Social Business: Integrated, Attractive, & Disruptive In 2014

Second in a series of posts from Enterprise Strategies’ Client Advisors on their predictions for social business in 2014.

In 2014, I envision three main themes for social business:

1. Integrated

• Many enterprise social networks are implemented in isolation, distinct from the corporate intranet and other business-critical applications. This approach has hampered acceptance, forcing employees to visit an environment disconnected from real work. For 2014, I expect to see social business tools woven into other business applications as they become an indispensable aspect of getting work done. Indeed, the emphasis — as our consultancy promotes — is on the pursuit of business objectives, not on simply being social.

2. Attractive

• Despite their impressive set of features and capabilities, social business solutions are often ugly and uninspiring. For 2014, I’d like to see more attention to design, usability, and joy of use. If you hope to have all your employees participate in social business activities, you must attract them with relevance, usefulness, and beauty. Otherwise, they’ll ignore you and waste your time and money.