The anti-social network

The buzz around social networks is inescapable, and it is now moving from the realm of the purely personal into the business world. But when I speak with execs, there is an unmistakable wariness about the benefits coupled with a lingering concern for time wasting. Considering the highly personal and often trivial nature of interactions on popular social networks, it is easy to see why there is deep skepticism about the value of any social media in the business environment. However, a closer look reveals that there are quantifiable benefits that go beyond the purely ‘feel-good’ factor and can materially benefit both managers and dramatically improve employee productivity.

All businesses always operate in essentially one of two modes; when things go according to plan, and when they don't. When things go as they should, automation is straightforward and your systems take care of everything. Such data-driven processes are the lifeblood of most enterprises and it is here that the heavy lifting of transaction oriented software such as CRM and ERP make their mark. There is though, a whole other world of processes to capture corner cases and one-offs - when things don't go according to plan - that are people-driven.

'Where are we with that contract? Can we stop shipment on this order? Who authorized that?' Sorting out the urgent from the merely important is a critical skill. Successful executives are familiar with the demands this chaotic atmosphere. They are adept at prioritizing the handful of tasks they must do today, over the 50 things they could do that same day. In these people-driven processes, management frequently has to intervene, and in such cases, visibility is crucial. The earlier an intervention can take place, the greater the chance of success.

It is here that social media tools shine. Not by befriending a colleague who shares a passion for snowboarding, but by enabling a VP of Sales to know the availability of the General Counsel and the whereabouts of the relevant Product Manager when a deal needs to close. Employees can connect remotely to collaborate on joint work such as RFP's. Presence information can guide you to message someone you know is at their desk rather than out to lunch for a quick response. Access to repository information 24/7 without waiting on gatekeepers, gives back time on deadline.

We can look at 'chat' as a technology with an association of frivolity when it was first introduced. Now several years later it has made great strides in penetrating corporate America. Initially, many in business were skeptical of the benefits. Today though the technology has matured to fit in with enterprise security policies, in many cases forming what is in effect a 'closed' system. Most customer support organizations depend on chat to fix issues in minutes rather than days.

All of these cases hinge on access as you might expect, but it is inherently a controlled form of access. With significant financial impact riding on much of this content, networking is not about connecting to anybody and everybody; it is about access to critical resources. Those resources include people, their schedules and their work product (often in document form). Security and filtered access then becomes essential and denying access is as important as providing it. It's appropriate for the VP of Sales to get a fast path access to legal, but not for every sales person. This is the anti-social network - connecting critical path resources with no extraneous noise. Not popular personal networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, but instead an emerging class of enterprise-grade social media tools that are now starting to address this requirement. The real benefit of social networking for business is in better managing chaos and creating time on deadline. However to do this effectively, any social networking tool must conform to the privacy and security expectations of the enterprise

Joe Ruck is President and CEO of BoardVantage. Previously, he was senior vice president of marketing at Interwoven and has held sales, marketing and executive positions at Sun Microsystems, Network Appliance, and Genesys Telecommunications, subsequently acquired by Alcatel.