The Need for Social Networking within the Sustainability Community

Over the course of the past 4 years I have had the opportunity to work with or share market strategies with executives at social networking companies such as LinkedIn, Spoke Software, Visible Path, and BranchIT. Of particular interest to me was the ability to develop and leverage what I referred to as "Relationship Capital Management"; the opportunity to develop, foster, and share relationships within an organization (or ecosystem) for the purposes of optimizing knowledge management and revenue generation. (I posted some columns on this trend a couple of years ago on "Relationships as Assets" and Relationship Capital Management and CRM).

Viewing the challenges and opportunities in the sustainability market, it seems that social networking (both process and underlying technology) could play a large role in accelerating both awareness of key issues as well as potentially accelerate adoption.

Why? Here are some of the big challenges in the sustainability / cleantech arenas:

• Talent shortage (engineers, executives, scientists) of trained staff worldwide, with increased demand forecasted
• Limited training and higher education programs available today, especially in light of talent demand
• Wide range of sustainability technology and processes mean no single person / entity can be an expert in everything
• Very few sustainability processes have been codified at this point; case in point: the number of sustainability reporting schemes

The early stage of this field means that formal, centralized business models may not be the best organizational structure to follow (whether within an organization, or within a vendor company providing sustainability solutions). The development of virtual groups, social networks and other more flexible organizations may be better aligned to develop and implement fledging solutions. This is particularly important when one considers the range of expertise required to develop and implement a sustainable solution, a process, or even a company: business case development, financial modeling, conceptual and detailed design, construction, manufacturing / supply of materials, operations, etc.

So how are sustainability professionals interacting, sharing knowledge, and organizing for solution development and deployment? Here are some best guesses:

• Discipline - related: civil / environmental engineering (ACEC, ASCE, AWWA), Sustainable MBAs, etc
• Business process - related: supply chain management, process optimization, procurement, product management
• Industry groups: LEED, AIA, AGC, buildSMART, and other buildings initiatives for architects and engineering design professionals
• Regional groups: such as those in NY, Boston, India, and Silicon Valley; where there is an abundance of educated professionals with significant interest and expertise in relevant business processes
• On - line networks, such as groups set up in Plaxo, Ning, LinkedIn, Virid.us, Facebook, and Yahoo.

In the short term (next year or so) we will probably have multiple small networks that will grow organically along with their aligned sustainability / cleantech sectors (i.e. green buildings, green IT, etc). Over time I think there will be significant opportunities for start ups (one or more of the current social networking sites?) to build fee - based networks and integrate knowledge management, training programs, and perhaps certification programs to ensure high quality and continuous improvement / innovation of delivery.

I'm ready to help.

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"Our Opportunity Management System is Crap"

... a VP at a publicly traded E&C firm recounted to me recently....

He was talking about their CRM system, but it made me think about the challenges of selling professional services and aligning required technology across a global enterprise (in some companies that can be described as loose confederations of feudal kingdoms) in the global environmental and engineering design industry.

So what 'opportunity management' objectives are critical to E&C firms?

• Improve service delivery (responsiveness to RFI / RFPs)
• Improve margins (identify those prospects who may require higher margin consulting services, and also those do not cause AR headaches)
• Increase revenues (allow for wider range of services to be delivered to key accounts)
• Assure alignment with strategic objectives for growth (reporting and analytics)
• Provide mechanism to build stronger relationships and partnerships with clients

I think improving margins may yield the highest and most rapid ROI for any BPR work and enabling technology deployment in opportunity management. Many of the global E&Cs are already targeting higher margin consulting in mining, environmental sustainability, and energy efficiency services, which should also help drive 'downstream' revenues in engineering design and construction management.

The CRM toolsets being used today? A whole 'nuther subject...from spreadsheets to SaaS....

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Relationship Capital Management Software and CRM

The term “Relationship Capital Management” has traditionally applied to the development and management of clients and prospects of an organization. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems have been in place for a number of years, originally designed to increase customer loyalty and thus allow for better opportunity and account management. However, these systems do not allow for identifying and managing all potential relationships within the company ecosystem that may affect an organization: customers, prospects, competitors, partners, influencers, media, human capital (or talent), and other third parties.

Traditionally, the focus of CRM initiatives has been on driving down costs and creating richer customer data. As organizations gear up again to drive top-line growth, the need for CRM solutions to focus on customer intelligence and account development increases.

Where relationship capital management has potential to increase the utility of CRM / SFA solutions: by improving sales effectiveness, via identification of broader range of contacts that may affect the sales process; and consequently, the identification of best practice strategies & processes to develop high value customers and market segments. For example:

• Extend the reach of customer care solutions by incorporating more comprehensive business development intelligence gathering; especially important in the development of vertical - specific applications (for the services industry, for example)
• Broaden the network of contacts beyond just prospects, and make inclusive partners, competitors, and other third parties
• Utilize customer intelligence to provide insights into prospect and customer – specific value propositions and appropriate communication strategies

Coming up: some strategies to fully leverage a relationship capital management system....

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