On-Line Business/Social NetworkingThe explosion of On-Line Business/Social Networking is an internet phenomenon. More that 100 sites currently exist and the number is growing. A debate is now raging as to whether these sites will ultimately succeed with many detractors seriously questioning whether social networks have any real use – and certainly not so from a business perspective. It might be interesting to know how many degrees separate you and another person, but in reality, people beyond two degrees are complete strangers. Current expert opinion considers that successful social networking sites must provide the following functions:1 • The ability to generate trust These are features not so easily attained on an open access basis. Attempts have been made to align social networking sites with CRM systems to assist keeping track of valuable relationships. Currently these alliances are geared towards large corporations with cost being a barrier to small to medium sized enterprises. The predominant membership of these sites also sees North America well served but Europe and Australasia are currently ‘markets for growth’. As networking is now considered to be the key to business success, demand for a software solution to manage this process has grown. Industry experts have for some time been speculating that CUSTOMER Relationship Management (CRM) would eventually be replaced by 'NETWORK Relationship Management', or as we prefer to call it 'NETWORKING Relationship Management', as most business people are well aware what 'Networking' is all about. [1] Fernandez S., Two Degrees of Separation: Creating a truly effective network of contacts, (2008) |
