why is enterprise social collaboration so necessary
DESCRIPTION
Enterprise social collaboration has now come to be recognized as an effective mode of communication for corporate employees and encompasses collaboration platforms and other tools for social networking.TRANSCRIPT
Why is Enterprise Social Collaboration So Necessary?
Enterprise social collaboration has now come to be
recognized as an effective mode of communication
for corporate employees and encompasses
collaboration platforms and other tools for social
networking.
We often hear of corporate intranet systems that
have of late become popular in most business
enterprises with a global outlook. With the advent of
globalization and the subsequent increase in global
competition, the concept of enterprise social
collaboration is fast gaining ground. This is because
the current business environment the world over has
led to a situation where there is a perpetual pressure
for constant innovation and the need for adaptation
to ever changing conditions.
Enterprise Social Collaboration in fundamental terms, is a mix of processes, technologies and services that boost mutual
collaboration in any given working environment. It uses social media primarily as also state-of-the-art communications
technologies such as mobile, integrated voice, instant messaging/chat, video and presence that results in promotion of
teamwork and sharing of knowledge and ideas specifically to increase the quality and quantity of eventual business
outcomes. The vendors of this concept often resort to the use of soft metrics like enhanced teamwork that leads to more
productivity.
It needs to be borne in mind, however, that business benefits arising from social collaboration in an enterprise may not be
seen in companies that resort to the laissez-faire principle of operations or simply an ad hoc policy to collaboration at the
workplace. Collaboration by laissez-faire happens when an IT group allows its departments and employees to self-
provision collaboration environments specific to their needs or situation. Research has shown time and again that one
gets the best returns on their investments on ESC when a well formulated ESC plan is executed and endorsed by proper
executive leadership.
A well-designed collaborative system simplifies any communication process, which otherwise tends to grow
complex for many employees spread out in different companies due to an expanded and often remote working
environment, fast paced business operations and rapidly growing data that is required for any technical
assignment or project. This collaborative system will be created and implemented to ensure that its users can
freely trade knowledge, exchange and store files, jointly modify and create new documents and mutually interact
in a perfectly collaborative workspace. However, effective collaboration will only happen when the tools are easily
accessible and usable regularly. In other words, it’s just not implementing a revolutionary technology only but also
getting your employees to make effective use of it. Which is why user buy-in becomes mandatory during the
implementation of a collaborative tool and its success will depend on how regularly an organization’s employees
use it.
In sum, the concept of ESR becomes successful only when there’s an organizational culture which truly
encourages collaboration and inter-personal communication; it ties its collaborative policy appropriately and ties
social media and collaboration to specific and strategic business goals.