Enterprise social software early adopters still in minority

Gordon Peters
Wednesday, 24 November 2010 14:38

IT Industry - Market

The social networking phenomenon sweeping the globe has impacted businesses as much as individuals in their personal life. A survey just released by IDC reveals that enterprise social software adoption by companies and organisations still has room to grow, with 41 percent of respondents indicating that they have already implemented an enterprise social software solution, but with 59 percent of enterprises yet to implement a solution.

And, one of the top challenges associated with implementing enterprise social software is measuring the impact on business goals. According to IDC, widespread industry adoption of enterprise social software is relatively immature and executives want a clearer understanding of the potential gains, costs, and return on investment that social business initiatives can have on a company's bottom line.

IDC research director, enterprise collaboration and social solutions, Erin Traudt," says that, to determine social business ROI, 'organizations must consider why their customers and/or employees are using social software and understand the cost/benefit impact related to people, process, and technology."

Traudt says the survey explores the criteria for validating enterprise social software purchases and social business transformation through return-on-investment (ROI) measurement by 'debunking social business ROI myths and defining social business ROI gains and costs.'

IDC forecasts the emerging social platforms market will generate revenues of nearly $2 billion by 2014, experiencing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38.2% over the 2009-2014 forecast period.

Traudt cautions that, when conducting ROI on social business initiatives, the rules of business still apply, 'regardless if a company deploys social business initiatives to assist customer service, marketing, public relations, product innovation, employee collaboration, or other functional areas of the organization.' She believes business executives need to understand not only the traditional metrics and value calculations of ROI, but also the impact that social business initiatives have on these computations and their interrelatedness.

"ROI is another industry buzzword that many are quick to demand but have difficulty calculating and tracking," Traudt said. "Social business ROI is particularly elusive, but for broader adoption to occur, executives will need to conduct ROI analysis to justify expenditures in this category."