Social Tech in the Workplace

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

According to last month’s McKinsey Global Institute survey, 90% of companies who use social technologies in the workplace see measurable benefits after implementation. 

 

That is a remarkably high number, and speaks volumes about the impact that web 2.0 and internet technologies are continuing to have in the enterprise.  These technologies add significant value to both internal and external communications and operations. 

 

The survey also noted that the most frequently used features of enterprise social networks (ESNs) include blogs, collaborative document editing, tagging, and microblogging. These should not come as a surprise.  As we have noted in previous posts, one of the most time-consuming activities for knowledge workers is dealing with email.

The functions cited in the McKinsey survey all work together—outside of email—to increase productivity and create more efficient communication between employees. 

 

Rather than CC-ing managers and co-workers in daily tasks—ESNs allow users to simply make a blog post or tag a specific individual.  All of these activities are presented then in a user-friendly newsfeed. 

 

This way, one can quickly see what is happening in the company (or their specific department), without having to open and fish through countless emails.

 

Some ESNs, such as our own SMARTNET By Régens, serve as a centralized hub for scheduling meetings, coordinating projects or tasks, as well as storing valuable company information and data.  In fact, 71% of respondents cited “increasing speed to access knowledge” as THE biggest benefit to using ESNs.  The other benefits respondents listed involved cost savings (communication costs and travel costs), as well as increased employee satisfaction.

 

With adoption rates continuing to rise, it won’t be long before ESNs trump email once and for all. 

 

Want to see how your organization can benefit from implementing an ESN?  Contact our consultants today for a SMARTNET By Régens product tour.

Why Working Remotely Still Matters

There have been a lot of discussions lately both supporting and criticizing Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer’s recent decision to end working from home at the company.  In a memo to all employees, Jackie Reses, Head of HR, stated that “speed and quality are often sacrificed when [working] from home.”

This is an unfortunate and very puzzling remark from a company who built its reputation and fortune on the backs of the internet and web 2.0 technologies.  Unquestionably, the company has benefitted immensely from the increased connectivity and instantaneous communication that the internet has afforded users since the late 1990s.  In fact, recent trends would indicate that the prevalence of remote work among dispersed employees is only becoming more popular with top organizations.

Rise of ESNs to Continue in 2013

Just as social networks such as Facebook and Google+ have become part of daily life for millions of people worldwide, so too have their corporate counterparts.  Use of enterprise social networks (ESNs) and collaboration grew in 2012, with experts predicting much more from this segment in 2013.  While organizations have been slower to adopt these collaboration tools than for example social business practices, there are many reasons why increased usage is likely to continue in 2013.

 

1) Mobile and tablet devices are driving innovation at the enterprise level, and with cloud computing and storage at their backs, these devices are increasingly used as access points to organizational knowledge, communications, and documents.  Smartphones are standard business issue and employees need to be able to stay connected to vital information while simultaneously managing tasks, projects, and other job-specific functions.

TOP SECRET

In organizations words like sharing information, corporate transparency are becoming more and more usual but decision makers tend to ask the question; is that the right way to run your business? My answer is simple, no.

Allowing your employees to collaborate and share documents, events are great things. The effect of social media has already stepped in the business life so the only thing a CEO can do is to take advantage of the process and encourage everybody within the firm to use social features in the daily work. Seeing how efficiently communities can work in the social world is incredible and every manager wishes to have a team like that. With Enterprise 2.0 collaboration software the dream came true. Employees easily work together, share info, file, knowledge. Managers barely have to organize meetings because the subordinates can solve their problems socially in a few secs thanks to the transparent workspace the social media features created. Furthermore innovation is in the lead and CEOs could easily say “Yeah, we’re cool and modern!”; and they are absolutely right.

And there comes the question…do you really want everybody to know about everything what’s going in the company?