Greenberg, Paul -- Evaluating CRM software

Paul Greenberg

Paul Greenberg
Paul Greenberg
President The 56 Group

In addition to being the author of the best-selling CRM at the Speed of Light, Paul Greenberg is the Managing Principal of The 56 Group, LLC, a customer strategy consulting firm, focused on cutting edge CRM and Social CRM strategic services. He is a founding partner of the CRM training company, BPT Partners, LLC, a training and consulting venture composed of a number of CRM luminaries that has quickly become the authoritative training for the CRM industry.
His book, CRM at the Speed of Light: Social CRM Strategy, Tools, and Techniques for Engaging Your Customers, now in its fourth edition, is in 9 languages and been called “the bible of the CRM industry”. It has been used by more than 70 universities as a primary text. The Asian edition of CIO Magazine named it one of the 12 most important books an Asian CEO will ever read. Paul has also authored two other books including “E-Government for Public Officials” (Thompson Publishing, 2003).

Paul is the Executive Vice President of the CRM Association. He currently is the Chairman of the Advisory Committee of the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management CRM Centre of Excellence. He has been a Board of Advisors member of the Baylor University MBA Program for CRM majors, and the co-chairman of Rutgers University’s CRM Research Center.

He is a core member of the Board of Advisors for the Center for American Progress, the leading policy think tank in Washington D.C.

Paul has developed strategies and helped define CRM and social CRM products for all the major vendors in CRM and in social media. He has developed broad CRM strategies and programs for a significant number of larger enterprises and worked with them from inception of the idea of a CRM strategy through vendor selection when needed.

Paul is considered a thought leader in CRM, having been published in numerous industry and business publications over the years and having traveled the world speaking on cutting edge CRM and topics geared to the contemporary social customer. He has been called “the dean of CRM” and “the godfather of CRM” and even the “Bob Dylan of CRM” by analysts and organizations throughout the industry. In fact, at the end of 2007, he was the #1 non-vendor influencer, by InsideCRM in their annual “25 Most Influential CRM People” announcement. He was also named one of the most influential CRM leaders in 2008 by CRM Magazine and was elected to magazine’s CRM Hall of Fame in 2010 – the first non-vendor related thought leader in its history.

He is known particularly for his work on the use of social media, such as blogs, podcasts and wikis and social networks in CRM as tools for customer collaboration with a company. He is seen often as the “voice of the customer” and is well known within the CRM industry for this work. His blog, PGreenblog (the56group.typepad.com) was named the winner of the first annual CRM “Blog of the Year” in 2005 by SearchCRM and the 2007 “Whatis” Award for CRM Blogs, by their parent company, TechTarget. He also received the #1 CRM Blog Award from InsideCRM at the end of 2007 and in 2008 and was named #1 CRM blogger by ForecastingClouds in January 2010. He now also writes the CRM blog, “Social CRM: The Conversation” for high profile CBS-owned technology media property, ZDNET (http://blogs.zdnet.com/crm).

He is also the founder of the very popular CRM Idol competition, first held in 2011.
Greenberg also thinks that a sense of humor is necessary when it comes to CRM and its social antecedent so he is the host of an edgy podcast called Experience on the Edge and co-hosts the totally insane “CRM Playaz” with fellow thought leader Brent Leary.

Contributions from Paul Greenberg