It’s a harsh truth: Most enterprise CIOs do not know how social media can benefit their organizations. One significant factor is the pressure placed on CIOs to keep the shop running and ensure the IT agenda is aligned with business objectives. IT needs to deliver on the priorities of the business, and if the business does not see or understand the benefits of social media, such initiatives are unlikely to get funded.
However, that should not prevent the CIO from developing the foundational knowledge not only for him/herself, but, more importantly, to help educate the business constituents on how social media can bring immense value to the organization.
CIOs who recognize the importance of innovation, of helping organizations think outside the box, and of ensuring competitive position through the use of technology need to bring innovation to the organization -- particularly now. It is essential for IT leadership to collaborate with business stakeholders to leverage social media as a competitive advantage.
Social media are part of the technology evolution that began with the mainframe (which let organizations process massive amount of data) and moved to personal computers (to help distribute and empower end users) and then to the Internet (which enabled global connectivity and commerce).
Simply having a presence on Twitter or a business page on Facebook does not qualify as innovation with social media. I see those actions as table stakes and fundamental for any organization entering the social media arena.
In addition to essentially developing a social media strategy with the business, CIOs need to prepare their organizations for the implementation of a social media solution. This is where major challenges will emerge for the IT organization. Most social media platforms are cloud-based (SaaS), which raises a number of issues about data security and operational readiness.
For instance, here are two main issues CIOs will need to address in implementing cloud-based social software.
Data security: The consistent challenge being posed by chief information security officers is that data in the cloud is not secure, and the organization cannot afford the risks of data being compromised. All aspects of applications, data, infrastructure, provisioning, and the like need to be 100 percent locked down, and a rigorous process must be developed for any “exceptions.”
It is incumbent on the SaaS provider to work with the client to ensure the concerns are addressed through a thorough review of the infrastructure, including security guidelines and protocols that have been implemented to protect the client’s information.
Operational readiness: Both the SaaS service provider and the client must develop a framework to accommodate the nuances of how solutions are deployed within each environment. You have one extreme where solutions are developed and deployed using waterfall development methodologies (a traditional enterprise approach driven by tollgates, milestones, etc.) and another extreme where solutions are developed and deployed on a daily basis. The paradigms do not mix well, and it is essential for the enterprise to be able to work with the SaaS provider on a plan for integration.
The call to action is for CIOs: Get educated on the social media domain, partner with business stakeholders on the development of a social media strategy, and work within the IT organization to ensure it is operationally ready for any level of integration with SaaS providers.
I've also seen many CIOs jumping at the ability to throw everything into social media. Most times alittle to prematurely.
Lets take for example Google+ - When speaking with them last week they had a TERRIFIC security program built into their solution, they're Google they have the money, but the privacy aspect of it was terrifiying.
I think cloud providers are getting much better with the actually physical and information security, but the privacy of the data is what concerns me now with social media.
Great point about being selective and thoughtful about social network use. Today, our radio guest, CIO Brian Margolies, told us that social networking would not be of use to his firm, Allied Beverage, a distributor.
Sometimes it seems everyone is mouthing the latest words about "social" without really giving it much thought. No one wants to be off message -- until it starts to sound silly to pretend the latest trend applies to you when it does not.
@hounhsop: You've said it perfectly, companies should assess if they need social media. Unfortunately, most companies end up opting for social media without a proper strategy and without conducting proper marketing research. As a result, their social media campaign gets lost in the clutter.
I can relate to a recent incident here where a local IT infrastructure and support company felt that it should leverage social networks for business. They ended up making a fb page and decided to target people without realizing that they were targeting the wrong consumer base.
So if you want to leverage social networks for business it is always good to do some market and consumer research.
"Simply having a presence on Twitter or a business page on Facebook does not qualify as innovation with social media."
That is the absolute truth. Besides, you don't go social to follow the trends. You should first access how your presence on social media will benefit both your company and your customers.
@thejimlee: Thanks for clarifying. All of that makes sense to me. And I certainly see the CIO's invaluable role in supporting social initiatives and working to keep their organizations secure. Indeed, to do that effectively, they have to believe in the need to go social, and to do that they have to understand what the purpose is.
No doubt the step into Social Media will be driven by Marketing, but inevitability the IT organization will need to understand the dynamics of the strategy to ensure the technology foundation is capable of supporting the initiative (data and security perspective). In addition, my point around CIOs need to get Social is for those 'innovative' CIOs who are developing partnerships with the business and have established a trusted-advisor role with them where they can educate the business on how social media can bring value to the broader organization and prepare them on the nuances of such a journey.
Thanks for your reply. Regarding innovation and social networking, I'm curious to get your view on why it is up to the CIO to worry about innovating through social networking, when that's a job that would typically fall to marketing? I understand CIOs should set policy around social, but you also seem to be saying that it's their job to understand how social can benefit the organization. Just wondering why that is.
I would say the other critical factor relating to social media is the role of analytics. Not so much from the perspective of how social tools can be used by the organization, but analyizing external social media about the company, industry, etc. This provides a perspective on how social media is being used, how it impacts the organization, etc. I guess the other thing to note is that some form of social is going to happen even if IT isn't driving it because non-IT users will just do it on their own. Not advocating that because that brings another set of issues, but that should prove as extra motivation for IT to be the driver.
Given my explosure to many CIOs via personal relationships, networking events, conference forums and the like - the common theme around social media is 'we know it's there but we don't know how my organization can benefit from social media'. I would flip the question around, given your network of IT executives - how many of them understand how social media can be utilized for their respective organization and more importantly have they done anything about it.
CIOs in general terms are struggling with keeping up with the business dynamics, running a lean IT organization, dealing with offshore, doing more with less, managing legacy environments - and the list goes on and on. There is not enough of an understanding of social media - many organizations are waiting for others to dive in to learn from their mistakes (so to speak) before forging into this nascent space.
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