Engagement(@(Scale(in(the(Large(Enterprise!
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Current'State'of'Social'Engagement'inside'the'Large'Enterprise'
August'2012'
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2012!Engagement!@!Scale!Survey!Report!
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About'the'Social'Business'Council'
Established in 2009, the Social Business Council (SBC) is a member-driven peer forum of business
professionals from large organizations that are engaged in an enterprise-wide social business initiative.
Members share best practices, advice, encouragement and experiential insights regarding every aspect of
social business transformation. The SBC includes industry representation from a variety of G2000 sectors
including:
• Accounting, Professional Services
• Aerospace & Defense
• Automotive
• Biotechnology
• Consumer Products Goods
• Chemicals
• Education
• Electronics
• Energy
• Engineering and Construction
• Entertainment
• Financial Services
• Food & Beverage
• Health Care
• Information Technology
• Insurance
• Manufacturing
• Media/Publishing
• Oil & Gas
• Pharmaceuticals
• Professional Services
• Retail
• Science
• Semiconductor Design and Production
• Telecommunications
• Travel
The SBC specializes in shared experiences of the largest enterprises in the world. It is the largest peer-to-peer
knowledge-sharing community for active Social Business practitioners.
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2012!Engagement!@!Scale!Survey!Report!
Introduction'
Large enterprises began looking seriously at internal social collaboration platforms approximately
three years ago, in 2009. Among the early adopters, considerable effort and expense has been
invested in realizing the benefits that large-scale social collaboration can deliver to a global
workforce. Chief among those benefits is a desire to wire together and expose the institutional
know-how of its extensive employee base.
The challenge with introducing social collaboration software is not limited to the new technology
itself, but rather with introducing new modes of behavior for corporate employees. Early adopters
repeatedly emphasize how the cultural aspects of the social collaboration journey are far more
rigorous and demand serious attention.
The companies that participated in our survey are very large (billion-dollar) enterprises, most with a
global presence on several continents. This survey asks the question, “How far along are the
leading early adopters?” More importantly, how do the largest enterprises in the world compare
their progress against their peers?
Methodology'
We ran a simple 10–question survey against our membership. We received 70 responses, but
eliminated all firms whose worldwide revenues were under one billion USD in 2011 revenues. We
also eliminated survey responses that were incomplete. The resultant data set constituted 56
responses. The survey ran from July 9 until August 14, 2012.
Size'of'Company'by'Employee'Count'and'Revenue'
The smallest company in our survey had 4,000 employees. The largest had 1.8M. The scatter chart
below demonstrates the majority of responses for company size fell roughly below $100B and less
than 500K employees. The smallest company had $2B in 2011 revenues; the largest, $375B.
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Countries'Represented'
The survey respondents contributed primarily from the US and Europe.
Survey'Questions'
We asked the following ten questions:
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Responses!
Workforce'Penetration'
We wanted to know if the social engagement initiative was targeted at the entire workforce.
Access'to'the'Platform'
We then wanted to know what percentage of the workforce has a login today to the social
platform among those whom the platform is designed to serve.
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The largest modal frequency was the 100% mention, but it’s important to note that less than 25%
of the workforce was also mentioned frequently. It’s also worth noting that simply having a login
does not signify active engagement. Several enterprise social platforms support LDAP integration
with the company directory, so all employees by default have a profile page and account
automatically.
We then wanted to know if the percentage of the workforce that has access was less than 100%,
we wanted to know why. The following are some of the responses we received that were typical
of most participants:
• Only knowledge-workers have access. Plant, factory floor workers and contractors do not
have access.
• Certain jobs do not use PCs, have email addresses or network profiles.
• Certain countries have restrictions.
• Company is in the pilot phase with a test group. Just embarking on social journey.
• The platform is opt-in and requires initial training and/or education on why to use it.
Ownership'
We wanted to know who “owns” social within the enterprise. We asked respondents to list
multiple departments if ownership was distributed among several areas.
It’s not surprising that the majority of members indicated IT is either leading or is actively involved in
the social collaboration strategy of the company. Yet, that nearly 40% of members indicated
corporate communications is actively involved or owns the platform is viewed positively. Social
platforms are becoming the de facto channel for mass information distribution and sharing among
the enterprises that are progressing fastest with full-scale adoption.
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Popular'Social'Components'
Our members were interested to know in rank order of importance, which elements of the social
collaboration platform was most widely in use.
Engagement'Snapshot'
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Member’s assessment of true engagement was the most eye-opening survey response we received:
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More than half, 57%, of the survey respondents pegged a mere 10-20% of their eligible workforce
as active. There were no members who indicated 100% of their eligible employees were active on
the platform.
Many industry pundits and insiders frequently state how early we are in the market, but this new
data suggests some very good news, as well as some bad news. The good news is this market has a
long way to go before it moves from innovator and early adopter status to early majority.
Understand that members of the Social Business Council are among the earliest early adopters.
