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90 Part One Organizations, Management, and the Networked Enterprise

Supporters of social business argue that, if firms could tune into these
conversations, they would strengthen their bonds with consumers, suppliers,
and employees, increasing their emotional involvement in the firm.
All of this requires a great deal of information transparency. People need to
share opinions and facts with others quite directly, without intervention from
executives or others. Employees get to know directly what customers and other
employees think; suppliers will learn very directly the opinions of supply chain
partners; and even managers presumably will learn more directly from their
employees how well they are doing. Nearly everyone involved in the creation
of value will know much more about everyone else.
If such an environment could be created, it is likely to drive operational
efficiencies, spur innovation, and accelerate decision making. If product
designers can learn directly about how their products are doing in the market in
real time, based on consumer feedback, they can speed up the redesign process.
If employees can use social connections inside and outside the company to
capture new knowledge and insights, they will be able to work more efficiently
and solve more business problems.
Table 2.2 describes important applications of social business inside and
outside the firm. This chapter focuses on enterprise social business—its internal
corporate uses. Chapters 7 and 10 describe social business applications relating
to customers and suppliers outside the company.

BUSINESS BENEFITS OF COLLABORATION AND SOCIAL

BUSINESS
Although many articles and books have been written about collaboration, nearly
all of the research on this topic is anecdotal. Nevertheless, there is a general
belief among both business and academic communities that the more a busi-
ness firm is “collaborative,” the more successful it will be, and that collabora-
tion within and among firms is more essential than in the past. A recent global
survey of business and information systems managers found that investments in
collaboration technology produced organizational improvements that returned
over four times the amount of the investment, with the greatest benefits for sales,
marketing, and research and development functions (Frost and White, 2009).

TABLE 2.2 APPLICATIONS OF SOCIAL BUSINESS
SOCIAL BUSINESS APPLICATION DESCRIPTION

Social networks Connect through personal and business profiles
Harness collective knowledge to generate new ideas and
Crowdsourcing
solutions
Shared workspaces Coordinate projects and tasks; co-create content
Publish and rapidly access knowledge; discuss opinions and
Blogs and wikis
experiences
Share opinions about purchasing or purchase on social
Social commerce
platforms
Upload, share, and comment on photos, videos, audio, text
File sharing
documents
Use social media to interact with customers; derive
Social marketing
customer insights
Communities Discuss topics in open forums; share expertise

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