The Playbook For Low-Touch Customer Success: Fill & Download for Free

Customer Success Technology should address the following core use cases:Measure Value Delivered: Configurable Account Health for each segment based on real Product Adoption. You want to measure value delivered, not mere activity. So, don't simply count sessions or logins. But configure health to the level of specific features used. Customer success technology should allow you to set thresholds that use account level variables, there by making health account specific.Drive Product Adoption: Onboarding Playbook - A Task management system is NOT a Playbook. CS Playbooks should track and measure success based on product adoption. Mere completion of tasks in time to conclude onboarding success is very myopic.Actionable: Data is required but not sufficient. Unless CS platform enables actions, you're only looking at another analytics tool packaged as CS software. CustomerSuccessBox (CSB) allows you to send emails (2-way gmail sync) and even make phone calls (to 130 countries) from within the platform. No more shuffling between tools.Proactive solution: Enable proactive Risk Alerts and Upsell Signals to CSMs.Bonus - To Avoid: Too much data is not a good thing. CS tech is for CSMs and not for Product Managers. CSMs should be able to see what is needed and when it is needed. Too much data that requires an admin to make sense out of is likely to discourage your CSMs to use the tech effectively.Is CSB the right choice for you? If you have Global B2B SaaS Customers with a Central (HQ based) Customer Success team which delivers success remotely, then we'll be the right choice.Before you select a customer success platform, let’s think through what you actually need. So let’s look at the factors you need to consider before selecting a customer success platform.Download Template for Customer Success Software selection (Google Sheets version)Before evaluating solutions you should put downGoals of Customer SuccessStrategy for Customer Success? (you might find useful -> Customer Success Strategies to reduce customer churn in 90 days)Low touch, High touch, Tech touchExpected Customer / CSMExpected $ value / CSMCurrent (and expected) team sizee of CSMKPIs of CSMDownload: Template for defining Customer Success Goals (Google Sheets version)Once you have done that, your requirements will be a lot more clear to you. Now you can put together your expectations from the Customer Success Software platform.Above I have shared the template that you can use to add your specific needs and expectations, and compare various Customer Success Software solutions against them.Frankly, you have already come all this far in your customer success journey, now there is no stopping you from plugging that customer churn.All platforms are good in their own respective rights, and you cannot really go wrong with any, my only advice will be to go with a specialist customer success software.Avoid any generic analytics tool, you'll end up missing a lot and your success team will be far less effective.All the best with your search.

The current state of the tablet devices is truly reflective of reactionary product development and is bound to get quite interesting in the next two years as device manufacturers attempt to differentiate themselves from the competition.The CES show just wrapped up in Las Vegas and by looking at the onslaught of tablet devices, the were shown off by just about every computer manufacturer you've ever heard of.The competition is far larger than the three devices you mention in your question. The Playbook, iPad and Galaxy are clearly popular topics of discussion, the iPad for obvious reasons and the Playbook because of RIM's large customer audience. The Galaxy may have been the first Android tablet to gain mass distribution, but not the first of the Android tablets. There have been some lessor-recognized brands with Android tablets available for a while now.The consensus of most attendees, analysts and industry experts was that the blue ribbon from CES should go to Motorola, namely because of the announcement of the new Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) tablet that will be offered first on Verizon. The device will be marketed as "the Xoom." It will first be offered with 3G, but will be upgradable to 4G service later this year.The primary difference with this device, aside from the other tablets that run Google's Android operating system are that it will be a "Google Experience" device, meaning it will have the clean, Google-designed version of the operating system the same way that the Nexus One mobile phone had for previous Android builds. The difference, however, is that it will be offered by Verizon, not sold directly by Google.Also, the Xoom is the only tablet that has been offered to market with the Honeycomb OS. It's the latest, greatest version of Android and offers significant advantages over the Android 2.X which you will find on all of the competitive Android tablets.I guess my point is that if you are going to consider the Galaxy, you should most certainly also test out the Xoom when it hits the stores. I've played with it and can say that it is a very strong competitor to the iPad - with much more flexibility and