Few Enterprises have realized that Social Networks are vital components to the success of their digital transformation. Although, from a strategic point of view, these solutions can add significant value to an Enterprise and play a crucial role in bettering their working culture and increasing productivity. Once the perspective shifts beyond the technological aspect, Enterprises will start to realize the power of such networks and get on the right track to utilizing their full potential. Let’s now shed some light on the main benefits of Enterprise Social Networks:
Overcoming hierarchies and encouraging cross-level dialogue
Implementing an Enterprise Social Network can be considered as a significant shift in today’s business paradigm. One can accelerate changes when all levels are involved. Overcoming any strict and formal hierarchical structures will hence encourage cross-level communication and interactions and create an environment characterized by openness, direct and active interactions. Employees who never interacted beyond their teams before, can now go beyond any boundaries, abandon their anonymity and get their voice heard. Shifting from a top-down, army-like communication will not only lead to benefits such as enhancing the employees sense of acknowledgment and increasing satisfaction, but will also help to unveil hidden talents and underutilized assets within the Enterprise.
Knowledge management, collaboration, and communication
Enterprise Social Networks encourage sharing of knowledge. Instead of growing endless silos and factions, it’s better to promote cooperation and communication and make them the credo. Employees from various departments, across the floor or miles away, working remotely at home or hitting the road for a business trip: the flow and storage of information, files, and other resources is accessible, and communication will move beyond e-mails and phone calls and make it more centralized and transparent. And why not learn from each other and benefit from everyone’s expertise? Open, the collaborative interaction will unlock an Enterprise’s productivity just as the increased mobility. Hidden knowledge, false and misleading information will be overcome by correctly utilizing a Social Networks features.
The agony of choice
With the growing use of Social Networks in daily life, one might think about encouraging employee engagement through adopting a social network-like solution that won’t require much training or time to adapt. However, offering the same user experience as leading social networks has often proven to be a challenge. Other than that, there are growing concerns regarding data privacy with recent scandals that made millions of people all around the world decide to quit and stop using social networks. Therefore, one significant criterion in determining what Enterprise Social Network you are going to adopt is data privacy and integrity.
If you are all set and have made the decision to adopt an Enterprise Social Network, be conscious that employees are likely to come up with questions, to which you would have by now obtained answers such as ones regarding their data privacy. It’s time to think of how to succeed in implementing your Enterprise Social Network thus making it a digital workplace where every employee finds an added value.
Hence, make sure that both your Enterprise vision and Social Network are ones that spur collaboration, empowers employees, encourage internal communication and fosters the core values of your Enterprise.