Enterprise 2.0 Harnessing Social Media

Enterprise 2.0Harnessing social media

Social media technologies are changing theway organizations do business and connectwith stakeholders. However, like all newtechnologies, social media also createscertain business exposures. To maximizeits potential within your organization,intelligent risk management is essential.

The emergence of Enterprise 2.0As the use of social media rises, a new version of business technology is alsodeveloping: Enterprise 2.0.Enterprise 2.0 refers to the use of social media, cloud computing, and mobiletechnology tools and platforms to create and exchange information and performfunctionality. It allows users to discuss, review, collaborate, entertain and buildcommunities. Participants can include various stakeholders, such as employees,customers, third parties and investors.Social media is a change agent that is transforming the way we do business andcommunicate. The paradigm has shifted from:• Web enablement to collective intelligence• Hierarchical to egalitarian organizations• Enterprise to customer brand ownership• Corporate command and control to corporate influence only• Information management to business networking• Small networks of strong ties to large networks of weak ties• One-to-many communication to many-to-many communicationMobile technology further expands the possibilities. For instance, the inclusionof contextual details, such as location, time, preferences, introduces a new frontierwith many untapped opportunities. Accordingly, at their most potent, Enterprise2.0 technologies rapidly create and disseminate content to a large community whilesimultaneously facilitating collaboration.While it may seem like an opportunity at present, soon social media usage, be itinternal or externally facing, will become commonplace in all organizations. Thosethat turn a blind-eye to this paradigm shift will likely be left behind.It’s no longer a question of whether or not yourorganization should consider social media – it’s time todecide how to capitalize on the undeniable opportunity. Enterprise 2.0 – Harnessing social media 1

Taking the plunge into social mediaSocial media technologies have been rapidly adopted by the general public and morerecently by organizations. Yet some companies remain reluctant to take the plungebecause they lack a clear strategy or a firm understanding of the risks. Skepticism canbe compounded for those who have experienced negative coverage on public socialmedia platforms. However, negative comments are typically generated by a small usersegment and are commonplace towards any company. In fact, a social media presenceof your own lets you minimize criticism, clarify facts, share your point of view andrespond to your customer base.That said, diving into social media without a strategy can be a risky affair. It’seasy enough to set up a business account on Facebook or implement an internalmicroblogging tool such as Yammer, but it’s essential to define objectives andunderstand the issues – and the risks – before you begin.For instance, most enterprises look to social media to:• Increase productivity and operational efficiency through communication• Foster creativity, innovation and collaboration• Enhance customer and stakeholder relationshipsA social media presence of your own lets youminimize criticism, clarify facts, share your pointof view and respond to your customer base.2 Enterprise 2.0 – Harnessing social media

The reach of public platformsDespite the validity of these goals, it can be difficult to determine which platform touse for your initiative. There are over 300 public social media platforms, many featuringmobile enablement and location-based services, and the number is growing. While thisscope may seem daunting, certain clear leaders now attract the bulk of online users.Acknowledging some overlap in functionality, the major social media platforms fall intosix categories.Figure 1 – Categorizing the social media space Entertainment Review & opinion YouTube, Eos, Epinions, Yelp, Miniclip.com, Google Answers, Kongregate, WikiAnswers, Sims Online Yahoo! Answers Collaboration Virtual community Wikipedia, Facebook, MySpace, Delicious, Digg, Twitter, SecondLife open source content Social media Location based Conversation services Facebook, LinkedIn, Augmented reality, WordPress, MySpace, QR codes, location Twitter awarenessThe major public platforms include the following:Figure 2 – Public social media platform reach in Canada Platform Type % reach in Canada Facebook Social networking 79% YouTube Video sharing 67% Blogger Blogging 43% Twitter Microblogging 13% LinkedIn Professional networking 9%Source ComScore MediaMetrix Canada (Nov. 2009)Among the over 25 million Canadian internet users, almost 20 million already converseon sites such as Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. It seems only natural for businesses toturn to social media platforms to connect with consumers. Enterprise 2.0 – Harnessing social media 3