openness (along with dual cameras, usb, etc).Now, to the others you mention:The PlaybookIt looks cool. It is going to use the QNX operating system. That's sort of neat from a technology perspective. QNX started as an embedded OS for cars. What they've done is take that OS, improved it, integrated Adobe Flash right into the OS, and have reportedly done some neat trickery related to OS/Processor integration that makes the device extra zippy.The fact that the apps on the device are built using Flash, and that it will probably run Adobe Flash content better than any other device out there, makes it a nice target for the masses of Flash / Flex developers out there. For enterprises (who LOVE their RIM products), it means that the investment they've made in enterprise RIAs and other big Web apps won't be wasted and that there is a greater potential for reuse of their investments in making apps accessible for the tablet users.The downside: The playbook seemed to be ready to roll when it was launched. At the Adobe MAX conference, a lot of buzz was created for the device. The problem? The OS and Flash like electricity (a lot), and it has been said that the battery in the initial device design would only last for 5 or 6 hours. In a market where your number one competitor (iPad) can chug along for 10 or so hours, you've got a problem right out of the gate.RIM has pushed back the delivery date by 3 months in order to reengineer the device so that it has a battery that is equal to (or hopefully better!) than the iPad, Xoom and other devices that will be already available when the Playbook launches.The iPadClearly the current winner. Right? Everyone is eager to see what the iPad 2 will offer, and from the cornucopia of rumors and speculation out there, it looks to be quite the device. Everything great about the iOS/iPad experience with a huge amount of storage, better connectivity, 2 cameras, and maybe even an iPhone-4 like pixel display.The success of Apple in this space can be attributed to their time-to-market, their good brand reputation, and the fact that they TIGHTLY control the entire iOS/App ecosystem. Apple's stuff works great because Apple controls most everything about how they work.That's not the case for Android, where things are a three-way battle between Google, the mobile carrier and the device manufacturer for every single device that comes out. There are more variables, which mean more margin for error, difference, and varying end-user experiences.You see this in the Android marketplace today.MicroWho?I suppose no conversation about computers would be complete with out mentioning the fine folks in Redmond.They don't have a tablet. Well, they have a tablet (the Slate), but it doesn't run a tablet OS. It runs Windows 7. Many might say that the decision to launch devices that run "something Microsoft" is completely reactionary and short-sighted.Let's face it. We've seen this before. Heck, I have an old Viewsonic tablet (v1100) sitting in a box in my closet. It is a tablet (pen based) that I bought almost 8 years ago. It's problem? It ran Windows.The success of the iPad was due to a combination of the elegant hardware and the closed-up, controlled, and non-desktop iOS operating system. If Apple took OSX and put it on a tablet device, it wouldn't have been quite the rage the iPad has become.I've currently got a Modbook (aftermarket Macbook with a tablet screen instead of a keyboard). It's super cool. It works for me as a professional who is used to "power tools" in the workplace. But do I think it would ever sell like the iPad did? Not a chance.Apple knew this when they decided to not pursue the Tablet PC space that we saw with devices like my old Viewsonic tablet and the run of other Windows tablets out there. The concept is solid, but the implementation of having to use a pen for input seems to have been a bit ahead of the capabilities of the OS to really make it a good experience. Not to mention, typing with a pen is just not easy, and Apple's use of multi-touch allowed the iPad to give users a real "hands on" typing experience.Now Microsoft is putting Windows 7 on tablet devices, and at a high resolution, they almost become completely unusable for many people.Microsoft recently announced that they were going to work on a version of Windows that would be optimized for Intel competitor ARM's processors. This low-power processor can be used in smaller devices. Maybe this means that Microsoft is finally going to build a legitimate touch-based / tablet optimized operating system that doesn't rely on menus and current Windows 7 user interface concepts.Interestingly enough, today an Intel executive named Tom Kilroy told the press that Intel and Dell have been trying to get Microsoft to develop a tablet OS for a long time, but they've never been responsive to it.Anyway, before you lock the competitive playing field for tablet computers down to three main players, look around at all of the other interesting innovations happening with other manufacturers and when comparing, take into consideration that, with tablets, you are buying both hardware and software that need to work together to make a great experience on a device that is not nearly as robust as the laptop or desktop you may be used to.

