FAQ"s About Corporate Social Networking in Office Suites
Corporate social networking is a hot topic for businesses, particularly since more software options are emerging. Some of that talk surrounds bringing social networking into office productivity suites.
As the technology evolves, you may have a few questions, so I've compiled this list to address some common ones.
My company has a policy against using social media in the workplace. How would this differ from personal social networking, and why are businesses okay with it?
Traditionally, office productivity software has not included full-blown social networking as a built-in feature. The advantages to including it include improved internal communications, tagged discussion topic libraries, activity metrics, and more.
With the advent of popular social networking sites, also known as social networking platforms or services, companies and businesses naturally wondered how this technology platform might work as an internal communication device, in addition to the public pages that same company might be up-keeping for communication with external parties and customers.
While many office productivity suites do not have this functionality, this is a trend which many anticipate will eventually become standard for this type of software.
Is the term 'social software' interchangeable with 'social network'?
Not quite. Also known as enterprise social software, corporate social software is just one component of corporate social networking.
For example, wikis, blogs, social site metric tools, web content management systems, collaborative software, RSS, and other collaborative tools each lend themselves to social communication within an organization.
All could be part of a corporation's internal social network.
Why would Microsoft make its Office suite corporately-social if it already has Sharepoint?
Microsoft Sharepoint, has some of the same characteristics now commonly associated with social networking sites like twitter or facebook. Integrated into business versions of Microsoft Office suite, it allows for social communities and collaboration. For that reason, it's a kind of precursor to Microsoft's full corporate social networking endeavors.
What Sharepoint has lacked in earlier versions is the true mobility of a social networking tool, complete with status updates, displayed photo depositories, news feeds, and other functional niceties.
With Sharepoint 2010, many of these issues have been addressed, but they still represent a deficit for Microsoft compared to enterprise or third-party solutions.
I've been learning about what enterprise software can offer my business. Why would a socially-integrated office suite be any better?
Corporate social networking has also been referred to as enterprise social networking. Oracles's newly-released Fusion software is an example of enterprise software which is built to address social networking needs.
For a company, this means integration of an enterprise software solution as well as an office productivity suite. That makes sense for a large corporation that needs the many additional capabilities an expensive enterprise software solution can afford. But many smaller businesses do not need those comprehensive capabilities.
Thus, the industry is moving toward addressing this very market segment. Office productivity suites which offer social networking are a streamlined solution which will likely become increasingly competitive. The line between enterprise software and office productivity software has become less distinct.
Why Office Suites Rather Than a Third-Party Corporate Social Networking Platform?
Third-party solutions similar to the popular Yammer, which was acquired by Microsoft in June 2012, Jive Software is one of the largest, as well as Salesforce.com's Chatter, and VMWare's Socialcast.
These companies offer a platform and many of the integration features Sharepoint accomplishes, but Jive Software, for example, has still found it important to be able to integrate with Sharepoint. This is because Microsoft is still the office suite magnate, and Jive realized many users still need to interface with their teams using Microsoft Sharepoint. So they wisely streamlined that connection.
Office suite integration is a movement which seeks to make that whole concept that much more streamlined. Rather than require a third-party product or service, software developers of office suites would like to keep corporate social networking capabilities 'in-house'.
Some newer operating systems have social networking. Why would I need one right in my office suite?
True, operating systems are beginning to have built-in apps for popular sites such as facebook or twitter. Socially-integrated productivity suites would utilize their own version of a social networking program, rather than linking to popular sites.
The goal is to offer a more streamlined office productivity software experience, with trackable work metrics.
Finally, let me emphasize that corporate social networking for office suites, while exciting and innovative, is the right solution for the right candidate. Some of these other solutions I have mentioned may provide a sufficient or superior solution for your business situation. Please let me know if you have additional questions on this topic.
As the technology evolves, you may have a few questions, so I've compiled this list to address some common ones.
My company has a policy against using social media in the workplace. How would this differ from personal social networking, and why are businesses okay with it?
Traditionally, office productivity software has not included full-blown social networking as a built-in feature. The advantages to including it include improved internal communications, tagged discussion topic libraries, activity metrics, and more.
With the advent of popular social networking sites, also known as social networking platforms or services, companies and businesses naturally wondered how this technology platform might work as an internal communication device, in addition to the public pages that same company might be up-keeping for communication with external parties and customers.
While many office productivity suites do not have this functionality, this is a trend which many anticipate will eventually become standard for this type of software.
Is the term 'social software' interchangeable with 'social network'?
Not quite. Also known as enterprise social software, corporate social software is just one component of corporate social networking.
For example, wikis, blogs, social site metric tools, web content management systems, collaborative software, RSS, and other collaborative tools each lend themselves to social communication within an organization.
All could be part of a corporation's internal social network.
Why would Microsoft make its Office suite corporately-social if it already has Sharepoint?
Microsoft Sharepoint, has some of the same characteristics now commonly associated with social networking sites like twitter or facebook. Integrated into business versions of Microsoft Office suite, it allows for social communities and collaboration. For that reason, it's a kind of precursor to Microsoft's full corporate social networking endeavors.
What Sharepoint has lacked in earlier versions is the true mobility of a social networking tool, complete with status updates, displayed photo depositories, news feeds, and other functional niceties.
With Sharepoint 2010, many of these issues have been addressed, but they still represent a deficit for Microsoft compared to enterprise or third-party solutions.
I've been learning about what enterprise software can offer my business. Why would a socially-integrated office suite be any better?
Corporate social networking has also been referred to as enterprise social networking. Oracles's newly-released Fusion software is an example of enterprise software which is built to address social networking needs.
For a company, this means integration of an enterprise software solution as well as an office productivity suite. That makes sense for a large corporation that needs the many additional capabilities an expensive enterprise software solution can afford. But many smaller businesses do not need those comprehensive capabilities.
Thus, the industry is moving toward addressing this very market segment. Office productivity suites which offer social networking are a streamlined solution which will likely become increasingly competitive. The line between enterprise software and office productivity software has become less distinct.
Why Office Suites Rather Than a Third-Party Corporate Social Networking Platform?
Third-party solutions similar to the popular Yammer, which was acquired by Microsoft in June 2012, Jive Software is one of the largest, as well as Salesforce.com's Chatter, and VMWare's Socialcast.
These companies offer a platform and many of the integration features Sharepoint accomplishes, but Jive Software, for example, has still found it important to be able to integrate with Sharepoint. This is because Microsoft is still the office suite magnate, and Jive realized many users still need to interface with their teams using Microsoft Sharepoint. So they wisely streamlined that connection.
Office suite integration is a movement which seeks to make that whole concept that much more streamlined. Rather than require a third-party product or service, software developers of office suites would like to keep corporate social networking capabilities 'in-house'.
Some newer operating systems have social networking. Why would I need one right in my office suite?
True, operating systems are beginning to have built-in apps for popular sites such as facebook or twitter. Socially-integrated productivity suites would utilize their own version of a social networking program, rather than linking to popular sites.
The goal is to offer a more streamlined office productivity software experience, with trackable work metrics.
Finally, let me emphasize that corporate social networking for office suites, while exciting and innovative, is the right solution for the right candidate. Some of these other solutions I have mentioned may provide a sufficient or superior solution for your business situation. Please let me know if you have additional questions on this topic.