Social Media Changes Customer Service, Enterprise Collaboration

To say that change is coming to the enterprise is like saying the sun will rise in the east tomorrow.

But even while change has been a constant factor in data infrastructure since the first mainframe was deployed, it seems that both the pace and the scope of changes taking place today are knocking on the very pillars of IT, threatening to remake the entire industry into something completely unrecognizable in a few short years.

Indeed, the very notion of what is and is not the enterprise seems very much in the air as virtualization and the cloud spread responsibility for data infrastructure across multiple independent organizations that could conceivably reside on opposite sides of the globe. At the same time, new technologies like SSDs and high-speed, unified networking are starting to tear down much of what is considered to be "the data center" to the point that the very role of IT as an enterprise asset is starting to come into question.

The drivers behind all of this are the increasingly sophisticated demands of the user. Where workers were once content to engage in data environments for simple communications and number crunching, the norm these days is a highly collaborative, always-on experience in which the entire relationship between individual and work environment is defined by the level of access to IT resources. And that means if you don't have the means to accommodate user needs, they will simply go out on their own and get them.

"Cloud computing and social networking are two key drivers of change in the current IT landscape," said Michael Keen, vice president of presales at management and automation system developer ASG Software. "These drivers are forcing the hands of many IT executives to come up with a strategy, and a way to execute against that strategy, to drive agility and flexibility in their infrastructure so they can provide a quick and efficient way for IT to adapt to these changes. Traditional enterprise IT models have always emphasized an opposite view — that change is not the norm, but the exception. However, in today’s current IT landscape, rapid change is the norm and IT must evolve their enterprise models, people, processes and technology to acknowledge this shift."

The challenge, however, is to adapt to these changing environments quickly enough to keep pace with user expectations, but not too quickly so that the new systems and architectures are left obsolete before their full value can be realized.

"Being able to adapt to change is critical to any organization’s success, so it is imperative that (IT) develop a standards-based framework that leverages best-of-breed technologies and components to create a new level of integration between business processes and IT," Keen said. "In addition, IT needs to build their new organization with four fundamental ideals in mind; simplification, standardization, modularity and integration. By applying these ideals they can lay the groundwork for an infrastructure that will meet the demands of their customers, business partners, external customers, etc."

Companies have extended these collaborative networks to include partners and customers too.

"Social networking is a key competitive tactic for companies," said Datamation Senior Managing Editor James Maguire. "The companies that understand it and use it will enjoy a major advantage. Those that don't will fall behind.

"The idea of a central gathering place for customers, clients and employees is vital," he added. "This is true in terms of work collaboration and also brand awareness. Social networking turns the Internet into a community, and in a splintered, time-pressured world, community is one of the most valuable assets a business can have. Community enables workers and customers to invest, to become part of something, rather than merely consume."

Social features are also being built into enterprise applications like CRM, business intelligence and business process management (BPM).

"Knowledge workers using those apps will be 'social,' in some cases without even realizing it," said Ann All, managing editor of Enterprise Apps Today. "Folks are more likely to collaborate while working within an application rather than exiting an app to collaborate with their coworkers."

All points to the "socialization of intranets" as another trend, making the intranet a hub for social activity and centralizing much of it so it's there for ready reference. "It's especially important given that it can help create opportunities for cross-departmental collaboration that no one may have thought of before just by increasing transparency and encouraging a more cohesive view of an organization's activities," she said.

All sees TIBCO's tibbr as one to watch in the social collaboration space.

"TIBCO, because of its BPM background, already has an edge when it comes to integration and process-centric workflows," said All, who adds that there are no clear leaders yet in the enterprise social media space. "It seems like we've been talking about 'social' forever, but it's still in its infancy, really — at least when it comes to the enterprise."

Security, Interoperability and Mobile Challenges

Sean Michael Kerner, a senior editor at Internet News and Linux Today, notes that all this socialization can also present security challenges. "From a security point of view, collaboration is still a risk and a big money opportunity for software vendors looking to lock down enterprise compliance," he said. "After all, how can you share information without there being proper policy and control for data loss and integrity?"

Kerner adds that social enterprises still lack full multi-vendor interoperable convergence. "Lots of vendors talk about it, but no one truly delivers it today," he said. "For example, while Cisco, Facebook, Google and IBM all use the XMPP standard protocol for presence and messaging, how many of us have actually managed to successfully collaborate across those four vendor environments from a single interface?"

Kerner and Maguire see mobile as critical to the future of social media both within and outside corporations; after all, that's how many social applications are consumed.

"Instagram's $1 billion sale proved that social connectivity is the killer app for mobile, and I suspect it's a lesson that will not be lost on enterprise software developers," said Kerner.


by Arthur Cole, IT Business Edge
http://www.itbusinessedge.com/