Social Media: Collaboration, Networking, Sharing

However, the introduction of social media into corporate IT infrastructures has also brought challenges, including the impact of social networks on business and IT, the need for effective governance policies, and the need to meet legal requirements and protect both reputation and intellectual property, while embracing the flexibility of social media tools.

This paper brings together experiences and insight from 40 senior IT professionals working in organisations from retail to financial services, local and central government. They represent an annual IT spend of £5.8 billion and employ nearly 700,000 staff.

• The role of the community manager is to act as a champion, and drive content, although this person doesn't need to be an expert in communications or social media.
• Social platforms will grow organically to an extent but if an organisation wants to see universal adoption, there needs to be a clear strategy, owned by the business, and supported by IT.
• Engagement relies upon employees being able to see benefits, but also feel ownership of the social media platform.
• Cultural change must be considered alongside technology, as there may well be resistance to ‘sharing' in many organisations.
• Providing ROI is less of a priority if organisations begin with inexpensive social media tools, such as the free version of Yammer.
• Focus on engaging senior users and influential users who will share their knowledge on social media to deliver benefits and ‘show and tell' success stories.
• Don't kill the fun - around 15% of social media content may be non-work related but this is crucial in driving engagement and adoption.

The full report is available online here - free to logged in members of The Forum.