Linkdump - CRM and the sustainable organisation

In december of last year I wrote a post about 2009, the year of sustainability and sustainable CRM. Yesterday I came across this article on MyCustomer.com, with an interesting quote on customer sustainability:

What makes a company sustainable?

Customer relationships can build an asset to provide a cushion against changes in the market, according to Kirkby - a kind of 'brand halo'. This is where a brand can reach market share peak, have very high salience and become a market leader, but also remain a market leader long after it doesn’t deserve to be any more simply because people remember its status and think it is still on top.

Doc Searls on VRM. My view on the challenges

I came across a nice post by Doc Searls on what he would like when it comes to CRM from the point of view of the customer, or VRM. I wonder how long it will take for the first VRM applications to be released.

One of the challenges I personally see with VRM is: who will we trust with our information? We already trust loads of companies with privacy related information, such as what we buy, what we subscribe to etc. but this information is dispersed over multiple vendors. I wouldn't want to trust Albert Heijn (a major dutch supermarket chain) with information on all my purchases and subscriptions. Perhaps this is something for a semi-governmental institution like a consumer authority that is regulated and that we can trust not to use our personal information for commercial gain.

On end year credits - Top 20 CRM Bloggers

In 2007 I was added to the top CRM bloggers list of InsideCRM.com (great site, go check it out). On December 29, 2008 Chris Bucholz published an updated version of the list, update for 2008. The list is full of interesting CRM blogs everyone should check out, and fortunately for me I'm on the list once more, featured in a list that also contains the big minds in CRM such as Paul Greenberg, Brent Leary, Christopher Carfi and, Mr. VRM himself, Doc Searls. I hope I'll make the list again next year.