Social networking sites and social media applications continue to be considered potential time-wasters by some, but the technologies represent the latest in communications tools, which can only benefit IT.
IT industry watchers will continue to debate the merits of social networking sites and social media applications for security and productivity reasons, but the argument gets weak when dealing with the potential of the technology in the hands of IT organizations.
The arguments against social networking sites usually fall on the side of loss of productivity and potential security holes, but restricting employee access to such resources could in some cases hinder their work environment and stall their efforts to get stuff done. For instance, this week Network World posted two sides to a technology debate around blocking social network sites. The side in favor of restricting employee access to such sites pointed to productivity and security, but didn’t discount the value of professional social networking sites such as LinkedIn. The argument seems set on distinguishing between the types of sites because of the nature of the users of such sites, which would quickly become a drawn out debate with no clear conclusion in most organizations.
“Users of LinkedIn and other professional networking sites tend to be more discriminating. One of the differences seems to be what’s in it for the user: to the business user, if there’s no professional benefit, it goes ignored; whereas, to the home user, it’s all about entertainment, and any invitation or link offers that promise,” wrote Chris Poulin, chief security office at Q1 Labs in the article.
The side against restricting access took on the productivity argument quickly, reiterating that most employees that would be accessing social networking sites aren’t working 8-hour shifts and often work from locations other than the office.
“But the premise that productivity suffers is flawed at its core. It assumes employees work only eight hours and that time spent online eats into the limited time available for work,” wrote Shel Holtz, principal of Holtz Communication + Technology in the article. “It also assumes employees never work away from the office, an absurd (and disproven) assumption in the world of 24/7 connectedness.”
Companies with employees adept at social networking could use that experience to build better products. According to a blog post by Forrester Research’s Doug Williams, social media does for companies what it does for the individual: it helps them engage and interact with others.
“Social technologies like online communities, Facebook, Twitter, company blogs and Webs sites, provide [Consumer Product Strategy] CPS professionals with relatively easy access to engaged consumers. Through a combination of listening and embracing, companies can understand what unmet needs exist in the market today, recognize where current products are coming up short, tap the wisdom of the crowd to test ideas, and develop relationships with engaged consumers to drive new concepts into the market,” the blog reads.
In her Forrester Research blog, Elizabeth Herrell wrote about the benefits of unified communications. She shared data from a Forrester survey of 444 key network and telecom decision makers, which showed 62% of respondents experienced improved collaboration among workers. And the second most cited benefit by 46% of respondents was “faster problem resolution.”
Why can’t that premise be applied to professionals working in IT? IT organizations are working to please customers and deliver services and often receive criticism for their efforts. Now with more employee self-service portals, IT has been able to reduce the labor involved in solving problems. Equipping end-users with more tools to communicate their problems seems that it would benefit an IT organization. Why not extend the use of unified communications to collaborating with social networking sites and tools?
What is your company’s position on social networking sites or the use of social media applications? Do you think the productivity and security claims are valid? How can IT managers benefit from opening up communications with its customers via social networking? Please leave a comment here or let me know directly via e-mail at Denise.Dubie@ca.com.
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