{"id":7238,"date":"2010-05-11T07:49:51","date_gmt":"2010-05-11T14:49:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.web-strategist.com\/blog\/?p=7238"},"modified":"2010-05-11T08:15:27","modified_gmt":"2010-05-11T15:15:27","slug":"trend-social-crm-consolidation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web-strategist.com\/blog\/2010\/05\/11\/trend-social-crm-consolidation\/","title":{"rendered":"Trend: Social CRM Consolidation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Social Software Is In the “Cambrian Explosion” Era<\/strong>
\nLast weekend, I visited New York’s Museum of Natural History and Sciences. \u00a0I’m always fascinated by the dawn of life, and often draw a lot of parallels<\/a> from the era of many new organisms and how many evolved and many who didn’t adapt to their environment. \u00a0 In fact, the metaphor works very well in the fast moving social software space, as we’re currently in the Cambrian Explosion<\/a>, where many new species are appearing (I’ve mapped over 100 community platform vendors<\/a>, and E&Y has found over 125 social monitoring firms<\/a>). \u00a0The barriers are so low for entry, and with a recession in place, we’re seeing an explosion of new firms. \u00a0Those that combine and create new value evolve and will eventually move to land, those that don’t make the right partnerships or develop sophisticated solutions for enterprise buyers will become the extinct “Trilobites<\/a>”<\/p>\n

Community Platforms and Listening Platforms Combine To Create SCRM Suites<\/strong>
\nLithium, a community platform, has announced their acquisition of social media measurement company Scoutlabs. \u00a0This combination paves the way for social point ware software to evolve into a greater suite of enterprise social software which can evolve to Social CRM. \u00a0Expect more of these acquisitions and partnerships to occur over the coming year. \u00a0Ray Wang, my business partner, maps out what the Lithium and Scoutlabs acquisition means<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Next Generation Consulting Firms Will Rival Complacent Incumbents<\/strong>
\nOn a similar note, Dachis Group<\/a>, which has a hefty war chest of $50mm<\/a> backed by Austin Ventures, has made some strategic acqustions in the social business arena. \u00a0Aside from key hires from Forrester Research \u00a0(like Peter Kim, Tom Cummings, and Cynthia Pflaum) have joined the team along with Caroline Dangson, Dion’s enterprise consulting group, Xplane, Headshift, and most recently the Enterprise 2.0 Adoption Council, a group of end user pioneers. \u00a0This star team has the makings of a next generation consulting firm, and can have a powerful impact as they go to market.<\/p>\n

Many Social Software Providers Will Become Extinct “Trilobites” –Avoid Them Now
\n<\/strong>This is just the start, expect more consolidation, and market changes, to protect your bets from investing in a Trilobite, it’s important you pay attention to the trends at hand.<\/p>\n