How Social Business is Becoming Cloud Computing

DYLAN PERSAUD

13 years ago

How Social Business is Becoming Cloud Computing

March 13th, 2012

The phrases “Social Media” or “The Social Enterprise” is becoming very popular and is permeating companies at a rapid rate. The social enterprise means different things to different people. How it is deployed, what is included, who is part of the equation, where does it start and stop, how do you mitigate risk w.r.t. to the social aspects are all different decisions that an organization must make to implement social strategies.

Social is now becoming mainstream as did cloud a few years ago. Now that cloud has taken root in the enterprise and organizations are using cloud in all aspects of their company social is starting to take that same path of penetration to organizations. Organizations have a lot of decisions to make as to how to implement and where to start. This is after all enterprise software that must be handled with the same conviction and urgency as any other critical business application.

The problem with social is that companies do not know where to start as was the case with cloud. Which platform to implement, what solutions, how integrations are handled are all areas where organizations must assess before they execute their social media strategy. As education and research becomes more readily available for the social realm of the enterprise, companies will begin to understand what social means in their capacity. Because each organizational differ one size does not fit all or one model may not work for every organization. If for instance you target B2B as opposed to B2C your strategy not only differs but may also require different tools to achieve your social media strategy and objectives.

Social is still very much in its infancy. Software vendors however are doing a good job as to capturing requirements and incorporating those features/functions in their software giving organizations multiple choices. By incorporating many areas under the social umbrella social media has developed into segmented areas itself as several new software categories have emerged from social alone. Like many other systems the variety is still confusing for organizations. Heed caution when evaluating social systems as they are enterprise systems with the same IT failure, ROI and TCO factors as other enterprise systems.

Eval‐Source is a consulting firm that provides enterprise software selection and strategic technology consulting services for organizations. Our consulting practices encompass cloud and on-premise software evaluation services, ERP, Supply Chain strategy, social media and technology consulting. Eval‐Source is an industry leader in the analysis of software technology and our thought leadership has placed us in the elite of consulting/analyst firms. What sets us apart is our unbiased best in class consulting services that provide our clients with value, direction and success in selection, planning and infrastructure planning of their technology systems. Eval-Source can assist organizations in any phase of their selection process.