My colleage, Carmela Wong, sits on the AIIM Social Business TaskForce, and I'd like to welcome her to the AIIM Community Blog to discuss ABBYY’s view on this everchanging world of social business.
Guest Post by Carmela Wong, ABBYY USA
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“Why is it that I know what my ex-girlfriend had for dinner and don’t know what’s going on in my own organization?” – Tony Zingale, CEO, Jive
Well said, Tony. I couldn’t agree more, and have to say that it is quite true. Social media has changed our line of communications and the way we receive information, and I’m happy to say that our industry is taking an active role to change the way organizations use social media.
It is clear that we live in a world that is highly reliant on social and virtual communications. We have learned from the bottom up that the social environment is not going away. Consumers have taught us that there is power in being proactive, collaborative, and connected. In the industry, and in our individual organizations, we have started to rewire our own nervous systems to change the way we share information. We have started to work in a social business.
The AIIM Social Business taskforce has defined social business as the use of social technologies to improve internal collaboration and external customer engagement. While it may begin with setting up Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn accounts for commercial services, and implementing social technologies in the enterprise, social business goes far beyond that. As a group, the taskforce has sketched out a roadmap of social business processes, with the goal of enabling organizations to “leverage social technologies within a culture of collaboration, openness, and sharing to streamline and improve the way organizations conduct business.”
While social business certainly is a less traditional method of sharing information, it is extremely effective. It is not a passing fad, or going away. Ultimately, the use of social media in the workplace facilitates accessibility and interaction. These components are critical to information sharing, and can be utilized to improve agility and efficiency within the workplace, resulting in revenue creation opportunities.
From the OCR and capture standpoint, there is a strong connection into the content being transmitted across social channels. We are constantly looking at various ways to integrate document capture into social media to help people easily extract the information they need from the world around them. There is a lot of opportunity as far as integrating capture on the backend to create and facilitate a collaborative and social business process.
It’s hard to believe that even with the demand we have seen for constant communications, and the strides we have taken with the AIIM Social Business task force, nearly 50% of organizations still ban staff from accessing sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube during working hours. There is a great opportunity to use social technology to engage our staff and customers, and I urge all businesses alike to join the movement. You can start by attending the AIIM Social Business Virtual Conference on September 8th, 2011 to learn how these operations fit into your organization.
The social consumer has evolved more rapidly, but the enterprise is getting there. There have been challenges, including integration and privacy, but so long as our industry continues to make strides with the idea of the social workforce, we will get there.
I currently sit on the AIIM social business task force, and will continue to periodically update you on the issues and trends that our industry faces. In the mean time, I invite you to review the roadmap and attend the virtual conference, and share with me what you think will make the transition to social business smoother.
#business #social