When it comes to social networking, most companies close their eyes and hope it just goes away, according to new research from Avanade. The Seattle-based consultancy found that fear and apathy are preventing firms from embracing the marketing, branding and communicative value of a presence on a site such as LinkedIn or Facebook.
"Avanade likes to stay ahead of the trends, so we actually sponsored this study globally to find out what people thought about social networking in the enterprise space," says Ken Gosselin, global solution director for customer relationship management at Avanade, of the whitepaper, "CRM and Social Media: Creating Deeper Customer Relationships."
The study found that global executives are concerned about the possible loss of productivity that could result from social networking adoption. But most firms—75 percent, in fact—recognize that social networking will find its way into the company, thanks, in part, to the newer generation of employees. However, only 18 percent of respondents say that their company has a plan to manage that process.
Additionally, Gosselin points out, in spite of the sales and marketing opportunities that can come from a Facebook or LinkedIn page, companies can start small before setting up profiles online—internal intranet efforts are also considered social networking, and Gosselin points out the benefit of internal messaging systems and wikis. "I think there's room and potential for anyone to use social networking," he says. And that sentiment—and Avanade's own adoption of a few internal social networking applications—is perhaps why the firm's clients are ahead of the curve. "Our clients are continuing to ask us how it can actually be used within their enterprise," he says, adding that the firm is able to offer clients its Sales Performance Workbench, which integrates networking tools into a CRM system.
For its part, Avanade will use this research to generate awareness and discussion around ways social networking can find its way into the office, Gosselin says. "It's really initially, in our point of view, to raise and bring awareness. As we start talking to our businesses and our clients [we're] really finding out how this next wave of technology can be woven in to add value."
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