“Late in 2011 and early in 2012, the Company discussed new technology with several leading consumer electronics companies to gauge potential market interest for such a product. For a number of reasons, including cost, Apple was the only potential customer that expressed substantive interest in pursuing further development of and a commercial agreement with respect to this technology.” - AuthenTec, 2012 [1](Have this read to you: Why is Apple’s iPhone Touch Id Important?)Yes, you read that correctly, every company that had even a parting interest in fingerprint scanners, passed on working with AuthenTec in a meaningful way, even Google. This statement was part of a filing to the US Security And Exchange Commission.Apple went on to acquire AuthenTec and many of the companies that did not see a bigger vision may regret not taking a second look. Some of us saw this coming back in 2008 and clearly in 2012 [2]. In my case I have been reading patent applications back in the days when most of my friends were reading comic books, I just loved the dreams and ideas of these inventors and the beauty of the simple line drawings.Exploded view of Touch ID.This is a story about how Apple resolved a Practical and Pragmatic problem that will wind up deeply changing how we view all mobile devices moving forward from today, and in to the future. It's so very easy to see how this all makes sense now, but it took great vision to see it so many years ago.Steve Jobs hated logins and passwords, and he was going to do something about it.It was the late winter of 2007 and while many of us were just starting to get used to the iPhone and all the ways it was changing the world, Steve Jobs was already planning a completely new paradigm for a future iPhone release. Although Steve loved the “Slide To Unlock” feature he knew that the steps involved and the time it took to unlock the screen when a passcode is being used was unacceptable. Steve predicted that as the iPhone became more indispensable and formed the center of our lives, it would be used perhaps hundreds of times per day, not just as a phone, but as our primary connected computer. Additionally early data from iPhone users proved that only a very small percentage even bother using a passcode, that included Steve.Steve and Apple engineers went about crafting a way to solve this problem and along the way they discovered that there could be a lot more use cases this new system could address. By September 9th, 2008 Apple began to file one of the first few patents addressing this technology [3].Image from 2008 patent that first demonstrated an early version of Touch ID (620).Your fingerprint, all of your credentialsSteve and the team were forming one of the early foundational premises for the Touch ID: to secure what will become your most important device and to elegantly open the phone with just a tap of a finger. However, it became very clear that this level of security could be extended to a wide number of uses.How an iPad cover informed the touch IDOf course there is nothing particularly new about fingerprint based controlled access to computers or even mobile devices, it's all been done before. Like most things Apple, they most certainly are not the first to deploy a particular technology, but they are the first to present the sum total of hardware and software and redefine a significant user experience that Steve Jobs would describe as magical. Also, Apple already began to address faster access to iOS devices. One can trace the Touch ID directly to the iPad Smart Cover.iPad Smart cover showing how magnetics unlocks the screen.The Smart Cover was really a number of products in one. It of course was a cover and a glass surface microfiber cleaner. However it also featured a hidden lock screen actuator that used magnetics and the Hall Effect to lock or unlock the screen. The brilliant and elegant system still fascinates. This conceptually lead to a similar premise on the iPhone after a number of very promising ideas were investigated. The convenience and simplicity the Touch ID offered became immediately obvious. Simplicity is one of the foundational reasons Apple choose the Touch ID, one touch and the device is ready. An experience that Steve would call magical.The security premiseThere are so many obvious and non-obvious dimensions to the Touch ID, alone is just a hardware extension, however Apple has enveloped this into a complete experience. The convenience on the surface is obvious. The security premise also seems obvious but it is more impactful when one studies the data.It turns out that less than fifty percent of iPhone users activate a pass code on the lock screen. There are quite a number of reasons for this. The largest reason is that these users are interacting with the iPhone perhaps a hundred times per day. It becomes ridiculous at some point to spend the 5 seconds each time to unlock the phone. And thus this creates a rather large problem. About eighty percent of lost iPhones did not have a pass code lock. Unless the owner activated and is fast at using Find My Phone, all levels of information about this user is now compromised... including pictures, texts, address books, financial data and just about all aspects of our lives. With the Touch ID activated along with Activation Lock security aspect in iOS 7, lose your iPhone 5s and it is 100% worthless to anyone but you.Example of the Touch ID learning screen.Fingerprints and cloudsOur mobile devices started out being just a cellular phone and in relatively short they have become the central hub of just about every experience that can interact with electronics and software. We all now retain more and more of our "life" on these mobile devices. As this decade runs out we will not even distinguish the mobile wording. They will almost literally be a part of us. This is rapidly creating two very significant trends:The Personal Device Cloud: These are devices that transmit and receive information from the iPhone. This includes iBeacons, Bluetooth devices, WiFi devices, NFC devices, and image based devices.The Personal Data Cloud: This is information that is generated on the iPhone (pictures, text audio), from the personal device cloud, from the Internet (login/passwords, etc), medical information, payment card information, etc.Most of us already are carrying a number of personal data clouds. It started with the simple phone book and now spans to every element of data one can imagine. Apple's new vision is to create a secure environment so that as we all accumulate more data that the security grows with it. Sharing these data has been getting easier but securing it has been getting tougher.The personal device cloud revolution is just starting and can already see use of product like the Nike Fuel Band, the Jawbone Up, and of course smart watches. These devices typically use Bluetooth to connect the iPhone and present raw and/or processed data that would