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Reflecting on 2023 with gratitude - What caught your interest

A very happy, healthy and prosperous new year to all of you.

This is also the time to review my blog and to have a look what your favourite posts of 2023 have been. With 23 posts, I admittedly have been somewhat lazy in 2023.

Looking at the top ten read posts in 2023, there is a clear clustering about a few topics, none of them really surprising. There is a genuine interest in CX, ChatGPT, and vendors. 

Again, this is not a surprise. 

Still, there are a few surprises in the list!

So, without further adoo, let’s hear the drumroll for your top five favourite posts on my blog – in ascending order. After all, some suspense cannot harm.

The fifth place gets claimed by my review of ZohoDay 2022 – “Don’t mess with Zoho – A Zohoday 2022 recap”. Yes, you read that right. This is a 2022 post.

Don't mess with Zoho

The fourth place got claimed by another article on Zoho, almost one year younger: Zoho, how a technology company reimagines business software. It is a reflection on the Zoholics 2023 conference in Austin and gives information about how Zoho evolved in the 12 months that lie between these two articles.

Zohoo - How a technology company reimagines business software

The article that your reading placed on position 3 is about the topic of 2023: ChatGPT. Beyond the hype - How to use ChatGPT to create value explores scenarios that help businesses gain value from an implementation of ChatGPT and provides an assessment framework that bases on accuracy of responses and fluency of the generated output.

Beyond the hype - How to use ChatGPT to create value

The second place, according to your interest, goes to an article about Zoho again. Truly Zoho - How capitalism and doing right coincide is about my take on the deeply immersive tour to which Zoho invited some fellow analysts and me in the beginning of 2023. Zoho gave us the unique opportunity to understand how the company leadership and, more importantly, its employees "tick", what drives them - at the company HQ in Chennai and in Tenkasi, where Zoho started the implementation of its Transnational Localism concept.

Truly Zoho - How capitalism and doing right coincide

And here is your number one read article of 2023.

How to tie CX to business success in three simple steps. The article is born from the recognition that the CX industry still did not do a great job of tying business outcomes, business value, to an improvement of CX, but often seemed to look at a CX improvement as a value in itself. In this article, I provide you with a way to change that.

how to tie CX to business success in three simple steps

Honorable mentions to the articles you placed on places six to ten by your interest.

Some of these articles deal with two other companies that shape the CX industry and that are dear to my heart. 

SugarCRM explains how the third wave of CRM adds value. SugarCRM is one of the companies that make one of the most amazing turnarounds in the industry, shedding an open source legacy and regaining considerable mojo.

Relevance, reliability, responsibility are key for AI - the SAP way. Yes, SAP is shaping the CX industry, although the company's efforts and successes remain largely unnoticed.

UX and CRM - How to make them a match. This, again, is a 2022 article. It bases on an interview I did with SAP's Tim Holm.

The Generative AI Game of Thrones - Is OpenAI toast? Well, it looks like that the company is not toast, but it surely made many people think again about the tensions between doing good and commercialization. This particular story is still not told to an end.

Last, but not least, an article that fellow analyst and friend Marshall Lager contributed: Oho Zoho Solo is a reflection on "apps that are specifically targeted to serve entrepreneurs, small business owners in the making, freelancers and similar individuals".

Thanks again to all of you for reading. This means a lot to me. I hope that I continue to be able to catch - and keep - your interest. 

Let me close with a question: Is there anything else that you would like me to cover? Please let me know in the comments.