Can social media mean business?The most popular social media platforms obviously have substantial reach, but to be employedeffectively, they must support organizational vision at a tactical and strategic level. Here are afew ways social media can be applied both internally and externally across an organization:Human Resources Support• Recruit by identifying suitable external candidates • Reduce costs and increase customer loyalty by• Highlight internal job opportunities quickly fielding common questions on platforms• Train and coach employees through videos such as Twitter and podcasts • Post “how-to” and self-help videos, so customers• Grow an alumni community can troubleshoot their own issues • Connect customers and allow them to supportMarketing each other in a moderated environment• Enhance customer loyalty by engaging in continuous conversation Innovation and R&D• Conduct market and competitive analysis by • Invite and leverage customer suggestions, analyzing user reviews, postings and reactions feedback and ideas in the product and• Create an internal community to determine service development cycle (e.g. through a marketing objectives and ensure consistency rewards-based contest)• Conduct orchestrated marketing campaigns • Involve all employees in the thought process by complementing traditional marketing with through internal collaboration tools a social media presence • Involve senior leadership in your social• Protect organizational reputation and brand media strategy to position the organization by actively monitoring and influencing social as a thought leader in the field media posts Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)Sales • Communicate existing policies and efforts• Generate leads and find new business • Engage stakeholders to provide input in order• Bolster in-store sales with increased access to receive instant feedback on what is sent out to customer reviews and potentially even • Learn what other companies in your industry product information on 2D tags are doing• Unify sales personnel with support and • Enhance your brand by keeping an ongoing CSR marketing to enable better service thereby social media channel, and mitigate the long-term generating more profit effects of any crisis• Provide targeted in-store advertisement and promotion through mobile platforms4 Enterprise 2.0 – Harnessing social media

Monitoring and analyticsTo assess organizational effectiveness in achieving any of these goals through socialmedia, monitoring and analytics are critical. Additionally, considering there is largeamount of user opinion and data available on social media platforms, how can yourorganization make sense of it all and construct meaningful connections? Here is wheresocial media monitoring and analytics come into play.Monitoring both detects and gathers relevant information from digital news and user-generated social media platforms. Analytics is the techniques that turn informationrelated to your industry, company, products and services into intelligence throughsentiment and relationship analysis. Both involve tracking and assessing user-generatedcontent on all digital platforms. As a result, analytics play a key role in gatheringuseful intelligence, protecting your brand and informing company strategy. Togethermonitoring and analytics tools provide: real-time alerts for important keywords,sentiment analysis (what users are saying – whether it is positive, negative or neutral)for brand, products and services, mapping of mentions (what is being said aboutcompany initiatives, products and services) and the creation of social graphs.Depending on your needs, these tools can help you:• Gauge consumer perceptions of products, brands and services• Use findings to rethink a brand or product in response to underlying consumer concerns• Enhance market research with unfiltered industry and competitor consumer reviewsEscalation control is another key benefit. Distraught customers who are influentialonline can – and will spread bad news and reviews quickly via services such as Twitterand Facebook. Constant monitoring and early engagement is important in limitingescalation and defines a new frontier in customer relationship management (CRM).The growing importance lies in cutting through unavoidable noise inuser-generated content, making sense of what is being heard andputting analytics findings into context. Data mining is a fruitlesseffort unless intelligence and insight can be generated and usedto develop an actionable business strategy. Enterprise 2.0 – Harnessing social media 5

