Making good software is hard. Really hard. From my experience working with vendors, enterprise software is hard to get right. Good software companies learned a while ago that allowing their customers insight into their development process helps them make better software more quickly - creating a feedback loop makes customers see that their input is valued, and leads to a higher quality product. Atlassian, for example, allows customers to submit not just bugs, but submit and vote on feature requests. Jive, with their Clearspace X product, allows more then just software companies to engage their customers. I think Clearspace X is a very exciting product, and firmly believe companies will start buying into E2.0 CRM solutions aggressively. They offer what is (at least right now) perhaps the most compelling use of E2.0 - building vibrant customer communities and networks - something tied directly to the bottom line.

This interview, with Mozilla’s Mitchell Baker, elaborates how exposing the inner working of your company to your customers can have many, many benefits . Mozilla, as an organization, operates in a fishbowl. Very little of what happens inside of the company is hidden from public scrutiny. This poses some intersting management challenges, but at the end of the day has lead to exceptional products. Because Mozilla’s customers are so integral to its process, it’s much easier for it’s products to be what users want them to be

These vocal, contributory communities of customers - fostered by technologies like Clearspace X and management that supports open collaboration and transparency - could be referred to as “Marketing 2.0″. No degree of advertising could have given Firefox the level of momentum it has. Again, I’d wager that software companies aren’t the only businesses that harness their customers in this fashion. Opening the enterprise to two-way collaboration with customers will prove to be a competitive advantage. But it will take a touch of vision, and a certain willingness to have your mistakes publicized, to realize that value.