Speaking of firsts, Kayak.com is consistently one of the first sites to integrate cutting edge technologies like Ajax and mashups into their site. Their business model also reflects the customizable customer centric thinking behind Web 2.0. When he co-founded the company, Paul English established an exceptional customer service strategy -- and it did so without a dedicated customer service staff and relatively cheap technology. They were recently recognized in an article by CNN.COM for the achievement. The article explains English's CS philosophy:

he made an unusual rule: No dedicated customer-service staff would be hired. Every employee, including himself, would spend about 20 minutes of each workday responding to online queries and complaints.

There are very few companies I can think of that actually engage customers in conversations. Kayak has done something remarkable: They found a way to communicate effectively with their customers while soliciting direct customer input back to employees. I wonder if this CS strategy could be leveraged by larger firms that have real problems receiving unfiltered feedback. Could this also work for non-internet companies?