3 Ways Companies Derive Value from Socialized Business

Intranets

Dave King, product director with socialized business innovator Chatter, told me recently that “social is more than a trend, it is a revolution that is changing the way we work and collaborate.” I admit. I wasn’t necessarily sold on the idea.

The business case for replicating popular social networking functionality in a corporate environment seemed dubious. One business owner I spoke too even called the technology more of a distraction than efficiency enabler. But then I actually talked to some corporate Yammer, Chatter and Jive users, all of whom claimed measurable gains from these tools in a variety of areas.

Here are three ways you can derive value from social enterprise applications.

Streamline Project Management

Software developers at PerkStreet Financial use Yammer to facilitate scrum meetings, a key component of the agile software development methodology. Rather than hold their daily morning standup meetings in person, each member of the 37-person team posts “what I did yesterday,” “what I will do today” and “barriers to moving forward” using the hashtag #scrum.

The tag allows users to quickly see what everyone is working on and chime in when appropriate. The poster can also delegate tasks to others with the “@” symbol. With Jive, users can also employ shortcuts such as an “!” to pull information into the thread from CRM and other enterprise systems.

This ability is particularly useful where a project involves myriad departments in geographically separated locations. Someone can join the project at any point and immediately have the entire context of the situation. They can scan through discussion threads, click through attached documents and connect with other team members already in the project group.

Increase Communications Efficiency

Along this same vein, having all communications available for everyone relevant to the conversation eliminates the need for calls and emails. In fact, one Salesforce surveys show Chatter reduces email 30 percent and meetings 27 percent. FlexJobs founder and CEO Sara Sutton Fell said Yammer drastically cut down on her need to email, call or schedule a meeting to check in. Users can respond as it fits in their workflow. “Instead of emails that feel like you have to respond immediately, putting it on Yammer ensures that only [staff] who have the time to check out the job will do so,” FlexJobs founder and CEO Sara Sutton Fell said of Yammer.

PerkStreet COO Jason Henrichs said, “it’s like those meetings where you leave high giving because you had fun, but also got a lot done.”

Better Leverage Information and Insights

Social enterprise vendors have invested heavily in social and adaptive intelligence. These sophisticated algorithms suggest articles, files and experts based on the user’s position, connections, group memberships and resources they’ve previously accessed.

“Chatter knows what you care about based on your activities, making it’s value immeasurable,” King says of Chatter, the salesforce.com social layer. As a result, employees are better informed and can answer questions before they even know they have them.

“Imagine you have 10,000 people in an enterprise. Sales materials, RFPs are constantly flowing through system… Jive makes the most of this information by channeling it to the right people,” according to Jive Product Marketing Director Tim Zonca.

Research for this article was provided by Software Advice.

How do you use social enterprise apps? Join the conversation by commenting here.

By Ashley Furness