CEM programs in U.S universities

Need proof that Customer Experience Management is here to stay? Check out the business department course list at the local university. Though CEM’s big brother CRM has been a permanent installation in MBA programs for some years now (Rutgers University has a full-on Customer Relationship Management Resource Center), CEM is now being installed at more and more institutions of higher learning as a necessary facet of knowledge for would-be future marketing and business leaders.

Columbia University’s business school would appear to have the inside track in teaching CEM, as CEM pioneer Bernd Schmitt himself is a professor at the Ivy League school. His book “Customer Experience Management: A revolutionary approach to connecting with your customers” has become a staple in marketing courses across the country in its less than four years in print. This academic year, Schmitt is teaching a course entitled, “Managing brands, identity and experiences” at the school.

Of course, Harvard isn’t going to be left behind by a competing Ivy League school. James Heskitt is a specialist in CRM and CEM at the Harvard Business School. In addition to his teaching duties, Heskitt also participates about once a month in writing articles for the school’s “Working Knowledge for Business Leaders” page. Heskitt’s pieces typically deal in CEM-related issues. CEM specialization isn’t just for the high-falutin’, however, and courses and programs are as likely to be found westward as at the old guard of the East Coast.

Over at the University of Wyoming, the business course appropriately titled “Customer Experience Management” focuses directly on Schmitt’s philosophy and work, beginning with the premise of his now-CEM textbook: “To put it simply, [CEM] is the process of strategically managing a customer’s entire experience with a product or a company.”

The University of Utah’s American Marketing Association tie-in has given the school a remarkable CRM program and the opportunity to offer some online courses. Even better, many of past years’ seminars on CEM, CRM and other marketing philosophies and strategies can be viewed as webcasts. Utah U.’s marketing program is putting quite an emphasis on online work these days, and their lecturers’ views on CEM reach into deeper and deeper topics such as “visitor segmentation.”

Texas’ Baylor University holds seminars in CRM and CEM every semester. This series is based on Paul Greenberg’s works, including CRM at the Speed of Light: Essential Customer Strategies for the 21st Century”. The 2006 version will be held November 1-2, with attendees receiving certification in applied CRM strategy. The program was developed by a virtual “who’s who” of biggies, including Rutgers University’s CRM center and CRMGuru.com.

Back east, Florida International University takes pride in the breadth of their CRM program, which includes heavy emphasis on CEM aspects. American Sentinel University offers specialized projects in marketing under their “Strategic Capstone Project Options” program.

CRM and CEM are popular courses of study, and the program description for the latter states that “This is an industry ripe for improvement initiatives by skilled managers.” Finally, though not in itself a university, the Boeing Center for Technology, Information and Manufacturing is closely tied in with St. Louis’ Washington University school of business with the intent of “fostering a more meaningful, mutually beneficial interaction between industry and academia” and contributing to research activities. Their online recommended reading for e-commerce shows that they are indeed “cutting edge,” with studies undertaken on telephony, online auctioning, eBay and mobile multimedia in addition to CEM.

The only problem with this plethora of CRM and CEM programs popping up across the U.S. is that it may leave those already graduated out in the cold from the latest goings-on…ah well, it’s always a good time to learn new tricks, you old dog.