be passed on to an app and perhaps to a proprietary cloud. With iBeacons and the APIs that will connect to this technology, all of us will rather rapidly create even more personal data generated by our personal device cloud. This can span from medical data to data from our cars and every thing in between. The personal device cloud and the personal data cloud must be secured.Example of the major fingerprint grouping types.One-finger tap and the logins to all of your apps are coveredAs app developers convert to Apple's new Touch ID API, one single finger tap at the home screen and all of your logins and passwords for each app will already be sent within microseconds pressing the app icon. The time saved from this feature alone is quite substantial.Apple has presented just the tip of the iceberg on how Touch ID will be used. Over time Apple will create far more use cases. And just like how most of us did not miss a mechanical keyboard on iOS devices, in the next few years we will become so accustomed to the Touch ID that we will not be able to remember "slide to unlock".Example of the capacitance touch stainless steel ring.The stainless steel ringTouch ID uses a capacitance [4] activation system to process the fingerprint. When a finger touches the sensor, the reader is powered and begins a scan. This allows the scanner electronics to be in low power mode and is less of a battery drain.Example of the Sapphire lens.The sapphire lensTouch ID uses a sapphire lens to not only protect the sensor but also to optically focus the image for better clarity. This is a very important part of creating an accurate read at the fastest possible speed. Sapphire is also almost as strong as diamond on the MOL scale and will go a long way to protect Touch ID. It will also prepare Apple for a screen made of Sapphire in a future iPhone release.Example Illustrating the Secure Enclave.Touch ID: Data are locally encrypted and never leaves your iPhoneTouch ID is using a new Secure Enclave as part of the A7 processor. The data generated by Touch ID are encrypted and stored in this area but never sent over the Internet or to iCloud. The Secure Enclave is a genius move by Apple as it fully discounts many fears that our fingerprints will be sent around the world. In addition, the Secure Enclave will play a central point in Apple’s payment strategy. There is a really interesting story behind the Secure Enclave and I have written about some of the details in a separate posting [5].Example of side thumb fingerprint read.Any finger—any directionThe software algorithm allows for accurate fingerprint reads from any finger (when synced) and at any angle. Most people will just use the side of their thumb as they hold the phone in the same hand.Example of the learning screen for Touch ID.Touch ID, always learningTouch ID will continue to learn your fingerprints more and more over time. At some early point the software will know all possibilities of your fingerprints. In most cases it will only take about a dozen successful reads for very high accuracy.The iOS keychainThe iCloud Keychain will play a central role as a container of all of our personal credentials. Touch ID will be the gateway to gain access to these Logins and Passwords. As Apple opens up the API to this system you will never need to enter in a login or password again. The iOS keychain has been temporarily disabled in the most recent release of the devloper version of iOS 7. This will be activated in the future with a rather brilliant addition.Additional SecurityTo use Touch ID you will also have to create a passcode as a backup. Only that passcode can unlock the phone if the phone is either rebooted (example full battery drain) or hasn’t been unlocked for 48 hours. This is a genius feature that is meant to set a time limit for criminals if they try to find a way to circumvent the fingerprint scanner.It is very important to note that there is and never will be 100% security. All security systems can be circumvented. There is just a balance between reasonably secure and unreasonable security. You and I live in homes that contain a great deal of personal wealth, yet we use glass that can be broken with a hard tap to protect it. We like to look out windows. The same is true for device security with the right technology and the right conditions it can be circumvented. I address this in more detail here:Claim: Apple Touch ID Circumvented.Phil Schiller presenting Touch ID and use cases. Note the obvious and the non obvious examples. I highlighted the payment card terminal (Equinox T4220) This is a road map to the future of Touch ID.Payments the Apple wayApple has had a grand history of getting payments just right, Brian Roemmele's answer to How does Apple do payments so well? Why can't anyone else even come close?. This experience was perfected on the iTunes online store and was extended at the Apple retail store. We will see Apple using Touch ID already in use on the online store and soon at the Apple Retail stores. This will be the test bed example of just how powerful Touch ID will be for retail payments. In “Apple Time” we will start to see more pieces released that will allow any retail merchant to have access to this payment system.The Secure Enclave will replace the Secure Element when the full payment aspects of this system is slowly and methodically deployed. Additionally there is a rather important patent that telegraphed the capacitance ring but also is telegraphing NFC [6]. Apple has great plans in this direction.Simple yet powerful innovationWith one disarmingly simple addition to the iPhone, Apple has once again redefined how we all will view our mobile devices. But just like many Apple revolutions, it may take some time for most of us to understand this is really a revolutionary change.One of the first iPhone revolutionary milestones was quite visionary: convince the world that they will come to appreciate typing virtual keys displayed on a glass screen rather then mechanical keys so small that we just about needed pixie fingers to have any proficiency. Back in the ancient days of 2007 there were a tremendous number of critics. We don't hear too much from them today. Perspectives changed—we changed.One last thingSteve left what amounts to a “playbook” of features and technologies he thought was important to Apple. This playbook is packed full of innovations that are just mind blowing. Apple thus far is innovating on many levels. It seems that Apple has followed through on Steve’s one last thing(s).“Apple can’t innovate anymore, my ass” - Phil Schiller, 2013________[1] PREM14A (page 18)[2] Why did Apple buy AuthenTec?[3] Apple, September 9th 2008 to September 10th, 2013: The Death Of The Password.[4] iPad accessories[5] Brian Roemmele’s answer to Apple Inc.: What is Apple’s new Secure Enclave and why is it important?[6] Surprise Last Minute Apple Patent: iPhone Fingerprint Scanner + NFC In One Subsystem.