Second Life CRM New virtual worlds such as Second Life are becoming the first point of contact between many firms and customers. To say the least, virtual relationships are far different from traditional relationships.

Firms such as Adidas, Dell, Reuters, and Toyota are all embracing Second Life; however, beyond opening a virtual office in a virtual world, they are struggling with how to build virtual customer relationships. PA Consulting quickly learned that building a virtual office to answer customer queries is not nearly good enough to find and attract loyal customers.

The company realized that real people behind the avatars need to be housed in a real office similar to having a call center to answer questions for online shopping. When a potential customer wants to speak to a human, one must appear or else the customer will leave the website. You are the executive director of CRM at StormPeak, an advanced technological company that develops robots. You are in charge of overseeing the first virtual site being built in Second Life. Create a CRM strategy for doing business in a virtual world. Here are a few questions to get you started:

• How will customer relationships be different in a virtual world?

• What is your strategy for managing customer relationships in this new virtual environment?

• How will supporting Second Life customers differ from supporting traditional customers?

• How will supporting Second Life customers differ from supporting website customers?

• What customer security issues might you encounter in Second Life?

• What customer ethical issues might you encounter in Second Life?