Facebook or Twitter for the enterprise?

Social media is changing enterprise IT, and AIIM research shows that 47% of employees 18-30 years old now expect to use the same type of networking tools with their business colleagues as they do with their friends and family. The number changes to 37% for employees 31-45 years old, but many business and IT executives worry about the potential loss of productivity in addition to security and privacy issues by having staff access Facebook and Twitter during working hours. Many companies prefer therefore to go for hosted or in-house Social Messaging systems like Yammer and Lotus Connection to ensure they can secure and manage the environment.

Business and IT executives are now starting to realize that social networks within an enterprise enable a company to react and adapt more quickly. Social Messaging is the exchange of information in real time by staff and executives. It makes status updates by staff available to the whole network (except if it has been limited to partial networks), which helps colleagues learn what other colleagues are working on, of important events, or relevant information.

Social Messaging increases transparency of the processes and business activities in which the employees are involved in. Topics and problems are now brought to light, which before were only addressed in discussions and meetings within project teams and departments. Such systems therefore promote the exchange of information, the transfer of knowledge, the solving of problems, and the collaboration in the company.

The industry association AIIM has now introduced a Social Messaging Vendor Study that helps companies identify and procure the right solution based on their requirement. The report produced in partnership with N:Sight in Germany provides a detailed analysis and comparisons of social messaging systems for the enterprise. For more information about the new report, visit http://www.aiim.org/Research/Product-Studies/Social-Messaging