Major Social Business Trends

IBM’s Sandy Carter said the true social enterprise is way beyond marketing. She cited the example of an Asian retailer that has Facebook-like “like” tags on the hangers for their clothing to let potential buyers know how many people like the product.

Employees and customers are impacted when an organization becomes social. Carter said that 20 percent of a business’ customers influence every other customer of the business, and 15 percent of the employees in a company influence the rest of the company.

Social business increases marketing effectiveness 17 percent and reduces product development time 20 percent, according to a McKinsey study cited by IBM. In addition, sales increase 15 percent, and customer satisfaction grows 20 percent.

Social business is not just about collaboration, the panelists said. You have to add analytics, the cloud and mobile to the mix for it to be successful.

IBM officials argued that their platform is the best for social business. The IBM Platform for Social Business features IBM Connections, IBM Notes and Domino Social Edition, IBM Sametime, IBM Social Analytics Suite and more.

Social business is here to stay, according to IBM’s Carter. “I believe that in five years, if you’re not a social CEO, boards will not hire you,” she said. “For instance, my CEO Ginni Rometty likes to do video blogs, and she’s great at it.”

Your social agenda will help your company—from when you align your organizational goals and culture to when you analyze your data, according to the panelists.

There is a new social-savvy generation entering the work force, and there are other legacy employees who eschew social tools. IBM’s Carter called the first group “digital natives,” people who were born on the Web. Then there are “digital immigrants” who have adopted it and traditional workers who never want to change.

IBM laid out a timeline for the adoption of a social business agenda, moving from zero to 90 in nine months.