Social tools are becoming more common in the enterprise. Some companies are skeptical of these tools, worried that they’re just a fad or that they’ll turn into a time drain for employees.
However, these tools aren’t going anywhere. All indications are that Microsoft and other makers of enterprise software tools will continue to integrate social tools more tightly into their products. That’s good news, because when they’re implemented smartly they can foster quick communication and innovation. So, how do you get there?
There are several factors that go into the successful use of enterprise social networking tools. The overarching one is having the right mindset and strategy, which means using social enterprise tools where they make sense to serve specific business purposes. It won’t work to just put a newsfeed on the intranet and expect improved engagement and innovation. However, social can be a valuable piece of the digital workplace. Just think of social as one more channel of communication with some unique advantages.
One of the best ways to ensure a successful implementation of enterprise social features is to stack the deck in favor of success from the beginning. This means realizing that some users just aren’t going to be interested in using social tools, and it would be a waste of resources to try and force the issue. Choose a user group, such as a team or department, which already works in a collaborative way. Enterprise social networking is a stream of questions, answers and comments. If a team doesn’t already work that way, you’re really asking for a human effort to change a business process, not just a technical change. That’s likely to cause frustration and poor adoption.
On the other hand, many users will immediately understand how to use social tools with little or no training. One example is the rollout of a new intranet for a global nonprofit organization with about 4,000 employees. The intranet had a social newsfeed in the support section where users could ask questions and get help. There were no plans on launch day to do anything but to let people know the new site was available and answer a few questions on the newsfeed. After an hour of being available, there were more than 100 answers. The users didn’t have any training on how to use the system; they just understood it.
Social can also be beneficial on the back-end of tech support. Technicians can more easily collaborate on tickets instead of trying to track down the needed people and information via email, and the conversation is preserved for future use.
In fact, there’s a real possibility that social features will eventually completely replace email for some purposes, which could be one of the greatest benefits of these tools. Social tools are great for remote workers, and are also well-suited to maintaining a good work-life balance. Nobody feels pressured to write a dissertation after dinner in response to a question posed on a newsfeed; they can just zip off a quick response. Even more exciting is the analytics of communication made possible by the widespread use of social tools. You can get a much better picture of how employees are communicating and reaching innovation, and adjust accordingly, in a way that would be impossible with email.
Remember e-everything? Not just email, but e-banking, e-shopping and so on. Now that we just expect everything to have some digital aspect, making the distinction hasn’t become as necessary. The same kind of change is likely to happen with social enterprise tools. The term social will disappear, and it will just be an accepted functionality in the everyday business world. Businesses now have a great opportunity to get ahead of the curve and look at how the wide range of social features available can be integrated into their enterprise.
The main challenge that companies face when implementing social is that people tend to misunderstand the benefits of social and fail to see it as just one more tool within a larger collaboration toolbox. While social certainly represents an innovative step forward, this way of working isn’t radically different from all earlier collaborative tools. It also doesn’t apply to every aspect of your organization.
Some business functions may be inherently inappropriate for social. Creating and sending out invoices, for example, doesn’t seem well-suited to social — the activity is straightforward. But if you’re troubleshooting a helpdesk ticket, using social to reach out to someone with more experience might be the most efficient use of your time. Social features allow you to reach out and get the information you need far more quickly than if you emailed one individual or went looking through a knowledge archive, which tend to become difficult to maintain and update.
It’s okay to start small and try gaining small benefits from social rather than starting with a broad implementation across the whole enterprise. Many organizations start with a pilot group and let them find ways to apply social to their everyday work. Another starting point is to replace the age-old CEO blog with a social newsfeed, which shows the executives are committed to using social communication.
Selecting the best method for testing social depends on your circumstances. In some cases, people might want to try implementing an on-premises social platform within an established system, such as a help desk system or document management collaboration system. If a company collaborates frequently with external sources, it might start with an online system that accommodates a variety of working styles with customers, vendors or business partners.
Learn more about getting the most out of today’s enterprise technology tools by downloading our free e-book, “7 Keys To Mastering The Digital Workplace.”
