The Social Business Transformation Process

It's almost always the overall frame-up that's so important for effective strategy to overcome entrenched culture, especially when it comes to social business. Though I've explored social business transformation closely over the last few years, it was Dan and Sandy's combined description of how to become a social business that particularly struck me as one of the most cogent explanations of the process and benefits I've seen recently:

 

A Social Business isn't a company that just has a Facebook page and a Twitter account. Social Business means that every department, from HR to marketing to product development to customer service to sales, uses social media the way it uses any other tool and channel to do its job. It's an organization that uses social networking tools fluently to communicate with people inside and outside the company. It's a strategic approach to shaping a business culture, highly dependent upon executive leadership and corporate strategy, including business process design, risk management, leadership development, financial controls and use of business analytics. Becoming a Social Business can help an organization deepen customer relationships, generate new ideas faster, identify expertise and enable a more effective workforce.

 

Priorities are also the challenge here. Many of the organizations I'm talking to these days are struggling to face the disruptive changes in technology and business coming at them seemingly at light speed. While social media is an increasingly urgent influence, the so-called "Big 5" IT disruptors these days are frequently pulling focus and resources away from concerted efforts just as its needed most to move organizations into the present. It's this situation that often causes "strategy seizure", never mind that the credibility of big bang approaches to business and technology change remains at an all time low, excepting paths that are obviously clear of unknown obstacles (i.e. smart mobiilty is one of the few that seems to fall into this camp.)

 

Related: The "Big 5" IT Trends of the Next Half Decade

 

So it's 1) frame-up and 2) focus that will get most enterprises to the social business strategy starting line. Reaching the more interesting competitive and ROI propositions of social business, however, does seem to require some uniquely different thinking as well as some clear and deliberate steps.

 

From: Your Social Business Co-Pilot: An Agile, Emergent, and Decentralized Strategy | ebizQ

 

Also see

 

Choose Your Social Business Strategy Before Your Tools | InformationWeek

 

Getting to Effective Social Business Results: Applying Culture Change | Collaboratory

 

Is it time for a C-level social media executive? | ZDNet

 

Social Business By Design | Amazon Hardcover (John Wiley & Sons, 2012)