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Last Year's Top 5 Popular Posts

SugarCRM explains how the third wave of CRM adds value

The news On October 4 and 5, 2023, SugarCRM held its Connected event followed by an analyst summit in London. The first day – Connected – was targeted mostly at customers while the second day focused on analysts.  The event started off with an intense speech by Katherine Grainger, DBE , a British rowing champion. Her core messages were about team bonding, the importance of communication, continuous improvement, and perseverance (well, at least that’s my take). This was followed by information about what is new in the software and, more importantly, a customer panel.  The main sponsor, Mobileforce , placed some words about the partnership. In addition, the analysts had 1:1s with customers, partners, and Sugar executives. The second day was filled with information targeted at analysts. CEO Craig Charlton and his executive team shared about financial status, strategy and more in-depth product news. Sugar being a privately held, VC backed company, the financials are of course under NDA, s

Relevance, reliability, responsibility are key for AI – the SAP way

The News A lot is going on in the SAPverse during October and the early days of November 2023. First, SAP conducted its CXLive event with CX-related announcements, then the company reported good Q3/2023 figures, a new version of its CX software that includes new generative AI capabilities got released and lastly, it executed its SAP TechEd event with a good number of AI-, BTP-, and ERP related announcements. As this is quite a lot, I covered the CX world in a previous post and will cover the TechEd related news in this post.  So, what is new at SAP TechEd ? For one, it is enough to fill a 17-page pre-event news guide that SAP sent out. SAP certainly is able to stack up the news for major events. I took the liberty to ask ChatGPT for a summary of the document, which I slightly edited afterwards. Here we are: AI and Development Environments: ·       SAP introduces SAP Build Code with generative AI, improving application development and testing, while new AI capabilities are integrate

How to play the long game Zoho style

The news On February 7 and 8 2024, Zoho held its annual ZohoDay conference, along with a pre-conference get together and an optional visit to SpacX’s not-too-far-away Starbase. Our guide, who went by Chief, and is probably best described as a SpaceX-paparazzi was full of facts and anecdotes, which made the visit very interesting although we couldn’t enter Starbase itself. The event was jam-packed with 125 analysts, 17 customer speakers, and of course Zoho staff for us analysts to talk to. This was a chance we took up eagerly. This time, the event took place in MacAllen, TX, instead of Austin, TX. The reason behind this is once more Zoho’s ruralization strategy, transnational localism.  Which gives also one of the main themes of the event. It was more about understanding Zoho than about individual products, although Zoho disclosed some roadmaps. More about understanding Zoho in a second.  The second main theme was customer success and testimonials. Instead of bombarding us with presenta

Don't mess with Zoho - A Zohoday 2022 recap

After spending two days in Austin, TX, attending the ZohoDay 2022, it is time for a little recap of this interesting event.  We were 99 analysts and 24 customers and plenty of knowledgeable Zoho personnel. The incredible Sandra Lo and her team organized the event around open and transparent communication. So, there was plenty of access for us to customers and the Zoho team.  Which was very important, as already the keynote session by founder and CEO Sridhar Vembu was quite hardcore. Vembu talked about how strategy and culture need to be one, how culture needs to be the root of strategy, and how Zoho implements this. The Zoho strategy lies on three main pillars ·       Transnational localism, a unique concept that in its essence is about embedding a company into a local community by not only selling into it but also by investing into it. This investment is e.g., by offering high paying jobs in areas where these are scarce, by fostering local education, but also by own local sourcing in

The Generative AI Game of Thrones - Is OpenAI toast?

The News This has been an exciting weekend for the generative AI industry. On Friday November 17, OpenAI announced that the company fired its figurehead CEO Sam Altmann and appointed Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati as interims CEO in a surprise move. The press release states that Altmann “ was not consistently candid in his communications with the board .” Surprised was apparently not only Sam Altmann, but also the till then chairman of the board Greg Brockman who first stepped down from this position and subsequently quit OpenAI. Investors, notably Microsoft, found themselves blindsided, too – or flat footed depending on the individual point of view. Satya Nadella was compelled to state that Microsoft stays committed to the partnership with OpenAI in a blog post that got updated on November 19, 11:55 pm. All hell broke loose. Microsoft shares took a significant hit. A number of additional senior OpenAI personnel quit. Both, Altman and Brockman, voiced the idea of founding anoth