In March of 2007, the doors officially opened here for a new online publication. Before that, there had been a corporate website and over twenty years of published articles in various print magazines, plus innumerable posts in online discussion forums dating back to 1979. (CompuServe, The Source, The WELL, AOL; the essential concept of Community Support, crowd-sourcing or Web 2.0 is nothing new.) The intent was to create a place where the conversation could focus on the key missing element, Strategy, in the standard Process-People-Technology way of looking at organizations.
The history of The HotLine Magazine shows a surprisingly rapid acceleration. In less than a year, the voice had developed a considerable reach as readers came from all 50 states and over 70 countries. Today, we have readers in over 130 countries and in more than a dozen languages. Professionals who are interested in access to a variety of resources are invited to become members.
A Consistent Vision
The HotLine Magazine is about the vision, strategy and tactics of a new approach to long-term corporate success.
Despite the huge – and continuing – impact that the shift to the Cloud has brought to the software industry, companies are still struggling to understand and to adapt to some key aspects of the change. This is especially true of the income streams and incremental profits-realization strategy of the new subscription model. The end of the traditional model front-loaded sale of perpetual licenses means that Customer Retention is no longer something that can be taken for granted or considered as a desirable option. The sale is never final. There is always another renewal to be earned, and it cannot be ignored until just before the old contract runs out. For companies that want to thrive, renewal is a year-around issue.
Who will keep the customer relationship going? Company after company has come to the realization that something more is needed, a new function not included in the traditional organizational chart. After Sales has departed in search of new prospects, the Implementation team has completed its tasks, and the Training has been accomplished, who will be authentically responsible for successfully bridging the gap between go-live and first renewal? And afterward?
The audience for The HotLine Magazine is SaaS/Cloud CxOs and the growing professional community of Customer Success Managers.
Organizations looking for expertise in profit-centered reorganization of expensive and ineffectual customer facing operations are invited to call Mikael Blaisdell for a complimentary Office Hours session.
About Mikael Blaisdell
Beginning in the early days of Silicon Valley as a systems & procedures analyst at Atari, and continuing through tech-writer, hotline rep, trainer, support executive and channel management positions with a number of technology companies, Mikael Blaisdell has been a part of the high technology industry for over 30 years. His career has included a succession of management roles, a very wide range of consulting assignments across a spectrum of industries and organizations, presentations at countless conventions, and the publication of hundreds of white papers, feature articles and columns for key magazines. He has served on the boards of start-up technology companies, service/support professional associations and non-profits.
Revised: March 14, 2012