about the floods in Pakistan. A single tragedy that is going down in history as one of the most devastating disasters in the world - displacing more than 21 million people from their homes. This is bigger than the Indian Tsunami in 2004, the Kashmir Earthquake in 2005, and the Haiti Earthquake in 2010 - all combined. Now, that’s big.
Here at Responsetek, an employee initiated an internal challenge to raise money for the flood victims. They had seen firsthand, the beauty of the landscape and kindness of the people, ten years ago when they had traveled to Northern Pakistan; the area most severely hit by the floods.

We took the challenge seriously and in less than a week, we raised over $8,500 in actual aid to help the flood victims in Pakistan with more than 75% of our employees participating. Our chosen charity, World Vision Canada, will be able to provide aid and support to over 140 families and their children in the affected areas.

One of the unexpected outcomes of this process has been a really positive effect on moral. Several employees have taken the time to talk to me about how positively they felt about us, as a company, giving back to help those less fortunate. Although it was merely a week, it was a great experience centered around the simple act of giving.

We spend so much time these days preoccupied with shareholders, sales, expense management, the economy and so on and so forth, that it’s easy to forget that most of us started our businesses in order to make a difference at some level. This past week has reminded me that we can make a difference to those people in need, and that too, in a relatively short amount of time. We just have to look in the right places.

Thanks again to all the ResponseTek employees that helped us support World Vision Canada and the flood victims in Pakistan over the past week.

I hope this reminds or at least, inspires you to encourage your company to give back to those who need it most. Take it as a challenge, and I promise you'll feel good about it.