As part of our ongoing series around Social CRM, I'm pleased to present a Q&A with Helpstream customer, OpSource, a provider of Cloud operations, infrastructure and services. I caught up with OpSource's Chief Marketing Officer, Richard Dym, who was gracious enough to share his thoughts on the current and future state of the industry. Read on for his insights.

1. Why did OpSource decide on a Social CRM solution for its new Cloud offering? 
 
The computing world is being turned on its ear by a demographic shift of epic proportions. The next generation of CTOs and CIOs come from a generation of computer users who have only known the Web and on-demand computing. This makes the shift to Cloud computing inevitable. This same generation has all ready adopted on-line community as its preferred way of finding answers to questions and sharing experiences and leanings. While OpSource still offers traditional 24x7 phone support for traditional IT departments, for its new OpSource Cloud solution, a social CRM solution was an absolute given. 
 
2. There's been a lot of discussion about what Social CRM actually is. What does true, successful "Social CRM" mean to you? 
 
Successful Social CRM means a natural, open, active community of individuals sharing common interests and a willingness to interact with their fellow users. 
 
3. In the end, successful business is all about delighting customers. How do you think deploying Social CRM will impact OpSource’s customer relationships? 
 
Involved customers are happy customers—and this makes for the best customer relationships. By making Social CRM a featured aspect of OpSource Cloud, we are letting our customers know that we value their comments, respect their opinions and are committed to an open exchange of ideas and problem solutions. Social CRM won't make a bad product better but it will help make a great product even stronger. Social CRM will help make OpSource Cloud a leader in enterprise Cloud computing. 
 
4. What do you expect your customers will say are the primary benefits of the OpSource Cloud customer community?  
 
I'd expect our customers will say that our OpSource Cloud community allows them to find answers to questions more quickly and solve problems more effectively 24x7 365 days/year than traditional dial-up support ever could. It is all about answers anywhere, any time and from thousands of sources. 
 
5. Social CRM is on the rise, but it's still in early stages. Where do you think Social CRM is headed? 
 
Actually I don't think Social CRM is in its early stages. Online communities have been growing in popularity for the past 10 years, perhaps even more. But what has changed is the level of acceptance of Social CRM in the business world. Social CRM is rapidly becoming the norm and a required attribute of any successful Web-based business. It is the demographic shift that I mentioned earlier that is the reason for this change. And there is no going back. 

About Richard Dym

Mr. Dym brings to OpSource 25 years of successful marketing, business development, and technical operations experience gained from the senior executive positions he has held at fast-paced technology companies ranging from venture backed start-ups to global public enterprises. His broad experience includes active involvement in successful liquidity events including IPO, acquisitions, and sale.

Prior to re-joining OpSource, where he previously served as Chief Marketing Officer, he held the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at AXS-One Inc., a leader in the records compliance management space. At AXS-One, Mr. Dym was responsible for Marketing, Technical Support, Documentation, QA, Training and IT. He has also served as Senior Vice President of Marketing for Metromedia Fiber Networks (now Abovenet); Senior Vice President of Marketing and Vice president of International Operations at ParcPlace; General Manager of the Multimedia Division at Autodesk; and Director, Graphics and Decision Support products for Ashton-Tate.