Great innovations often are molded and born in times of uncertainty. As economies the world over adjust to new realities, there are opportunities for companies to lead and change the game. A recent article in Forbes details some ways to take the lead. At the core of enabling this change are social capabilities and the understanding, business process adjustments, and cultural shifts to turn those practices into business improving results.
There’s still a great deal of confusion in the marketplace between the “icing” of social media and the “cake” of social business. The question surrounding social media today is not whether you are doing it, but whether you are doing enough. Is your use of social media allowing your organization to engage with the right customers, improve their experience and tap into their latest insights and ideas? (READ The Commerce of Being Nice)
Companies at the forefront of social communication are doing more than developing a presence on major platforms. They are using social approaches not only to communicate better with their customers, but also to share knowledge with their suppliers, business partners and, perhaps most important, their employees. In short, they are rapidly progressing to a more substantive approach to how they work called using social media.
The recent Forbes article calls out some points to success using social tools that are helping businesses willing to innovate and adapt to meet the constant uncertainty in today’s economic climate:
- Serve Your Customers in Context
Innovative permission based social media marketing is able to source your location and serve up offers specific to individual patterns and product preferences. - Collaboration between Partners and Suppliers Provides Competitive Advantages
A recent IBM study of 1128 Chief Procurement Officers across 22 countries, indicates the top performing procurement organizations have very strong collaborative relationships with key suppliers and partners. Learn how Perficient is helping Rooms to Go use analytics and market basket analysis to improve procurement and product sales. - CrowdSourcing Innovation Will Dramatically Increase Profits
The days where buyers are the sole source for purchasing products to be sold are coming to an end. Crowdsourcing is will provide companies ways to elicit product innovations that will go direct to the consumer. - The Fight for Talent is Key
the fight to keep talented people will become more challenging in the future as a result of them being well known online. If you don’t offer these people the means to be successful and to build on their careers and experience expect them to leave. Learn how Perficient is helping Fluor to facilitate global collaboration socially.Say Lim, Vice President of IT at Fluor stated – “To build a company for the next 100 years you need to have talent. To attract this talent you need to have the social tools that will attract and keep younger talent, position the organization as innovative and progressive to clients and allows the organization to think globally and act locally.”
There’s no doubt the business world is shifting faster than any other time in history. Mobile, social networks, and data are driving explosive new business opportunities. Many will fail, but a lot will succeed. Not having a plan in this new era is no longer an option.
