Forrester analyst and social Web influencer Jeremiah Owyang released a report this week scrutinizing today’s “social Web experience” and how disjointed experiences are because we have separate identities in each social network we visit. Larry Dignan at ZDNet and a few others covered Owyang’s take on what seems to be an escalating problem today as more content continues to flood the social Web.

One of the more controversial points for us is Owyang’s conclusion on why third-party communities will be more successful than corporate communities. We believe that everyone – from a big corporation to an underground Facebook developer group meeting on the weekend – should embrace having their own community. Why should communities be viewed as “exclusive” forum, where only the select few have a voice?

Moreover, there is significant value to be added by enabling the community software platform to work seamlessly with the company’s business processes in Customer Service, Marketing and Sales, as well as in integrating with the respective software platforms in those areas such as CRM and Marketing Automation. At Helpstream, we’ve been able to measure much increased ROI and community engagement metrics through such integration and business process. That sort of thing will be difficult to impossible to realize working at arm’s length through a third-party community platform, such as Facebook.

Large third-party networks and communities are primarily successful because they extend to all and invite all to engage and participate. We believe corporations should use these philosophies and tactics in creating internal-facing communities that can be just as successful, engaging and inviting. In addition, we believe there is a symbiotic relationship between what we’ve come to call “neutral” communities and corporate communities. For more on this idea of a symbiotic relationship, see my post, “4 Reasons Your Customers Will Use Twitter for Customer Service.”

Another interesting point was Owyang’s bet that more customers will use collective bargaining to influence vendors. Well, that’s already all around us. For example, take Dell - its customers gamed IdeaStorm to get them to start selling an option to pre-install Linux instead of Windows. Dell listened, and that made their customers extremely happy. The exciting opportunity for community is to make such events transparent to all customers. Letting others see how responsive your business is to a particular group is motivating for every customer. Collective bargaining can feel threatening to vendors, but it ultimately may be a powerful way to increase customer satisfaction and make sure the business is doing what's best for its customers.

Lastly, Owyang makes a good point around CRM functionality, and it’s something all of us probably agree is a rising problem. Without incorporating more a social Web perspective or community-driven perspective, CRM systems are missing a vital part of what’s driving business today. The vendors that succeed are ultimately the ones who are able to leverage a hybrid between existing business process (i.e. your CRM) and community. In fact, we’re working hard on these elements Owyang has identified as missing – they are so critical to Helpstream’s roadmap that we view them as our “secret sauce.” Social Web technologies and community-focused technologies help companies’ existing business processes work better, as well as open up new revenue streams and opportunities.