Gartner Research

Top 10 Issues With Proprietary Web Communities

Published: 08 November 2011

Summary

Organizations frequently deploy peer-to-peer communities on their websites in an effort to decrease support costs. Customer service and marketing professionals must be aware of 10 key issues surrounding communities to realize that and other business benefits.

Included in Full Research

  • Overview
  • Issue No. 1: Peer-to-Peer Communities Require a Login, and Members Need to Create a Profile
  • Issue No. 2: A Peer-to-Peer Community on an Organization's Proprietary Web Is Not an Intuitive Destination
  • Issue No. 3: Communities Are Frequently Disconnected From Popular Consumer Social Networks
  • Issue No. 4: It Takes Time to Build a Tribal Knowledgebase
  • Issue No. 5: Community Member Records Are Not Usually the Primary Customer Records, so the Records Need to Be Joined
  • Issue No. 6: SLAs for SaaS communities Have Not Been Standardized
  • Issue No. 7: KPIs of Communities Directly Indicating Value-Adds to the Business Have Not Been Standardized
  • Issue No. 8: Determining Community Staffing Creates Cost and Morale Issues
  • Issue No. 9: Strategic Planning of the Customer Service and Support to Be Offered in Communities Is Too Often Overlooked
  • Issue No. 10: Executive Commitment Is Needed to Build a Successful Community While Costs Go Through a Temporary Period of Increase

Analysts:

Jenny Sussin

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