When we discuss how long it will take to reach full deployment, estimates range from five to ten
years. This fact was recently reinforced by a recently released report by the McKinsey Global
Institute,1!!
“The%speed%and%scale%of%adoption%of%social%technologies%by%consumers%has%exceeded%that%
of%previous%technologies.%Yet,%consumers%and%companies%are%far%from%capturing%the%full%
potential%impact%of%these%technologies…Today,%only%5%percent%of%all%communications%and%
content%use%in%the%United%States%takes%place%on%social%networks.”%
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Of course, our data collection represents social collaboration primarily intra-enterprise vs. external
or extended enterprise. With the expansion of social collaboration beyond and through the
firewall, the macro market opportunity becomes recognizably expansive.
The bad news is our members express frustration regarding the slow pace of adoption and
engagement. Most point to the need for more investment in the soft side of the business, namely
education, awareness campaigns, and traditional change management. There is also an expressed
interest in use-case-based legacy platform integration.
This sentiment is also reinforced in the recent McKinsey report:
“Capturing%the%full%potential%value%from%the%use%of%social%technologies%will%require%
transformational%changes%in%organizational%structures,%processes,%and%practices,%as%well%
as%a%culture%compatible%with%sharing%and%openness.%As%with%earlier%waves%of%IT%
innovation,%it%could%take%years%for%the%benefits%to%be%fully%realized,%because%these%
management%innovations%must%accompany%technological%innovations.%The%greatest%
benefits%will%be%realized%by%organizations%that%have%or%can%develop%open,%nonHhierarchical,%
knowledgeHsharing%cultures.”%
Bottom line: Although full-scale adoption and engagement is reported as slow in the large
enterprise, there is ample opportunity for growth and innovation to accelerate the pace of adoption.
Creative new technology and organizational design approaches are positioned well to meet this
need.
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1
!The!social!economy:!Unlocking!value!and!productivity!through!social!technologies,!McKinsey!&!
Company,!July!2012.!
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Integration'of'Social'Disciplines'
We were interested to learn whether social practices inside and outside of the enterprise were
being meaningfully integrated in any way. Similar to our findings regarding the engagement status,
the majority of members indicated there was no meaningful integration to date among the survey
participants.
In aggregate, essentially 96% of the respondents indicated there was no meaningful integration
between what the company was doing externally (e.g., social media outreach, customer and
supplier communities) and internally with their social collaboration platforms. That said, 45%
indicated there was intent to explore this at a future date.2
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2
!Respondents!answered,!“Not!yet,!Not!at!this!time,!On!the!roadmap,!Not!for!the!time!being,!etc.)!
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Additional'Insights'
We asked if there were any additional comments members could add regarding their current state
of engagement. The comments below are representative of the variety of responses we received.
• It’s been more difficult to engage employees than previously assessed!
• Change management is hard; keep fighting! :)
• Work in progress. IT doesn't understand the true 'social' collaboration.
• Lots and lots of lurkers, but small percentage of people brave enough to participate. Middle
management is the biggest barrier and the least willing to adopt it or see value in it.
• It is growing, but extremely difficult to grow beyond 50%. Change management and
investment of resources to handhold the remaining audience for adoption is not available. I
think we are at least 3 years away from complete adoption after being in production for 3
years.
• As one of the advocates for the installation of the platform, it is frustrating how it is not
being promoted internally. Its akin to having a telephone system installed where only 10%
of employees get a phone or are even told about the existence of phones!
• It is changing the way we work and truly flattening the organization. Trust and transparency
are key to the success of this effort.
• Leadership is lacking involvement. The culture here has fear of retribution. You do not have
permission NOT to know. Employees rarely discuss issues or ask for help openly. Silos are
prominent. We are focused on changing those behaviors and mindsets but need the
support from the leadership team in order to move the needle.
• Huge potential - conservative adoption - top management reluctance to "release" another
new initiative. Traditional challenges in a somewhat conservative industry and company
• Adoption is very slow. Users are having a hard time understanding the value of the initiative
for their daily work.
• Adoption has been influenced at different times by regulatory control, confidentiality
concerns and internal transformation pressures.
Summary'
As expected, change moves slowly through the billion-dollar, multinational enterprise. Yet the
realization that such a large percentage of our survey participants still have yet to interest 80-90% of
their targeted user base in working socially and collaboratively on social collaboration platforms is
illuminating. From our vantage point, this report accurately reflects the state of current engagement
among the largest enterprises in the world.
It’s important to note, however, that our members collectively view their initiatives as successful.
None have indicated abandoning the trajectory toward full deployment or scaling back their
initiatives. This report brings to light their concerns, yet does not diminish their optimism toward
ultimately transforming their organizations to become truly, end-to-end social businesses.3
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3
!See!Social!Maturity!at!Scale:!From!Evangelism!to!Engagement,!Dachis!Group,!June!14,!2012,!
http://bit.ly/PNUkpt!
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