I recently spoke with several small business owners and entrepreneurs at the Top 100 SMB Influencers event in New York City, and one consistent theme that emerged from these conversations was how successful businesses use various forms of direct customer feedback to improve their services and products. Social media and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) provide a platform for consistent and direct engagement between businesses and their customers and prospects. Research In Motion Limited (RIM®) also embraces customer and developer feedback tools.

If you’re not already aware, the BlackBerry® Beta Zone represents one of our flagship communities for providing feedback on new products and solutions. An example can be found in the BlackBerry® Mobile Conferencing app, which has brought integration and enablement for BlackBerry® smartphones to manage conference calls and bridge information. Mobile Conferencing was introduced to the BlackBerry Beta Zone on April 8th, 2011; launched on BlackBerry App World™ storefront on June 3rd,2011 and updated on August 11th, 2011. User feedback played a significant role in product development for this app.

First, the BlackBerry Mobile Conferencing app was designed with an understanding that we as business teams are constantly hosting or joining conference calls, often using BlackBerry smartphones on the go or from a home office. Mobile Conferencing was the answer to the issue of having to both record and input conference information on a regular basis.

A significant amount of feedback was obtained through the BlackBerry Beta Zone from users of this app; one user in particular had concerns over the amount of conference profiles available (the original being 5), and voiced this within the community. Additionally, there were requests to improve the conference information detection algorithms to better automatically pull the information from meeting invites. The Beta Zone community managers then provided this feedback to the product development team, who increased the functionality of the app to include 10 profiles and enhanced the detection algorithms in the recent update. These are just a few examples of how forum posts by users, practically engaged with a solution, were communicated back to RIM and then included in a product update.

During some of my social community management activities over the past few months, I’ve been seeking feedback and ideas, as well as having some great conversations with BlackBerry users and business owners who face unique challenges in their daily work. Over on our BlackBerry® for Business discussion group on LinkedIn® , we’ve had discussions about features, apps, accessory wish lists, general feedback, touch screens vs. physical keyboards, and many more. It’s truly been great to see how BlackBerry solutions are being used in everyday life and work, as well as to connect directly with customers and provide an avenue for real discussion.

Where can customers provide feedback on BlackBerry products and solutions?

• BlackBerry Beta Zone
• BlackBerry Social Communities (including LinkedIn)
• BlackBerry App World Product Reviews

Does your business engage in social customer feedback? Share in the comments below.

When I first joined Research In Motion® (RIM), I must have done about 50 tradeshows a year. That might be a slight exaggeration, but not by much! I loved travelling around the country and meeting with customers, but more important, this was a key part of RIM’s strategy to learn about various vertical segments and really engaging with the industry.

Through these events, I can’t tell you how many customers told me about how much they loved their BlackBerry smartphone — and they also provided valuable feedback about how organizations were using BlackBerry solutions in real life.

Over the years, RIM has utilized various feedback mechanisms and beta programs, which have changed with our customer base, technology offering, and size & scope of the organization. Regardless of the forum used, RIM’s interest in listening to customers, understanding core needs, and developing meaningful solutions to meet those requirements has remained at the forefront of our endeavors.

In this spirit, I’d like to introduce you to the BlackBerry Beta Zone – the central location where we communicate with and receive feedback from avid BlackBerry users and organizations like yourselves about beta software. So far, we’ve had great feedback from users about it.

With the BlackBerry Beta Zone program, organizations and individuals have the opportunity to test, evaluate, and share feedback on the latest BlackBerry software before it’s released. Whether you’re an end-user, a small business using BlackBerry® Internet Service, or an enterprise with globally architected BlackBerry® Enterprise Server infrastructure, the BlackBerry Beta Zone program is available for you to access.

In addition to the input you can have on future BlackBerry software, beta organizations enjoy access to pre-release software – which means they can test software in a non-production environment before deploying it widely to their organization, thus working out all the kinks in their systems/process. Additionally, having early access to technology allows IT organizations to better prepare staff for future upgrades, leading to smoother deployments and more productive constituents enjoying the latest technology.

Several software beta programs are launching in the near future including:

• BlackBerry Enterprise Server beta releases
• Enterprise instant messaging beta releases
• Enterprise collaboration software
• Chalk™ Pushcast software

Please note: beta programs for most enterprise software require a valid Non-Disclosure Agreement with RIM to participate.

BlackBerry Beta Zone continues to offer programs for consumer apps and past programs have included apps such as BlackBerry Messenger (BBM™), BlackBerry® Traffic, Facebook® for BlackBerry Smartphones and Twitter® for BlackBerry Smartphones. If you’d like more information on these programs, or to nominate your organization, click here for organizations and here for end-users.