It was not long ago that Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and many other such social networking platforms were a complete no no' in many organizations. They were either banned, or not accessible on office networks. In some cases, a separate room or time was created for employees to check their Facebook accounts. That's all. By and large logging on to such sites was seen as detrimental to office work and employee productivity. There were even instances in many organizations where the IT administrators were being told to look out for employees who were on these sites, wasting time, and possibly compromising with confidential data and information. Not any more.
The Business Case
At a recent conference on social networking, Connect 2013, organized by IBM, speaker after speaker, ranging from Gerd Friedrich, the business focused CIO of $71 bn Bosche Group, to Joseph Gordon-Levitt, founder of Hitrecord, where he has got together creative artists to produce videos, music, lyrics, literature, photography, screenwriting, graphic art etc, spoke about the way social networking is being deployed, and their is unbelievable gains for the organization as well as its people. For instance, Hitrecord's now famous video "The Man with a Turnip for a Head" was actually produced with the collaboration of 295 artists from across the globe, most of whom never even met each other. "Talent is all around you. Social networking allows you to find and build a winning team", said Gordon. The interesting fact is that Hitrecord has only 8 employees but can get hundreds of people-enthusiasts and professionals-to collaborate on revenue driven time bound projects.
Friedrich has strong reasons for becoming a votary of social media in business. "I wanted to empower the whole organization to behave like entrepreneurs, and the first step was to get the employees to use it. And then it took just 4 months to evaluate the technologies, and only 6 months to implement it for 60,000 people, which was fast," he says. Bosch is using social media for much effective community management of partners, and change management among its employees. Ross Grossman, VP of human resource of $466 mn Regeneron Pharma based in New York, informs that his company is aggressively deploying social media and it has already in a short span of time resulted in hiring and motivating the best people in the industry. All this sounds quite logical considering the fact that today relationships are increasingly being made and built online. Jeff Bowman, global head of e-business for Caterpillar, the $66 bn giant that is onto designing, manufacturing, and selling heavy machinery believes that "accelerating customer growth and loyalty at every touch-point is critical, and key to social media is a great tool for that." Based on this social media drive which also includes registering all past and present owners of Caterpillar machines, the company is soon going to launch an e-commerce site for selling their machine parts. Another revenue stream!
Beyond Corporates
Smaller set-ups are however much active. And Hitrecord's Gordon is not the only example of success. For instance Blue Cross Blue Shield, a health insurance company in Massachusetts, has deployed social media for internal processes as well as to reach out to its customer. According to Bill Fandich, its CIO, "using social media in our IT infrastructure gives us a 360 degree view of all our members which gives us a very comprehensive profile of our customer, and it is constantly updated. What excites Fandich even more is that with social, they can give their members a very personalized touch, and she feels there is somebody with them.
Apparently, IBM has over 9,000 customers of 5 person company' and their number is rapidly growing. "It is a good deal for small businesses. They do not have to buy any hardware or software, but just a service. And they are on," explained Carter. The company has already put in place 1,200 channel partners who are out in the market convincing business leaders on the power of social, as it is has now been jargonized.
If you thought social media is only for IT savvy companies, think again. Dubuque, a small town along the Mississippi river in Iowa, US with a population of about 58,000 people is turning the place around using social to engage with its citizens. Says Mike Van Milligan, city manager, "We are using social media with our people to save money, conserve resources, and support local economy and environment." Ever since the city CIO started using social media to connect with the locals, water usage has gone down by 7%, there is an 800% increase in timely water leak detections, and monthly electricity bills have reduced by 4-7%. Milligan says that "besides enhancing quality of life of our citizens, they also see what efforts their government is making to make life better. And more than that a smart city means smart citizens." Dubuque has recently won the award Best Small City in the US' to raise a family.
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The Business of Social Media