What is Jam and what does it eat

    From February 8th to 10th, 2011, IBM, together with 2,700 people representing various corporations, educational institutions, non-profit and government organizations, held another Jam , this time called Social Business.

    Participants from 80 countries of the world talked for three days on key topics of social business, discussed its problems and impact on the conduct of, in fact, business today and in the coming years.

    The main ideas were formed in the following areas:
    • Building a social business of the future
    • Formation of collectively operating organizations through the introduction of social technologies
    • Using social media to understand and attract customers
    • Determining the value of social technology for IT
    • Risk identification and leadership

    By the end of the discussion, more than 2,600 posts were left and about 600 tweets were made. We would like to summarize the results of this multilateral dialogue, to bring out the key intellectual results extracted from the comments of the participants. it is important to say that these results do not always reflect IBM’s position on the socialization of business, but they can be interesting for people and organizations shaping social business strategies.

    To begin with, it is worth talking about what Jam is, because it is both a tool and a process and, in a sense, the goal. Under the cut, a serious analysis of what happened and the conclusions made by the participants in the discussion.



    Jam as a tool is an online brainstorming discussion platform. The goal of the assault is always the same - to get new ideas about the problem and task, to develop effective ideas focused on issues important to business.

    Historically, this is the fifth jam hosted by IBM. The first one took place in 2003 and within its framework 300,000 employees of the corporation participated in the first and largest revision of the company's values. Two more jams - this time innovative, took place in 2006 and 2008, respectively, in which participated customers and business partners of the company, as well as independent interested parties. According to the results of these
    discussions in the company there are several new lines of business. The penultimate one took place in 2009 and was carried out as part of the Smart Planet program - it was attended by students, professors and
    teachers of various universities of the world, business specialists and industry experts.

    Why did you need a Social Business Jam? There are several reasons.

    Firstly, over the past few years, network tools have significantly changed the communication, cooperation and work of people. Entire product lines appeared, and companies reached a turning point in the ways and style of doing business - all because of the influence of the social component. And although today the most effective ways to use social networks are marketing activities, most companies are still trying to understand how to learn and take advantage of the socialization of business in their own interests.

    Building a social business future


    This, of course, the broadest direction was the most popular in the discussion, it touched on the following issues: e-mail problems, stimulating the sharing of information, state participation in socialization, and much more.

    The key problem in this part of the discussion was the assessment of the return on investment by the company in the social direction. From a business point of view, this question is generally
    is one of the most acute, since it is easy to spend huge amounts of money, and not everyone can adequately measure the impact of acquired solutions. Of the non-IBM Jam members, more than a quarter reported that the level of implementation of business socialization practices in their organizations ranged from weak to moderate, with concerns about the need to
    quantify the return on investment in social instruments.

    Most participants confirmed that the use of social media is fully quantifiable, but requires a new set of indicators to track. I would even say a new generation of such indicators:
    • Frequency of mention of a trademark (brand) in social media
    • How often attracted customers comment on the brand or share brand information
    • How many customers are reached by messaging
    • How many customers are active brand promoters
    • What are the results of these promoters in terms of new customers or increased traffic
    • How many problems have been successfully resolved and how quickly
    • What is the degree of customer satisfaction and what kind of feedback do they provide

    As in life, there was another side to this discussion - some participants noted that calculating the return on investment in social media is the wrong approach to solving the problem. In their opinion, it
    is possible to successfully measure the profitability of such investments only by first understanding the needs and motivation of the audience to participate in communication. Another point of view was that no one was trying to calculate the return on investment in e-mail, instant messaging, even telephony
    — instead, overall indicators were measured that were consistent with business goals.

    Another issue that has been widely discussed is the integration of social activities and business processes. The participants agreed that it is necessary to concentrate efforts in three areas: the company management should stimulate the initiative to use various social tools, the staff should support the necessary cultural changes and be flexible enough to accept them, and the IT
    department should provide and manage the tools necessary for the company. The combination of these measures can lead to the emergence of a new variety of processes - this is a collective style of work, a higher awareness of the processes, the work itself will become more dynamic.

    Social business will also modify the forms of personnel management that exist today even in the most progressive companies and organizations. Based on the results of the Social Business Jam, it was determined that
    each employee has his own personal brand that exists inside and outside the business. The company needs to be aware that it does not own these brands, only “renting” them for the employees' working hours. Existing social tools already provide enough ways to cope with this task.

    Most likely, in the near future the corporate culture will face a fundamental change - if the main form of communication is email, then the information in it can easily be lost, and
    negotiations - slow down. One of Jam's participants expressed the opinion that the manager should be encouraged by subordinates to refuse mail in cases where this makes sense. They say: “E-mail is the
    place where information goes to die”, this saying perfectly illustrates that the forced transfer of knowledge into one single channel leads to losses.

