27 May 2010
by Debi KleimancloseAuthor: Debi Kleiman
Name: Debi Kleiman
Site: http://
About: As Vice President of Product Marketing at Communispace, Debi focuses on innovation and strategy to help bring the best solutions to our clients—allowing them to connect with their customers in a meaningful way. Formerly a Community Manager and Senior Community Consultant, Debi’s unique perspective is invaluable to helping shape our product and services, and provides our clients with the tools and knowledge to help them make the most of their communities. An active and involved mom of two young boys, Debi spends her “free” time with her husband and kids playing on the beach in Maine, reading, cooking, and trying to keep her boys from knocking each other unconscious.See Authors Posts (14)
Usually when you think of sustainability, you think of farming or the environment right? Well it’s really not just about what you eat; sustainability is a concept that is at the heart of how the most innovative companies in all industries are doing business today. It involves thinking about how to make the most of your business using the best of your resources and ensuring those resources are well taken of – that is, treated with respect, thoughtfulness and appreciation – whether those resources are money, time, or customers. And it makes sense that customers are (or should be) one of your company’s most important sustainable resources, particularly given today’s business context.
Usually when you think of sustainability, you think of farming or the environment right? Well it’s really not just about what you eat; sustainability is a concept that is at the heart of how the most innovative companies in all industries are doing business today. It involves thinking about how to make the most of your business using the best of your resources and ensuring those resources are well taken of – that is, treated with respect, thoughtfulness and appreciation – whether those resources are money, time, or customers. And it makes sense that customers are (or should be) one of your company’s most important sustainable resources, particularly given today’s business context.
Communispace is proud to be a 2010 recipient of the ThinkForward™ Award given by the smart folks at Beagle Research. The Beagle Research Group is one of the leading analyst firms focused on customer experience and SocialCRM. They developed the award to recognize companies that are creating sustainable business support for processes that are, among other things, “more fully engaging customers as full partners in the vendor-customer relationship.”
I think this is a really interesting take on the concept of sustainability in business – customers as a renewable business resource. According to Beagle Research managing principal, Denis Pombriant: “If you’re in CRM this spells opportunity to re-think some business processes and use social networking to carefully listen to customers as they describe the next important things in their lives…the companies that can best understand existing customer sentiment and unmet needs will be best able to develop products and messages that drive additional sales within their customer bases.”
In explaining why they chose Communispace for this groundbreaking award, Pombriant went on to say: “This pioneer in community driven customer outreach has scores of customer success stories in which companies organized groups of customers to learn about attitudes and unmet needs…Communispace has enabled its clients to zero in on the issues that really matter to their customers at low cost as well as with speed and minimal overhead.” Thanks, Denis! You can read the full report on the Beagle Research website here.
We’d also like to congratulate the other ThinkForward winners: Brainshark, Cloud9 Analytics, iCentera, Kadient, Salesforce.com, Unisfair, and Zuora. We are honored to be in such good company.
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3 March 2010
by Debi KleimancloseAuthor: Debi Kleiman
Name: Debi Kleiman
Site: http://
About: As Vice President of Product Marketing at Communispace, Debi focuses on innovation and strategy to help bring the best solutions to our clients—allowing them to connect with their customers in a meaningful way. Formerly a Community Manager and Senior Community Consultant, Debi’s unique perspective is invaluable to helping shape our product and services, and provides our clients with the tools and knowledge to help them make the most of their communities. An active and involved mom of two young boys, Debi spends her “free” time with her husband and kids playing on the beach in Maine, reading, cooking, and trying to keep her boys from knocking each other unconscious.See Authors Posts (14)
Dear CRM Magazine,
Wow! Communispace is so excited that you have given us a CRM Service Rising Star Award, thank you! We are really proud of what we provide for our wonderful clients. The Communispace “two-step” of our services is no easy feat.
Dear CRM Magazine,
Wow! Communispace is so excited that you have given us a CRM Service Rising Star Award, thank you! We are really proud of what we provide for our wonderful clients. The Communispace “two-step” of our services is no easy feat.
We are thrilled to be CDW’s “dance partner” and also a partner to our many other clients who are striving to deeply understand their customers. It’s true that our emphasis on a continuous discovery process, going beyond simple feedback, helps our clients grow their business. It leads to better marketing, improved product development processes, and a company that’s truly customer-centric.
CRM guru Denis Pombriant’s comments make us want to twist and shout—we’ve worked hard to create a solution that gives our clients new insights while not leaving “community-building to chance.”
You think our two-step is impressive? Just wait til you see us cha-cha…
We really appreciate the recognition, thank you!
