What is a social business?
There are probably many different definitions and variations on what a social business is. I don't want to get bogged down in semantics. What I am passionate about is the way people can can come together to share, learn, collaborate and benefit from embracing the principles of social business. It is the transformative impact it can have both culturally as well as operationally.
When I listen to people and views on the net there are people that talk about changing behaviors - focusing on how people's habits have changed, how they interact, where and how they spend their time, that people are sharing information socially, how they buy, who they trust, how they find information, how they interact...Others seem to focus on how the technology is changing people's behaviors enabling new ways to interact, collaborate, communicate, share, connect...and a few even mention culture.
We need to recognize that Social business is about people, technology and culture and one without the other doesn't work. Organisations that just embrace the technology of an enterprise 2.0 vendor selling them a community platform will not work. Neither will someone developing a strategy for cultural change without the guidance on how to implement and manage the change process. Equally overlaying a social business strategy on a culture of fear and hierarchical management control will fail.
Some articles that reinforce these are:
- 7 Ways That Social Business Advice is Wrong for Your Organization
- Workers not as loyal as companies think
- Social Business Strategy: The CIO Shortlist
Learning to Change
The idea of having to adapt and change is as old as business itself but the need to change rapidly is now a necessity and a source of competitive advantage. Customers are changing and new business models are emerging thanks to flexible and social and scalable technology solutions.
Organisations are now tackling how to integrate social technologies into their business beyond the use of marketing or customer service. However transitioning to new working practices is not easy for many as they move from old legacy systems to new (often requiring intermediary stages), aligning goals and objectives, aligning roles and responsibilities, changing processes as well as leading the change.
We can look at how Dell and other organisations have focused there efforts on taking small digestible steps, piloting projects, developing champions and building on their learning.
One aspect though is consistent it is the pace and need to change and learn, to adapt to become flexible to the dynamics of a new and emerging era.
Focus on the application
Organisations who want to adopt a social business approach need to focus on the application and relevance to the business. There are a multitude of ways applying social solutions improve a business. However, each business is different and how and what is a priority will depend on the organisations strategy, goals, objectives, market position...What is important is to identify the opportunities prioritise them and start.
I call this the age on your imagination because you are main limitation in coming up with business ideas and solutions is no longer the technology.
Key take outs
- Research your market and identify how your market, customers, competitors and business models are being affected or could benefit from social business
- Identify some tangible projects
- Research your employee capabilities
- Bring together relevant stakeholders
- Scope your projects and enable your team to make decisions
- Communicate, communicate and communicate - be open
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