When CollaborationMeets Community:How enterprise social networkingis transforming business

When collaboration meets community:How enterprise social networking is transforming business

Twenty-five years ago, email was the big collaboration buzzword. The transformative technology

made it easier for people to work together—and still does today. But, as business technologist

Richard Rashty recalls, “Unknown to us practitioners, silos were being formed. If you were not

on an email thread, you were out of the conversation.”

The same can be said of intranets and other collaborative technologies. “Just being able to

collaborate on documents, projects, send large attachments and instantly communicate,”

Rashty continues, “did not fundamentally transform the enterprise to leverage the ‘Collective

Intelligence’ of organizations.”

Enter LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites.Here was collaboration’s missing piece—the social aspect—made possible through public profiles,

lists of connections and the ability to interact with people in context. People using their personal

social networks wanted to have the same experience at work, but that challenged IT’s demands

for privacy, security and compliance.

The next logical step is what we have today: secure social networking platforms built for the

enterprise. Most analysts agree that these tools will be pervasive in just a few short years, and

companies will join in or start losing market share.

The old way of doing things, according to Rashty, limits “your company’s ability to innovate and

adapt to changing business conditions.” An integrated social network removes roadblocks and

cuts corporate red tape. “Align the technology with business models fostering employee and

customer empowerment, and an organization’s culture can become its greatest asset,” Rashty said.

Today’s enterprise social networking tools break through old paradigms by virtue of their all-inclusive

and asynchronous nature. The suite of new tools—including microblogs and activity streams—

go beyond basic online collaboration in the following ways:

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1 Enterprise social networking enables faster innovationA community space, makes company initiatives more transparent and open to contributions

from every corner. Everyone in an organization—even customers and suppliers—fosters innovation

and continuous improvement.

Social gives employees faster access to knowledge. Rather than sending an email to a limited

group of people, they can openly broadcast a question and get quality responses from colleagues

—often instantaneously. This helps to solve problems and drive innovation. Blogs and wikis around

specific subjects also help connect employees to subject-matter experts, uniting them with a

shared purpose.

2 Enterprise social networking creates better group dynamicsSocial networking tools let managers pull together employees to work on projects, with a greater

sense of visibility and teamwork. Documents and updates are more easily shared. Subject-focused

blogs and microblogs keep people on task across multiple time zones. And combined with voice

over IP, these tools reduce travel and telecommunication costs.

3 Enterprise social networking puts power in knowledgeKnowledge management has always been difficult because memories fade and people move on.

But with social networking tools, almost everything can be stored, searched and cross-referenced

—preserving the collective wisdom of the organization. Formerly static, sidebar and forgotten

communications become searchable dialogues that can be referenced and refreshed. And better

decisions are made based on this shared information.

Conclusion

Social networking is here to stay in the enterprise. Organizations that are embracing these tools—

nearly half of all companies by most estimates—have seen dramatic improvements in factors like

time to market, employee morale and innovation. Businesses that put off the inevitable will miss

opportunities to become more agile and effective, with potentially costly results.

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About tibbr

tibbr is the social network for work. It brings people, apps, files and actions together in one

place—on a desktop, smartphone or tablet—so work gets done faster.

tibbr streamlines communication and encourages the sharing of ideas and inspiration so

organizations can take advantage of their collective intelligence.

Launched in January 2011, tibbr is already used by over a million humans in more than

100 countries, revolutionizing how we communicate, collaborate, share and learn.

Discover more at www.tibbr.com.

Try tibbr at try.tibbr.com/tibbr/web/signup

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Brown, Jim (2009). “Issue in Focus: Product Collaboration 2.0—Using Social Computing Techniques to Create Corporate Social Networks,” Tech-Clarity, Inc. 2009.

Gaskell, Adi (2012). “What Are The Core Principles of Collaboration?”Social Business News, January 3, 2012.Retrieved February 2012 from http://www.socialbusinessnews.com/what-are-the-core-principles-of-collaboration/

Lavenda, David (2011). “7 Facts About Social Business And Collaboration Platforms,”FC Expert Blog, November 3, 2011.Retrieved February 2012 from http://www.fastcompany.com/1792684/seven-facts-about-social-business-and- collaboration-platforms

Mell, Jon (2011). “5 Myths of Social Software—Myth #5 Timewasting,” June 10, 2011.Retrieved February 2012 from http://jonmell.co.uk/

Neisser, Drew (2011). “Move Over Social Media; Here Comes Social Business,”FC Expert Blog, September 11, 2011.Retrieved February 2012 from http://www.fastcompany.com/1779375/move-over-social-media-here-comes-social- business

Oram, Deepak (2011). “Collaboration’s tipping point is Social!” Remindo.com, April 7, 2011.Retrieved February 2012 from https://www.remindo.com/blog/2011/04/collaborations-tipping-point-is-social/

Rashty, Richard (2011). “Collaboration has changed....are YOU Ready for the ‘Empowered Enterprise?’”Richard Rashty’s Blog, July 11, 2011.Retrieved February 2012 from http://richardrashty.wordpress.com/2011/07/11/collaboration-has- changed-are-you-r

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