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2 November 2009
by Debi KleimancloseAuthor: Debi Kleiman
Name: Debi Kleiman
Site: http://
About: As Vice President of Product Marketing at Communispace, Debi focuses on innovation and strategy to help bring the best solutions to our clients—allowing them to connect with their customers in a meaningful way. Formerly a Community Manager and Senior Community Consultant, Debi’s unique perspective is invaluable to helping shape our product and services, and provides our clients with the tools and knowledge to help them make the most of their communities. An active and involved mom of two young boys, Debi spends her “free” time with her husband and kids playing on the beach in Maine, reading, cooking, and trying to keep her boys from knocking each other unconscious.See Authors Posts (14)
Wowza, last week was a big week here at Communispace on the awards and recognition front – specifically, Forrester Research published a report naming Communispace a leader in the market research online community space. The report* ranks Communispace tops on all three major dimensions.
Then to top it off, Communispace, together with our wonderful clients, won an unprecedented two Forrester Groundswell Awards – you can read the full nomination stories on our website. Phew, that’s a lot of Forrester Research accolades in one week. And we couldn’t feel more proud, grateful, excited and yes, maybe even a little nervous.
Wowza, last week was a big week here at Communispace on the awards and recognition front – specifically, Forrester Research published a report naming Communispace a leader in the market research online community space. The report* ranks Communispace tops on all three major dimensions.
Then to top it off, Communispace, together with our wonderful clients, won an unprecedented two Forrester Groundswell Awards – you can read the full nomination stories on our website. Phew, that’s a lot of Forrester Research accolades in one week. And we couldn’t feel more proud, grateful, excited and yes, maybe even a little nervous.
Yes, nervous. When you are the market leader, you have competitors who want to knock you down, so you can’t rest on your laurels. And you also have clients (or customers, or partners) who want to know what’s next and how you are going to be even better than before. And let’s face it, we’re a pretty driven and curious group here at Communispace too, so we’re putting pressure on ourselves and each other to “take it up a notch”. Definitely fun, especially given our love for pushing into new frontiers, but we could also find out some new stuff that maybe doesn’t jive with what we know today. We’ll have to take a hard look at our resources, people, and capabilities to see what’s going to propel us forward and what’s dragging us down.
We’ve reached an exciting point in our company’s growth, it’s great to see all that we’ve accomplished in this young market space. And the experience of getting here provides the fuel to turbo charge what’s next – but now we’ve got to crank it up even more than before. How do you keep the innovation fires burning in your organization? I’d love to hear your ideas.
* The Forrester WaveTM: Full-Service Market Research Online Community (MROC) Vendors, Q4 2009.
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18 June 2009
by Charlotte DahercloseAuthor: Charlotte Daher
Name: Charlotte Daher
Site: http://www.communispace.com
About: As Sales and Marketing Coordinator, Charlotte is instrumental in keeping sales and marketing running smoothly and efficiently at Communispace.
Charlotte loves the city of Boston and the Red Sox! In her spare time she enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with friends and family.See Authors Posts (4)
- Joe Cascio, independent software developer and PeopleBrowsr user advocate & educator
- Michael Durwin, Creative Director turned 3.0 entrepreneur & Chief Creative Guy at Gathr.Me
- Marta Kagan, Bonafide Marketing Genius & Managing Director, US for Espresso (integrated marketing agency)
- Michael Troiano, Mack Daddy Blogger & Board Member at Crimson Hexagon
Michael Durwin, founder of Gathr.Me just asked the audience to “raise their left arm if they have more than one email account, to raise their right arm if they are a part of a social network, and to stand if they produce content for clients” see below for results:
- Joe Cascio, independent software developer and PeopleBrowsr user advocate & educator
- Michael Durwin, Creative Director turned 3.0 entrepreneur & Chief Creative Guy at Gathr.Me
- Marta Kagan, Bonafide Marketing Genius & Managing Director, US for Espresso (integrated marketing agency)
- Michael Troiano, Mack Daddy Blogger & Board Member at Crimson Hexagon
Michael Durwin, founder of Gathr.Me just asked the audience to “raise their left arm if they have more than one email account, to raise their right arm if they are a part of a social network, and to stand if they produce content for clients” see below for results:
#SMB14 Please raise your arm if . . .
Check out
#SMB14 on Twitter for live updates!
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18 May 2009
by Maria RappcloseAuthor: Maria Rapp
Name: Maria Rapp
Site: http://
About: Maria Rapp spearheads Communispace’s European Operations—including offices in the UK and Italy—and she is a critical cog in the company’s growth strategy as it expands its international footprint.
