Most people are aware of public social networks: non-private social networks used to connect different types of people. Examples of public social networks include Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. What businesses may not know is that the social functionality of public social networks can be used within a private, secure corporate setting. These “company” networks are called enterprise social networks.
Enterprise Social Network: A Definition
An enterprise social network is an internal, private social network used to assist communication within a business. Here are some explanations of the different elements that comprise an enterprise social network.
• People profile – includes personal information as in a public social network, but also displays a person’s work-related organizations, skills, projects, and teams. A company may have profiles for customers and suppliers, as well as for different types of employees (partners, full-time employees, and contractors).
• Object profile – Client accounts, documents, and reports that have activity streams associated with them.
• Updates – are created by people interactions and by business objects.
Enterprise social networks help employees stay organized, on task, and in sync with each other and external clients. ESNs are used in various company departments.
Common Enterprise Social Network Business Applications:
• Customer service
• Marketing
• Sales
• Product development
Enterprise Social Network Features
Here are a few common ESN features that will help keep your organization streamlined.
Common Beneficial Features of Enterprise Social Networks:
• Easy collaboration between employees and external contacts (screenshot from Yammer)
• Private direct messaging
• Instant messaging (screenshot from Chatter)
• Easily shareable links to large files
• Better communication with remote employees (screenshot from SharePoint)
• Instant communication with customers
• Platforms for team brainstorming (screenshot from Microsoft Dynamics CRM Activity Feeds)
• Integration with public social media networks
• Internal blogging
• Mobile capability
• Image/media libraries
• Video support (screenshot by Jive)
• Personalized content recommendations
• Company/organization directory
• Reduction of e-mail
• Robust security
Many of these features are provided by the following ESN softwares:
Chatter by salesforce.com, inc.
SharePoint by Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Activity Feeds by Microsoft Corporation
Yammer: The Enterprise Social Network by Yammer, Inc.
Jive by Jive Software
Bring your company up to speed through the implementation of an enterprise social software. Employees will be able to communicate and collaborate more easily, and even have more fun doing so. Give your organization a productive edge with one of the above time-saving softwares.
