A warm welcome to the new portal

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   By Chris Bucholtz, CRM blogger

   
   

   I tend to hate introductory blog posts. They often come across as a feeble attempt to justify continued readership fueled by the writer’s puffed-up view of his own self-worth. “I’ve done this, and I’ve done that, and I’m an expert at this, and an authority on that. And look – I have a snarky attitude, too!” Yeah, whatever.

   
   

   Sadly, though, I realized that I never wrote an introductory post on the old Inside CRM blog, which I hunted and pecked out for two years. I just sort of inherited it when Craig Rosenberg became distracted (possibly by a shiny object, or some discussion of UCLA water polo) and veered off to do his own blog, the Funnelholic, which is itself very worthwhile.

   
   

   So, here I am, explaining myself. I’m the new editor-in-chief of the site you’ve landed on. I came aboard after two years as editor of Inside CRM, where I managed a crew of great writers and did a great deal of thinking about CRM, marketing automation, business analytics, ERP and the other stuff that’s supposed to make your business run better, make your employees lives easier and cause cash to roll in like a 20-foot hurricane-stirred surf. It doesn’t always work out that way – and we’ll try to explain why – but it sometimes does. We’ll talk about that, too.

   
   

   As a journalist turned CRM pro, my main goal for this site is to make it easier to see the technology and process issues from the point of view of the user and, more importantly, the customer. I’ve been doing this for 15 years now and I’ve covered all kinds of technologies, but CRM is my favorite because it is so directly connected to human behavior. We’ll be telling a lot of “people stories” here that come disguised as “technology stories.”

   
   

   As you will see unfold over the next few weeks, this site’s content will be largely vendor-agnostic. The first step in making the right decision is building an underlying understanding of CRM, ERP and – most importantly – your own company. We’ll talk about topics in the most effective ways we can, and you may even see mention of (gasp!) other vendors, believe it or not, if it serves to help you learn what you need to learn. On occasion, you might see some content or links that favor a vendor or two.  In fact, there may be some pitch pieces and marketing stuff on the site, but they will be marked clearly – and if they aren’t, please send me an irate email and I will correct things.
   
   

   So, that’s what we have in store for you. We’re in the early stages of adding content and really understanding what our readership wants, but I think we can build the best CRM and ERP educational site there is, and we’re going to make the process of learning fun and rewarding. Let me know what you like, or what you don’t like, and we’ll grow this community together.  You can reach me at cbucholtz@forecastingclouds.com; I look forward to hearing from you!

   
   

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