Today, tens of millions of people use social technologies such as Facebook, Twitter and Yelp in their personal lives to stay in touch with friends, expand their personal networks and share ideas and information.
So, it should come as no surprise that a similar trend is sweeping through the workplace, with social business technologies such as Yammer, Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Lync and Microsoft Dynamics CRM playing a greater role in the office and beyond.
According to new global research from Microsoft, employees at all levels have become increasingly aware of the value social technologies can bring to their organizations and make them more productive and collaborative across both teams and geographies (because let’s face it, many companies operate in numerous areas of the world in real time.) Nearly half of employees report that social tools at work help increase their productivity, but more than 30 percent of companies underestimate the value of these tools and often restrict their use.
“Social is moving from a nice-to-have tool to a necessity in the workplace,” says Adam Pisoni, Microsoft’s general manager of Yammer, in a Microsoft News Center feature story today. "As all companies are faced with the increasing pace of change, they need to leverage the power and knowledge of employees more than their current technologies allow. Just as email accelerated business in the 90s, social tools are driving a faster flow of knowledge and information within and across organizations.”
And while the survey found that employees now recognize the value of social technologies in greater numbers, it’s equally important to recognize that introducing these technologies into the work environment has to be done right – otherwise, it’s just one more website employees have to log into during the workday.
Head over the Microsoft News Center to learn more details about the new survey on how employees feel social tools can increase productivity and give businesses better results, read the feature story on how enterprise social technology is making the workplace flat, and check out more tips on how to start deploying enterprise social tools at your work.
Posted by Jeff Meisner
Editor, The Official Microsoft Blog