Something’s stirring, and for a change it is neither my porridge nor loins.

I’m sensing excitement in the business world. Suddenly people are switching on their reality goggles and realising that the world really has moved on since 1987 and hot pants (whichever was in fashion more recently).

Businesses are starting to amaze more regularly:

The good:

• Gravity Forums for its astonishing dedication to customer service and listening to the folks who pay Carl’s wages.
• My eBay goods, the mic and the USB audio interface, delivered overnight. Stupendous.

A polarised remarkability:

• M-Audio not having produced a Windows 7 driver for its MobilePre USB. Beta is bullshit, guys – either release one that works, or just admit you don’t have a fucking clue.

Remarkable at either end of the satisfaction spectrum will get you press. Where Barnum talked about all being good publicity, I’m not so sure. But I’ll always cherish the moments of absolute frustration at the hands of this silver box’s non-compliance with the latest and greatest OS ever made, so the M-A school of sonic stupidity still gets recognition.

But we’re not yet at Business 2.0.

I’ll tell you why:

Until someone leads the pack and counsels subliminally all others that WordPress, CMS, community builders and Social CRM conjoin as a single, stellar future-focused strategy representing the only way to flow, we’ll still be stuck at just-past Iron Age in our evolution as champion entrepreneurs.

You have no idea – or maybe, just maybe, you have – how important a socially-extroverted philosophy is to any, all, enterprises. Now, and forever forth.

Forget the nonsense spouted about fiefdoms and lowest common denominators on the horizon as governmental non-believers in tech and the web catalyse a power struggle ending in the  meekest of digital offerings and a culmination of liberated speech.

We’re oblivious, in the main, to what is approximating in front of our very eyes. We’re wearing in metaphorical and existential contexts, across our entire peripheral vision, blinkers that stop horses fearing audience participation in their gallop. We want to do things by the book, as we have always done them.

Customers revolt. Customers talk. Customers do your business for you. Customers are in your business.

So why, oh why, have so few businesses seized the moment to galvanise community, CMS and CRM to stand so far ahead of their competition that they’ve already got the marathon medal before the race even began?

If you’re smart, you’ll lose the Six Sigma, Prince and all that nonsense, and stretch, flex and strengthen your understanding of what it takes to be a 21st century customer-focused corporation.

It takes participation; embracing customer want; delivering accurate, changing content via CMS that are in such an advanced state of development already that all you have to do is dance with Miss QWERTY. Drum up some server activity by installing open source SugarCRM locally, then deliver tailored social media messaging based on customer feedback, experience, and website analytics.

That’s it!

Rid the staff chaff, waste hanging around your business waist. Lose the factory approach (no wonder satisfactory is no longer enough) and deliver relevant, meaningful experiences.

Solve problems. Be the inspiration your customers want and need. Deliver extra value at every turn: insight, commentary, even speculation. Use any medium: face-to-face, virtual, podcast, vodcast, anything to be there when they want you. Be the real-life, real-time FAQ they desire and deserve.

We’re on the cusp of a tipping point where CMS admins with killer content coursing through their corpse, and community managers hugging the likes of BuddyPress and interweaving all corners of the business at a lodestar fulcrum, become your most valuable staff.

Make it work. Make it through the next year. Make yourself rich, successful and adored.

And be happy. You’ve just learned the most important lesson of the week.