When it comes to talking social business, Dion Hinchcliffe isn’t afraid to say it: “This is what executives want.This will change our industry. This will dramatically improve our results.”
Dion, the executive Vice President of Dachis Group, presented on the state of social business at the inaugural tibbr social event in Sydney, Australia. Co-author of the book Social Business by Design, Dion talked about how executives are starting to see significant bottom line results from enterprise social.
“There is consistent revenue and profit benefits for companies that are highly connected using social tool technologies,” Dion said, referring to a synthesis of data from McKinsey and Dachis Group. Business advantages include: 30% faster customer care processes, 20-30% increase in access to expertise, 30% increase in speed to knowledge, 10-20% reduction in travel and communication costs and more. See the graphic below.
Mobile access, app integration and community management strategies are critical factors for implementing a successful social business strategy. “Mobile first, that’s what I hear from CIOs everywhere,” Dion said. Smart mobility strategies have become a top priority for most Fortune 500 CIOs. In other words, if your business is planning to go social, mobile needs to come with it.”
“Community management is needed,” Dion added. “Companies need to be strategic about how they roll out their social networking tools.” While anyone can participate and drive value from an enterprise social network, rather than relying entirely on organic growth, it helps to involve the right people from your organization and set clear business objectives.
Dion mentioned several key success factors for social business. I think his last point, “Integrate Social into the flow of work,” is most important. Without true integration with business systems, social becomes just another system for employees to check. However, once it becomes part of their existing work processes then it has the power to enhance and extend what was previously possible.
To see Dion’s full presentation, “Designing a Successful Social Business Solution for High Impact ROI,” visit the tibbr slideshare page.