    Ideas for business innovation:
    • Reduce email addiction at all corporate levels, master social tools and measure their use
    • Provide incentives to employees who take full advantage of social networking opportunities
    • Engage former employees and benefit from their connections and experiences

    Creating collective organizations with social tools


    How can social media help create a vibrant and collaborative business? This issue was the main one in the discussion, which discussed the problems associated with the integration of social technologies in existing business processes.

    Summary of the discussion:

    At present, the middle management is evolving - it may soon disappear. The reason for this disappearance is simple - the opportunities for social business are so great that they
    provide access to various networks, increase transparency and increase the speed and democratization of the workspace, making the hierarchical structure of a complex organization more flat. Modern managers understand that the level of competence of an employee is not necessarily a consequence of his being in a certain position, but is a combination of his skills and experience. And although no one knows for sure the future, most likely the responsibilities of the leader will vary depending on the specific task - this is the main difference from the permanent duty, which is determined by the
    job role. Although, undoubtedly, in order to effectively perform various tasks, a person must be sufficiently flexible and interested in what is happening.

    Social Business Jam participants also discussed a very interesting category of users of the social space, the so-called “lurkers” - passive users who only
    monitor their social network without taking part in the discussion.

    The idea that users often self-censor because of fear of disagreement with other people, thus not expressing their own opinions at all, is also closely related to the phenomenon of the silent. People who are easily identifiable (for example, in a company’s social network)
    tend to stick to the middle ground and not express controversial thoughts, although a truly social business should promote authenticity, diversity of opinions and a healthy attitude to conflicts and innovations,
    which are often the result of conflict resolution. Such an environment is formed on the basis of inclusion, not exclusion. Observance of full transparency in social interaction becomes a self-regulatory and self-sustaining norm, that is, every modern person familiar with social media knows what information he should show off and which not, so he acquires a certain immunity and the ability to handle confidentiality as an employee company.

    A reasonable assessment of your company's soft and hard assets is also important. Separating them is simple: the “soft” infrastructure is people, processes, procedures for solving problems, and the “hard” one is means, functions and technologies. For social business, by far the first part is the most important asset, and the style of doing business, as well as its goals, should be calculated taking into account this factor.
    The introduction of social technologies through focusing on one platform or function is an erroneous approach; instead, it is much better to focus on a specific value or to obtain a result. Absolutely every technology requires a certain time to go from the stage of researching its capabilities to real practical application. The discussion participants talked a lot about Twitter, which went from a messaging tool such as “I eat a sandwich” to a tool to save lives and implement transformations on a statewide scale, without any extra help, having carried out evolution within ourselves. Therefore, it is important to understand that social tools are no longer niche - today it is a force that allows businesses to interact, innovate, create value and solve real-time problems in real time.

    Ideas for business innovation:
    • Focus on a flexible infrastructure and focus on creating value or getting a specific result, not technology as such
    • Don't be afraid of conflicts by encouraging open and honest discussions - this will improve decision making.
    • Make privacy a priority - it enhances user comfort by encouraging open and free conversations.

    Using social media to understand and attract customers


    Key ideas in the section:

    It is necessary to build a customer-oriented business. An approach was even proposed in which the organization was fully opened, and its participants were given the opportunity to interact with customers - this is an absolutely unconventional approach. But the social model, in contrast to the model of the supplier of products or services, puts customer needs in the first place.

    One way or another, all Jam participants note that those companies in which internal and external social tools are used interconnectedly note an exponential improvement in awareness and productivity. In addition, the coordination of internal and external programs realizes the true value of the model, focused primarily on the client.

    Understanding the meaning of data entering the company from various social channels is an integral part of social business. We all know how much information is generated in social media and various networks, but it is extremely difficult to apply without an appropriate filtering system. The company must monitor what is happening, analyze the data and then send it to people who need this kind of information.

    Of great importance for the organization is also the knowledge of the context in which the person is - thanks to him you can find the answer not only to the question “why?”, But also “why now?” And “how?”.

    Social media is primarily a means of influence, and therefore interaction with the consumer at each point in the purchase cycle will improve the services and their perception by the client. One participant in the discussion said that many corporations view social media only as another channel for broadcasting targeted marketing messages - although this is not so.

    Ideas for companies:
    • Build a customer centric business. Social tools will help move to the model of the service provider, not the product
    • Qualitatively evaluate each point of contact with the client - open the interaction process for all employees and consult with them to improve the quality of services
    • Coordinate internal and external social initiatives to increase awareness and increase productivity of processes

    The Importance of Social Technology for IT


    The creation and expansion of an existing business to social is accompanied by changes not only in culture, but also in infrastructure - that is why the IT department of your company should be flexible and reasonable today. Jam participants discussed some ideas regarding the development of the computer part of the business.

