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February 2012
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Report: Making The Business Case For Enterprise Social Networks
In 2011, the US hit a milestone — more than half of all adults visit social networking sites at least once a month. But when it comes to using social-networking technologies inside organizations, many business leaders are at a loss to understand what value can be created from Facebook-like status updates within the enterprise. Some organizations have deployed social-networking features with an initial enthusiastic reception, only to see these early efforts wither to just a few stalwart participants. The problem: Most companies approach enterprise social networks as a technology deployment and fail to understand that the new relationshipscreated by enterprise social networks are the source for value creation. Yesteryear, internal technology departments could force software on business units, but in today’s consumerized world, business units can adopt enterprise software, often without IT ever knowing. As a result, a new approach is required that focuses on four key ways that relationships create value through enterprise social networks:
- Encourage sharing.
- Capture knowledge.
- Enable action.
- Empower employees.
This is the first of two reports on enterprise social networks, with this one focused on how it creates value for organizations. The next report will focus on maturity models and the future of enterprise social networks.
Altimeter Report: Making The Business Case for Enterprise Social Networks
Data HighlightsThe report also includes input from 13 technology providers, 185 end users, and surveyed 81 ESN decision makers from companies with over 250 employees (see below in Related Resources for links to the data). A few of the findings and graphics from the report are included below. There was only moderate impact on business goals. On a scale of 1 to 4, the highest impact seen – improving collaboration between departments/teams — scored only a 2.91 (see Figure 5 below).
A key reason for this is that there were few metrics used to gauge effectiveness. Most metrics were engagement-oriented in nature and not necessarily tied to business impact. For example, the top three metrics used were 1) More/faster collaboration across the company; 2) Frequency of use; and 3) Engagement across the company (% of employees using it) (see Figure 6-1 below).
In fact, no organization surveyed believed they measure ESNs very well, and only 31% felt they measured ESN impact somewhat well. A quarter admitted that they didn’t measure at all! (see Figure 6-2 below).
- Encourage sharing. Remember how revolutionary email was? It fundamentally changed the way we communicated by reducing the cost/effort and collapsing the time frame and scaling it to include multiple recipients. Social represents a fundamental change, simply because, at its essence, it encourages sharing. The simple presence of a status update box on a page encourages people to share their thoughts, activities, and expertise.
- Capture knowledge. Capturing the collective knowledge of an organization is a daunting task because it includes a wide range of facts, information, and skills gained through experience. Yet few people proactively sit down each day to document and capture their knowledge. ESNs provide an opportunity to do just that, by capturing glimpses of knowledge through profiles, activity streams, and interactions.
- Enable action. Having an ESN in place means that operations and processes can begin to change as well. This happens when the day-to-day process changes because the ESN enables new relationships and behaviors that address a gap that prevented actions from being taken.
- Empower employees. The last way ESNs drive value is that they empower and embolden people to speak up and join together, as well as gives them opportunities to contribute their skills and ideas.
Related resources. In the spirit of Open Research — and to spur further discussion on the topic of enterprise social networks, we are also making available a PDF summary of all questions asked in the survey, a PowerPoint of the graphics, and the full data set. If you discover additional insights, we ask that you share back your findings with the community.
- Enterprise Social Networking Survey Highlights. PDF of survey questions and highlights. Note that not all data points were used in the report. This is the raw output for response from organizations with over 250 employees. Conducted during Q4 2012.
- Enterprise Social Networking Survey Data Set. Spreadsheet containing survey responses from organizations with over 250 employees. Feel free to download and cut the data, under the Creative Commons non-commercial, for attribution license.
- Enterprise Social Networking Data PowerPoint. Presentation containing the major graphics and data charts from the report.
Webinar. I’ll be doing a Webinar on Thursday, February 22nd, 2012 at 10am PST on the report with Socialcast’s CEO Tim Young. More information and registration is available at http://t.co/1XI8nMkp. It will also be recorded and available for playback on Socialcast’s site.
- Altimeter Group: Cross-posted “Report: Making The Business Case For Enterprise Social Networks“, February 22, 2012
- Web Strategist by Jeremiah Owyang: “Enterprise Social Networking: Focus on Relationships (Altimeter Report)“, February 22, 2012
Stay in touch. Would you like to be notified about upcoming reports or even participate in our research via surveys or interviews? Please let us know by filling out this form.
Open Research This independent research report was 100% funded by Altimeter Group. This report is published under the principle of Open Research and is intended to advance the industry at no cost. This report is intended for you to read, utilize, and share with others; if you do so, please provide attribution to Altimeter Group.
New Report: “Make An App For That: Mobile Strategies For Retailers”
When it comes to shopping, I have a love/hate relationship with my iPhone. Some apps are actually helpful, letting me explore products or buy something immediate. But the vast majority of the retailer apps litter my screens, sitting unused after an initial, disappointing whirl.
My frustration is reflected in the findings of my colleague Chris Silva‘s new report, entitled “Make An App For That: Mobile Strategies For Retailers“. Of particular value is that Chris pivots the report around two major strategies retails can use when it comes to mobile:
- Enrich: These strategies are focused on driving transactions and measured in total purchases, purchase size or frequency, and purchase-per-store metrics. The ROImodel is simple — engage mobile buyers and grow the business.
- Engage: Engage strategies are not as transaction-centric as enrich strategies and are aimed at improving user interaction and brand affinity. Engage strategies can provide product information, post-purchase support, or help to provide a presence for retailersand brands with a fully online presence. The focus is on bringing shoppers closer to the brand to drive interaction, not just spend.
The problem is that most retailers approach mobile for mobile’s sake and miss the mark when it comes to delivering value for the mobile consumer. For example, Chris points out that Abercrombie & Fitch’s mobile app doesn’t actually show any of it’s clothing while Longhorn Restaurant’s app has a cool 3D app that lets me cook a steak — but I can’t directions to the nearest restaurant.
What’s Your Mobile App Strategy?
One of the things I love about this report is that it is jam packed with highly actionable advice. Below is an example of a decision matrix which maps our your mobile app strategy options based on type of product and your goals.
Chris lays out four types of mobile apps that retailers can build, and makes the call on when to use which by writing, “As a rule of thumb, informational applications and Buy/Ship applications are most oftendesigned to build interaction with users and engage new buyers. In some of the strategiesamong brands that have been successful, the winning ingredient in the application is theinformation source the user turns to, which builds trust and engagement with that user todevelop a “go-to” relationship. Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum, augmenting and, perhaps, fundamentally changing and improving the user’s buying experience can reap vastrewards for the company while solving a real user pain. Regardless of the application choice,the need for a novel tool that solves an actual user’s problem is key to driving customer use.”
But my favorite part is at the end, where there is 1) an assessment tool to help you determine your mobile app maturity, and 2) recommendations on what to do first, second, and next based on the findings from the maturity assessment. I’ve included the recommendation graphic here but you’ll need to link over to the report to see the assessment tool.
Want To Learn More?
Here are a few things to do:
- Read the report. I’ve embedded it below and it’s also at http://bit.ly/zuMYZb.
- Attend a webinar Chris is doing on the report on Friday, March 2nd at 10am PT. Here’s the link to register.
- Follow Chris on Twitter at @802dotchris.
- Read blog posts about the report from my Altimeter colleagues. I’ve included links to them below.
Make An App For That: Mobile Strategies For Retail
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