Risks and rewardsThe risks associated with social media are different for employee and corporateapplications. However all are very real and must be considered.Personal employee usageExternal information sharing by employees, both accidental and intentional, cancompromise vital data, yet external employee usage of social media is difficult tocontrol. Easy access from smartphones and cell phones makes regulating socialmedia usage nearly impossible. Such actions may also hinder recruiting, as candidatesincreasingly seek firms that understand their needs. A better solution is to advise andtrain employees on acceptable use according to a clear internal policy. Employees mustbe conscious and wary of what they post, especially when they are representing thecompany. Providing tangible examples of both appropriate and inappropriate use isthe key to effective training and education.Corporate social media presenceThe web is a powerful medium. Information can instantly be transmitted to a largeaudience, with little to no control over content. Companies must be aware of thepotential impacts of social media engagement. For instance, microblogging toolssuch as Twitter may seem ideal for fielding user concerns, but improper handlingof customer issues could lead to unnecessary escalation.The need for caution is clear, but the advantages of executing a well-planned socialmedia strategy are substantial. It is a highly cost-effective means of marketingand promotion. Companies can easily reach out to consumers and stakeholders,strengthening relationships by engaging them on a more intimate and individual basis.Also, a presence in the social media space can help you limit the spread of damagingand inaccurate information, a danger for any company. You can provide correct factsas well as your organization’s perspective on issues and limit your organization’s legal,regulatory and privacy risks.An effective governance model and training for everyone representing the companythrough social media are strategically vital starting points for entering the socialmedia space.40% of companies ban social media, citing productivity lossand security as major concerns. The remaining companies haveeither left the matter unaddressed or attempted to institute apolicy, often providing inadequate training or awareness.6 Enterprise 2.0 – Harnessing social media

Going to marketOnce you have a better idea of social media and its possibilities, the next step isto chart out a plan for establishing or enhancing your organization’s presence. Thisinvolves some important considerations, including strategy, governance, programmanagement, technology and change management. To prepare, it is important toanswer the following questions:1. What is our strategy, and how do we differentiate ourselves from peers and competitors?2. What business outcomes are we looking to achieve through social media?3. What is our governance model?4. What are our roles and responsibilities, and legal, regulatory and privacy obligations?5. What is our implementation plan, and how do we integrate it with other business initiatives?6. What cultural factors should we consider?7. What technology platform is suitable, and where do we host our solution and relevant data?8. What processes do we need to manage and operate effectively?9. What monitoring, measurement and analytics capabilities do we need?A social media strategy that supports organizational objectives will address eachof these critical issues. This will ultimately position you to both mitigate risk andseize emerging opportunities.Figure 3 – An iterative process is needed for effective risk managementin the rapidly changing social media landscape Collect information Assess Analyze & risks develop intelligence Plan & execute Enterprise 2.0 – Harnessing social media 7

Talk to us about developing a risk intelligent social mediastrategy for your organization.To learn more about how Deloitte’s professionals can help your organizationbalance the opportunities and risk of social media, contact your Deloitte riskmanagement advisor.Reza Kopaee Valerie Chort416-601-5938 416-601-6147rkopaee@deloitte.ca vchort@deloitte.caTerry Stuart Richard Lee416-874-4341 416-874-3248testuart@deloitte.ca richlee@deloitte.caBrent Houlden Jennifer Lee416-643-8788 416-874-3344bhoulden@deloitte.ca jenniferlee@deloitte.caTerry Hatherell Perry Finklestein416-643-8434 416-874-3196thatherell@deloitte.ca pfinklestein@deloitte.caMiyo Yamashita Marcel Labelle416-601-6211 514-393-5472miyoyamashita@deloitte.ca mlabelle@deloitte.ca8 Enterprise 2.0 – Harnessing social media

Whitepaper prepared by Deloitte Enterprise Risk Services Emerging Technology Risk GroupEnterprise 2.0 Kopaee and Saksham Uppal Reza – Harnessing social media 9

www.deloitte.caDeloitte, one of Canada’s leading professional services firms, provides audit, tax, consulting, and financialadvisory services through more than 7,600 people in 57 offices. Deloitte operates in Québec as Samson Bélair/Deloitte & Touche s.e.n.c.r.l. Deloitte & Touche LLP, an Ontario Limited Liability Partnership, is the Canadianmember firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited.Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee,and its network of member firms, each of which is a legally separate and independent entity. Please see www.deloitte.com/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited and itsmember firms.© Deloitte & Touche LLP and affiliated entities. 10-693G

Enterprise 2.0 Harnessing Social Media

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