The way we work will evolve to be social, across boundaries and devices, anywhere and anytime. Executives are investing in private social networking with these goals in mind. They know their business cannot function productively without the knowledge and insights from the “people that are running the business every day.”
“We’re investing in social technology more than before,” vice president of Forrester Research Rob Koplowitz said at TUCON 2012, Las Vegas. “What’s changed more than anything else is the global economic reality… We’re working across geographic boundaries.” From headquarters to manufacturing plants, engineering teams to sales teams, employees are more spread out and in need of better ways to communicate and interact. Executives are implementing social technology to meet the demand.
- 62% of organizations plan to or have implemented mobile applications.
- 55% of organizations plan to implement video conferencing at work to make communicating even more interactive.
- And, out of US information workers, 56% are investing in enterprise social solutions.
What’s even more interesting is where the demand for social technology at work comes from. According to Rob’s presentation at TUCON, the biggest demand does not come from the millennial generation, but from the baby boomers generation. Of this demographic, 49% are managers, directors or executives, 52% make more than $60K per year and, on average, work more than 40 hours per week.
Why are they implementing social technology? “They’re depending on information,” Rob said. By following real-time insights from colleagues they’re seeing the business value of private social networking. They’re adopting it to get their job done.
