Nadji Tehrani
Executive Group Publisher, Editor-in-Chief

Introducing ...The Board Room Report™

The CRM, Customer Interaction And Call Center Industry's View From The Top

Customer Inter@ction Solutions introduces the industry's first in-depth and exclusive CEO-to-CEO series to bring you the inside report, the untold stories and best-kept secrets of our industry's greatest visionaries.

As you read this editorial, I am sure you will agree with me that the information that comes from the interviews with the best minds of the CRM/contact center industry is truly invaluable and priceless.

In 2006, Customer Inter@ction Solutions® magazine will be celebrating 25 years of pioneering and editorial excellence while establishing the foundation for what is now the multibillion-dollar customer interaction, contact center and CRM industry.

The nearly quarter of a century of intimate contact and working together with industry leaders has helped me get a clear vision of what the true needs are and where the industry is going. This unique and exclusive opportunity has been instrumental in laying the foundation of our great industry.

Our long-established and cherished relationships with industry leaders have uniquely qualified us to call upon our exclusive contacts, CEO to CEO, to get the true facts and figures about the state of our industry from the boardroom vantage point.

Our Paramount Responsibility
As THE leading and preeminent industry publication since 1982, it is our paramount responsibility to recognize our industry leaders and share their immense wisdom and vision with our valued readers both online (TMCnet.com) as well as in the pages of Customer Inter@ction Solutions' magazine.

The Source For Infinite Wisdom And Clear Vision
Never before in my publishing career have I had the pleasure of working regularly and learning so much invaluable wisdom from our industry's greatest CEOs from small and large companies.

Infinite Wisdom Displayed!
To prove the point, I would like to share with you a few excerpts from an interview we recently conducted with Thomas Nies, President and CEO of Cincinnati-based Cincom Systems, Inc.

Cincom Systems, Inc. has shown a spectacular growth in areas such as hosting and high-tech software services.

Here are the informative excerpts:

'Our customers ask:
' How do I get more customers?
' How do I improve my customer relationships?
' How do we interact better?
' How do I gain competitive advantage through marketing my products and services through the various means available to me?'

On Differentiation
'Here is how we differentiate ourselves: simplification of the business through innovation. We want to innovate all kinds of new technologies to simplify interaction within the company and externally to partners, allies, customers and suppliers; all designed to bring down costs and to increase exposure and opportunities to satisfy customers.'

'We believe in simplification through innovation.'

Challenges Faced By Our Company
'Our ability to grow our knowledge or capability or skill, our capacity to grow on an incremental basis. But the challenge is the information available on the nature of the competition, all of this is growing on an exponential basis. Every year, even though we become stronger, the gaps between the competition, the challenges and what we are able to do increase.'

'We are increasingly less informed of all information available. Every year we become more uniformed. That gap between what the challenges are today and what we are capable of doing increases for every company, and we are no exception.'

'In the world of extreme competition: Everybody must move fast and on a broad basis or be swept away. '

Topple Rate
'A point at which companies lose their leadership position in their industry. Measuring how rapidly a company moves from the top 20 percent of their industry and out of it in a five-year period. The topple rate in 1974 was about 7-8 percent. But today that rate is about 33 percent. Even well established leadership companies can be swept away very, very fast now. This is good news for upstart companies and bad news for entrenched competitors since they can't move as quickly to move their product line. I expect in another few years, the topple rate will be as high as 50 percent. Rich companies must be able to defend their markets and grow their markets.'

'Too much effort is spent today on becoming bigger and too little effort is spent on becoming better.'

Practical Solution?
'Companies need to think more about the transformation of their business ' moving from what they're currently doing to transform themselves to become something radically different in the future, not only to better protect the markets they're in and compete where they are but also to seek out and grow new markets.'

'The organizations of the future that will be most successful ... will also be able to transform their emphasis on information; innovation, interaction and integration.'

'India and China are not interested in moving their nations forward on the back of low-cost labor (it is a temporary advantage). They are improving their businesses ' unless we use simplification, innovation, integration and the best technology, we can't compete at all. If we don't do it, we are dead in the water.'

'Our goal for every $1 invested with us in our software systems: customers will achieve a return on their investment of at least $10.'

Hopefully, these far-reaching and inspirational comments will lead you to visit TMCnet.com regularly and read Customer Inter@ction Solutions' magazine and the future Boardroom Reports at www.tmcnet.com/boardroom/.

As always, I welcome your valued comments. Please e-mail me at [email protected]. CIS

Sincerely yours,

Nadji Tehrani
Founder, Chairman & CEO, Editor-in-Chief

The Boardroom Report is available weekly online at www.TMCnet.com/boardroom/ and monthly in Customer Inter@ction Solutions® Magazine.