    The main conclusions are as follows:

    your company's IT department has traditionally been the “decisive word” in all technical aspects of its activities, but due to the emergence of social tools and third-party applications for the general public, it will have to become more open to innovative strategies.

    One of the participants suggested that in many organizations the IT infrastructure is not responding quickly enough to the development of the social part of the business, while a modern user already has
    fantastically affordable technologies for personal use.

    The IT department needs to either bring these massive functions to the corporate level or prepare for the wide unauthorized distribution of these consumer technologies within the company.

    Today, IT infrastructure can play a key role in building a social business through social integration. tools in corporate processes and applying a flexible approach to project management. As Jam participants noted, modern people are constantly in a “learning mode”, so IT people can provide the necessary training templates. The limitation of functionality, the prohibition of access or the use of controls at the stage of mastering social instruments will cool the ardor of people and weaken their creative potential.

    Further, it is from the IT department that the innovation-inducing factor should come. We ourselves see today with what incredible speed smartphones and tablets are spreading, thanks to which the penetration of
    social media into our lives is becoming stronger.

    Interaction with end users is simply necessary, but corporate IT specialists are often not ready for this, although their tasks include developing various ways to support the growth of the enterprise.

    These methods can be very diverse, for example, providing employees located outside the office with more convenient opportunities to interact with the network of company offices. A smart and flexible strategy for mobile devices is another way to stimulate the growth of the company and increase the percentage of use of social tools.

    Another key point, as already noted, is the analytical tools used in the company - to deliver their task to IT departments. These tools should identify influential individuals and leaders, create taxonomies that improve the context of incoming information, and allow the extraction of the necessary data. Using these tools, you can create patterns of customer behavior and use them to further improve the assessment of brand perception in real time.

    The ideas for innovation are as follows:
    • Do not make a rival from the company's IT department - it’s worth building deep partnerships with him to implement a comprehensive and reliable infrastructure for social business
    • Create a mobile strategy that strikes a balance between the required level of security and user needs.
    • Use analytic tools to identify patterns of behavior for both customers and employees

    Risk identification and leadership



    How to manage a social business? Many companies are only looking for the answer to this question, and security and interoperability issues have been discussed in this section.

    The conclusions are as follows:

    It is necessary to create new content management strategies taking into account the social component, since the old (roughly speaking: paper) media is not enough today. A modern active company has so
    many incoming data through a huge number of devices that it is necessary to take care of security requirements.

    Daily business communication can already be social today - for this you need to integrate communication flows into business systems, as well as into content management tools.

    Grant credentials to your employees. To create competitive services, your employees need to understand what customers want, what the business goals are and how they can
    bring real benefits - the use of social tools allows you to more effectively disseminate this knowledge throughout the organization. Moreover, it is important that employees feel the trust of
    management and not feel like laboratory rats.

    You should not sit and wait aside until all competitors introduce social tools into their work - instead, it is worth identifying all possible negative consequences for the company, classifying them and
    fix these problems in advance. Contrary to popular belief, fear of social activity by employees is often unjustified, as company executives often underestimate the
    sanity and nature of their employees.

    But at the same time, do not forget that, on the other hand, active supporters of your social policy will increasingly associate various values ​​with clients. What happens if such an employee leaves the company? One of the participants noted that today a single message on Twitter can shift the attention of absolutely the whole audience from one company to another, since the focus is not on the company, but on the author of the message. Such a social status can be a new sign of highly qualified specialists of the next generation.

    Ideas for companies implementing social tools:
    • Do not be afraid of transparency of communication, it is better to open access in advance and encourage transparency of communication by providing people with tools for social interaction
    • Don’t underestimate people, most likely the sanity of your employees will be the best protection against risks.
    • Manage content by implementing a system for organizing and distributing the entire array of incoming information


    This ends the problems that the participants of the Social Business Jam tried to solve, and work begins on the creation of effective tools and techniques at IBM, which is always the first to adopt the
    best practices.

    It was nice to see how experts and leading representatives from the world of social business, including 45 specially invited professionals, participated in the discussion with great enthusiasm this year.

    As you know - Jam is just the beginning. IBM hopes that you, as well as participants in the event, will extract positive energy and find ideas for specific actions that will make the entire business on the
    planet more social.

    The information obtained from the discussion is available for download and study, as well as an overview of the concept of social business, setting out the point of view of IBM. A detailed report is available here (PDF), if your company intends to take any action based on ideas developed during the competition, visit the IBM website .

    IBM Jam Event Information: collaborationjam.com


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