Adoption of customer communities by enterprise technology firms is at an all-time high, yet there continues to be very high planned spending for community technology. Over the 15 years TSIA has been speaking with member companies about selecting, implementing, and growing customer communities, it has become clear that while online communities were often originally launched as tactical support discussion forums, they have evolved over time to become a strategic corporate asset, with involvement and shared ownership across marketing, sales, service, and product.
As more TSIA members are asking how to expand their community presence, TSIA is introducing an Enterprise Community Progression Model which shows a natural progression across four phases, from a support forum to becoming an industry thought leader hub. Companies should self-assess where they currently fit in this progression model to understand how the target audience, content focus, and participant use cases must evolve to increase the strategic value of the community.