Today social media has penetrated into every aspect of our
day-to-day lives. The use of social media is no longer inhibited to just making
friends and keeping in touch with them, it’s much more than that. It sparked
the revolution in Egypt. It acts as a knowledge sharing platform. Companies are
today leveraging social media for market research, promotions, building online
reputation, providing customer service, getting customer feedback, brand
monitoring, academic collaboration etc. According to a Nielsen survey, time
spent on social networks is up by 82%.
Enterprise Social Media (ESM) is also one of the many
applications of Social Media. It is a relatively new concept but it is slowly
gathering speed. The idea of ESM is to bring the power of social media within
your company - a free, private and secure social network just for your
business. It allows your coworkers to work together and be more productive.
Organizations now agree that the question is no longer whether to adopt social
media or not but to leverage it to remain competitive. Enterprise social
networks enable organizations to reap the benefits and improve innovation,
decrease costs and also drive top-line growth. Organizations have increased
their spend on social media as suggested by the below chart:
 |
| Change in Social Marketing Budget from 2009 to 2010, by Industry Sector |
A very good example of an enterprise social media tool that I came across was “Chatter” developed by SalesForce. They claim that it reduces the number of meetings in your organization and thus saves your time, reduces the number of emails sent, improves customer responsiveness, collaboration and helps manage customer information. To learn more about chatter please visit: https://www.chatter.com/why/
IBM has also entered the world of ESM through its Lotus
Quickr and Lotus Connections technology. In a survey conducted by CompTIA (Computer
Technology Industry Association), respondents were asked to identify the top
benefits of social media tools. The top
five benefits identified were:
- Better communication with customers
- Cost Savings
- Brand positioning
- Real-time customer satisfaction
- Potential lead generation
To just give you a glimpse on how ESM can be leveraged watch
the video posted below:
However, organizations have to guard against being reactive.
Firms trying to catch up on the social media buzz without having a clear idea
of their identity or goals are fraught with risks. Deloitte has come up with an
Enterprise Social Media Framework which provides a good starting point for
organizations before they launch their social media initiative. A firm
typically starts by asking questions clubbed under 6 areas:
1.
Strategy
a.
What is your vision and strategy regarding
social media?
b.
What value creation opportunities exist?
2.
Program Management
a.
How do you execute your social media strategy?
b.
What is the project roadmap?
3.
Communications
a.
What are the communication best practices for
social media?
4.
Change Readiness
a.
What are the special cultural factors to
consider in your organization?
b.
What type of learning programs should be
prepared?
5.
Technology
a.
Which tools should be used?
6.
Governance and Support
a.
What risks are associated with the use of social
media, and what are the policies needed to govern the use of social media
within the organization?
According to a Gartner article (“When Social and Business
Processes Collide”) by 2015, 40% of large organizations will have a corporate
“Facebook” to enable greater collaboration and circulation of both business and
personal data. With the increased globalization and internet savvy workforce, an
Enterprise Social Network is a “must have” for organizations. It will not only
lower infrastructure costs but also improve employee effectiveness and
efficiency.
To learn more about the use of ESM please go through:
http://www.infosys.com/FINsights/Documents/pdf/issue9/social-media-financial-services-risk-reward.pdf
References:
Enterprise Social Media: Exposed and down to earth –
Deloitte
Redefining the Social Enterprise Network – Enterasys Secure
Networks
Social Networking in the Enterprise – Forrester Consulting
-Rahul Mukherjee
MDI 2011-13
