Social business: Should leaders stand back or jump in?

Social business may be ready for the enterprise, but are enterprise leaders ready for social business?

Deloitte and MIT Sloan Management Review surveyed more than 3,400 enterprise leaders and managers around the globe to learn whether social networking and software are transforming their businesses. We found that many respondents use social technologies to better understand and connect with their customers. Others use social business tools to push employee interests, ideas and knowledge across the enterprise.

While 52 percent of the survey respondents said social business is at least somewhat important to their enterprises today, many leaders of organizations have not joined the trend. Are they wise to hold back? Or should they get started now?

Explore all sides below by clicking on each button:

Doug Palmer, Principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP

Enterprise leaders are just beginning to embrace social business, and the survey indicates that many are enthusiastic about its value – especially in the media and technology industries. While others are cautious, more than 80 percent of survey respondents acknowledge that social business is likely to be at least somewhat important to their organization three years from now. If that’s the case, it’s important that leaders get to work now. Here’s how you can get started:

Align social business to strategy. How can social technologies and networks help you better serve customers, gain a competitive edge and achieve the business strategy? Design social business initiatives that directly support your business goals, but don’t expect an immediate return on investment. You should look to continually pilot new projects, measure results and adapt strategies to build the business case.

Assess where you are today – and where you want to be. Monitor and track what your employees, consumers and influencers say about your organization, brands, customer service and competition. Explore how business analytics can connect social data with enterprise data. This can help your organization move beyond understanding to influencing and anticipating behaviors.

Support effective adoption. Provide clear guidelines and training for employees so they know what they can and cannot say through external social media channels. Executives should also be trained on social technologies to help them more effectively sponsor social initiatives and use social tools to shape the organization’s culture to promote innovation and collaboration.

Prepare to act. Social conversations are likely to reveal brand, product and employee issues. Provide processes and resources for appropriate and quick responses.

For more insights, download the full survey report here. 

Library: Deloitte Debates
Services: Consulting
Overview: Technology

As used in this document, “Deloitte” means Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.

View the original article here