When away from work, Maria and her husband love to travel. They have lived with the Masai in Tanzania, climbed to the source of a river, chanted with monks in Bhutan, visited The Dalai Lama's Potala Palace in Tibet and, of course, shopped in Bangkok!See Authors Posts (1)
Welcome to ‘Global Week’ here on Verbatim. Beginning today, until 22 May, this space will be reserved to highlight some of the ground- breaking work our amazing clients have done with their multinational communities. These industry leaders and iconic brands will provide a unique perspective and insight on listening to a global audience.
We’ll be addressing many facets and challenges of connecting to a global audience such as how diversity itself can become the “social glue” of an online community (InterContinental Hotels Group) and how a global audience can participate in co-innovation (KLM). Philips Consumer Lifestyle will provide a case study on how they reached out to 400 consumers in 6 countries to help inform their health and wellbeing strategy.
Welcome to ‘Global Week’ here on Verbatim. Beginning today, until 22 May, this space will be reserved to highlight some of the ground- breaking work our amazing clients have done with their multinational communities. These industry leaders and iconic brands will provide a unique perspective and insight on listening to a global audience.
We’ll be addressing many facets and challenges of connecting to a global audience such as how diversity itself can become the “social glue” of an online community (InterContinental Hotels Group) and how a global audience can participate in co-innovation (KLM). Philips Consumer Lifestyle will provide a case study on how they reached out to 400 consumers in 6 countries to help inform their health and wellbeing strategy.
We’ll also be hearing from Elsevier, whose 2 online communities include members from North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific regions.
Furthermore, we’ll be highlighting some of Communispace’s diverse voices and talent.
I invite you to check in regularly throughout the week and join the conversations. I, for one, am looking forward to a week of rich insights and entertaining perspectives. Your participation will help make the discussion more valuable.
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17 April 2009
by Brandan StricklandcloseAuthor: Brandan Strickland
Name: Brandan Strickland
Site: http://www.communispace.com
About: As a Community Manager at Communispace, Brandan is focused on utilizing our best practices to create highly engaged communities that yield actionable insights for our clients. He manages the day-to-day community operations. By encouraging people to connect, share their ideas and experiences, he simultaneously empowers consumers and offers clients creative business solutions.
In his free time, Brandan enjoys traveling, reading and anything you can do outdoors. He can often be found at the gym, on the ski slopes, and in front of the television cheering on his beloved Chicago Cubs. Although not probable, Brandan believes that next year is the year the Cubs will win the pennant.See Authors Posts (1)
People often ask me (OK, well, no one has ever asked me this), “Brandan, what is it like also being the chairman of the Communispace Culture Committee on top of your regular job here?” To them I reply, “Aside from the fame, fortune and free t-shirts, it’s a job that really has one real purpose: to take people’s ideas of fun and entertainment and to make them a reality (without breaking any laws, bones or office furniture).” With a job like that, you can just imagine all the things we’re allowed to do…
People often ask me (OK, well, no one has ever asked me this), “Brandan, what is it like also being the chairman of the Communispace Culture Committee on top of your regular job here?” To them I reply, “Aside from the fame, fortune and free t-shirts, it’s a job that really has one real purpose: to take people’s ideas of fun and entertainment and to make them a reality (without breaking any laws, bones or office furniture).” With a job like that, you can just imagine all the things we’re allowed to do…
First, there’s the Annual Communispace Beard Off . While, ironically, the real point of the Beard Off is to put as much beard on your face as possible, it has traditionally been a seasonal exhibition of creativity for the “follicly”-fortunate among us. Some of the most notable beard designs from the last competition included the “walrus” and the “Civil War general”.
Our first annual Communispace Follies —a music variety show written, produced, and preformed by Communispace employees—opened to a packed house this past October. Scripts were forgotten, dignity was lost, and the night ended in triumph. Plus, there was that whole thing about fur boas…Let’s just say the hallways of the office were strangely quiet the day after.
I don’t know what was most surprising about our recent 80s Day: the fact that people just “happened to find” their leg warmers, that people had Boy George and Culture Club as their computer wallpaper, or that they posed for pictures for a good ten minutes (see picture).
I could go on to tell you about the Pumpkin Carving Contest, the Holiday Bake-Off, and the Summer Bocce tournament, but I should probably leave some of those things for the other 10 people that make up the Culture Committee to describe. Instead, I’ll just end by saying this: I don’t know how we get away with half of this stuff…
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Roberta Balder 
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Thanks so much, Catherine. The GBFB has always been near and dear to my heart, and I’m thrilled to watch my colleages at Communispace give back. Best of luck collecting food, turkeys, and donations throughout the holiday season and difficult winter months!