Social business represents a significant transformational opportunity for organizations. Many companies, after initial forays into external social media, are now realizing the value of applying social approaches, internally as well as externally.
Social business can create valued customer experiences, increase workforce productivity and effectiveness and accelerate innovation. But many companies still wrestle with the organizational and cultural challenges posed by these new ways of work. A new IBM Institute for Business Value study, based on responses from more than 1,100 individuals and interviews with more than two dozen executives from leading organizations, reveals how organizations can use social approaches to create meaningful business value.
The question surrounding social media today is not whether you are doing it, but whether you are doing enough. Getting your 100,000th “Like” on Facebook, or having your latest pearl of wisdom retweeted 200 times an hour is all well and good, but are these activities driving revenue, attracting talent and bridging the collaboration gaps in your organization? Is your use of social media allowing your organization to engage with the right customers, improve their online experience and tap into their latest insights and ideas? Does your social approach provide your customer-facing representatives with the ability to search the globe for expertise or apply learnings?
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The answers to these questions are essential as social approaches become the new norm. Today, roughly half the world’s population is online. Almost all of these Internet users are mobile. And their use of social media tools to shop, spend, and share insights is increasing. Facebook, for example, has reached more than 1 billion active accounts; LinkedIn is used in almost every country in the world; more than 100 million people Tweet regularly. Both companies and public sector organizations are seeing the value of participating in the social world. According to public relations firm Burson-Marsteller, almost three-quarters of the Fortune Global 100 firms have a presence on either Facebook or Twitter. Social has become mainstream and ubiquitous. It is no longer simply a “sandbox” for the under-30 generation…
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