MIT Sloan Management Review

R. “Ray” Wang has been a highly respected analyst of social business in enterprises for years. Here he discusses how social business evolves in more socially developed businesses, how uses are growing in the area of service and support and hire to retire on the on-boarding side, and innovation and ideation. He also examines the critical role of leadership, gamification and how social business is changing the future of work. Wang lays out the specific signposts that a business can look for as it moves from step to step along the path of being a more fully socially enabled enterprise.

The emergence of social media in business, along with related digital initiatives, is causing more organizations to appoint a chief digital officer, or CDO in the C-suite. While the position was initially found in media, education, and retail, an increasing number of industries of all types are considering the position to consolidate and focus its social and other digital activities. Many feel that the CDO needs to report directly to the CIO, but that reporting relationship may not fit all cases.

In a highly regulated area like pharmaceuticals, companies need to tread carefully when it comes to dealing directly with customers via social media. In this interview, Dr. Ed Tucker of Janssen Research & Development LLC, a Johnson and Johnson company, explains how social media platforms offer benefits, but also describes the requirements and obligations firms in his industry must comply with when it comes to patient safety reporting, privacy, and other sensitive matters.

New CEOs need to quickly establish themselves and communicate their vision. Traditionally, CEOs communicate through e-mail, memos and Q&As. They walk halls, attend meetings and issue press releases. In many cases, social media is a more effective and efficient way to communicate with a wide range of stakeholders. Social media has already become a state-of-the-art leadership tool that surpasses many traditional approaches to listening and communicating with stakeholders.

Research from the MIT Sloan Management Review and Deloitte showed that only 13.5% of CFOs support social business. There are logical reasons why this may be so, such as the need for this profession to scrutinize costs, look for ROI, and an uncertain benefit for the CFO function. However some in the profession are urging CFOs to be more open and see the financial payoff of a social business. Recent data shows that the reluctance among CFOs to support social business may be declining.

A study by the Conference Board and the Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University analyzed social media usage by senior executives and board members. Its findings offer insights as to why senior staff bring in a consultant or expert to educate staff. A total of 32% of those surveyed said they had done so and explained the reasons why. Many did so to learn about LinkedIn; others wanted to learn about using social media for promotion, developing rules, communication and more.

A research report titled “The Use of Social Media in B2B Marketing and Branding: An Exploratory Study” studied tech companies in the U.S., Europe and Asia and found that several B2B companies were using social media strategically to position themselves as thought leaders, drive the market, and build key relationships with stakeholders. The researchers found that B2B firms in the U.S. were leaders in this area but found that adoption of these tools by B2B firms is “by no means universal.”

Vala Afshar, Chief Marketing Officer at Enterasys Networks Inc. in Andover, MA says social tools created an open, flatter culture where the best ideas, not people with the highest titles are recognized. By adding Salesforce.com’s Chatter social network, it created closer connections with customers and a more positive work environment. It enhanced its call center and created a system that translates machine language to Tweets, so now its social network is populated both by people and machines.

The very largest corporations in the country are showing “the first signs of really embracing a range of social media tools” says a new study from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth.

Though the use of social media can be a valuable way to enrich a company’s culture and enhance its productivity, it isn’t a sure thing. The main reason some social media initiatives fail to bring benefits to companies is because the initiatives don’t create emotional capital — that is, a strong emotional connection between stakeholders and the company. That’s the main finding of a survey of 1,060 executives about their experience with social media, along with a number of in-depth case studies.

Many senior executives still think of social media as something you do after hours for fun, says John Hagel, co-chairman of the Deloitte Center for the Edge — they haven’t bought into the idea that social can drive the core performance of the business. He’s committed to showing them why they’re wrong.

The rapid adoption of technology-based social networking has been transforming politics and social norms on a global scale for a decade. Will social networking and social software also transform business? MIT Sloan Management Review and Deloitte surveyed 3,478 managers from companies in 115 countries and 24 industries. This report identifies how social technologies are creating value and innovations in the marketing function, but also in product development, operations and leadership.

Featured this month in the Social Business Innovation Hub:

New Q&A: Social Business at Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente uses Twitter to gauge customer reaction to specific initiatives, such as valet parking.

How important is social media to your business? It depends sharply on the industry you’re in, according to a new survey by MIT Sloan Management Review and Deloitte.

Featured this month in the Social Business Innovation Hub:

McAfee Q&A: What Sells CEOs on Social Networking
In 2006, MIT Sloan's Andrew McAfee coined the term "Enterprise 2.0" as a shorthand for what collaboration and sharing tools such as blogging and wikis (and, today, Twitter) would mean for enterprises.

In 2006, MIT Sloan’s Andrew McAfee coined the term “Enterprise 2.0″ as shorthand for collaboration and sharing tools would mean for enterprises. In a recent interview with MIT Sloan Management Review, McAfee looks back at the past six years and reveals what he’s learned about the triggers that generate CEO interest in social networking, what he misread and why the idea of controlling information flows is becoming obsolete.

The big potential for social media is to be a tool for mass collaboration, say Anthony Bradley and Mark McDonald of Gartner, Inc. The challenge for companies: look beyond the obvious uses for marketing and communicating.

Do we finally have the right technologies for knowledge work? Wikis, blogs, group-messaging software and the like can make a corporate intranet into a constantly changing structure built by distributed, autonomous peers — a collaborative platform that reflects the way work really gets done.