In today’s socially driven digital landscape, the enterprise must adapt to leverage the social capitol and knowledge of its employees. Change is not instant and companies will need to deploy various solutions to meet its employees’ businesses needs. The true power of social media lies within unifying the various communication platforms to create and grow their knowledge base. Leveraging

1. Executive Summary
In today’s socially driven digital landscape, the enterprise
must adapt to leverage the social capitol and knowledge of
its employees. Change is not instant and companies will
need to deploy various solutions to meet its employees’
businesses needs. The true power of social media lies within
unifying the various communication platforms to create and
grow their knowledge base.
Leveraging social media across the organization

2. [Contents]
1 [Introduction]
2 [Topics not addressed]
3 [Value to Enterprise]
4 [Short Term Objectives]
5 [Available Solutions]
6 [Long Term Objectives]
7 [Case Studies]
8 [Tips]
9 [References]

3. DNA learns (accumulates information) very slowly through a
series of random errors that just so happen to work. DNA was
able to create a faster method of learning by producing
organisms with brains that could learn in real time.
Early brains allowed for the accumulation and recollection of
information to facilitate with daily interactions, but knowledge
remained trapped and died with the individual.
Social media is the interaction among people
in which they create, share, or exchange
information and ideas in virtual communities
and networks.
1 [Introduction]
Humans are different because of language.
Using a system of communication that affords
the individual the ability to share what they
learn so precisely it can accumulate in the
collective memory, knowledge is able to grow
across generations.
1
2

4. The sum of the resources, actual
or virtual, that accrue to an
individual or a group by virtue of
possessing a durable network of
more or less institutionalized
relationships of mutual
acquaintance and recognition
1 [Introduction]
Historically higher education has allowed for the formation of new platforms
that allow collaborators to work faster and transcend physical distances that
would normally separate them. Students use collaborative tools and social
media to share and engage in meaningful ways that facilitates the learning
experience.
Social Capital
Businesses that don’t incorporate social media tools are evolving at the
rate of early organisms with brains that trap knowledge individual, with
every employee wasting precious time relearning information. Social media
tools allow businesses to harness the power of collective learning through
their ability to make communicate information across the organization. The
sharing of data enables learning which helps the business grow faster and
smarter over time.
Student teams within higher education are
important because they often faced with the
same issues as workgroups within an
organization; members have to be able to
work remotely while still communicating in
real time. Tools that were once considered
workarounds for face-to-face interactions,
are now allowing for multiple individuals to
remotely work together. As new forms of
communications and collaboration emerge
the rate of knowledge transfer continues to
grow exponentially.
Social media tools allow businesses to
harness their social capital by providing
an alternative way for employees to
connect, form/manage weak social ties
and bridge the departmental divides by
facilitating interactions that span across
the business. Employees are able to
build connections creating new
resources within the organization with
which they can discuss and collaborate
on business initiatives.
3 4
6

5. 2 [Topics Not Addressed]
Well.. maybe just briefly
Ownership
Collaboration and information sharing across the organization may have managers
questioning ownership and feel like they are losing control of their share of the
business. The counter argument can be made that a the increased visibility will help
solidify the boundaries or that new roles and responsibilities will emerge. Ownership
in the digital age is a conversation that needs to take place amongst upper
management, in order to prepare for the shift in business as a result of unified
communication.
Security
In a digital world security is always a concern. Security
concerns and issues that arise with unified communication
are very specific to the business/organization implementing
the tools. In order for UC to work and provide value to the
business and its employee’s, users must be able to access
network tools and files locally and remotely.
Moderation
The increased ease of communication and visibility of information, comments,
interactions can raise questions with regard to moderation of content. For users to
feel comfortable sharing we recommend a self moderated community. Allow
groups to govern and moderate themselves, by implementing a code of user
conduct (with a focus on keeping communication positive) and utilizing existing
team structures (assigning executive manager/ team leaders as group
moderators). Constraining users through social norms is more effective and
simpler to implement than any elaborate moderating system.
Cost
The cost of UC systems will vary greatly between
implementations. There are many factors that dictate the
costs, all of which need to be assessed on a per case
basis. Companies must conduct their own research to
understand the costs relative to their business needs.

6. 3 [Value to Enterprise]
Break barriers Socially
networked tools bridge social,
physical and culture gaps by
lowering the barriers for interaction
and allowing for the sharing of
knowledge that may not have
otherwise occurred.
Communication and collaboration enabled business processes (CEBP)
Improve Efficiency
Employees can discover the best
ideas and apply them to their own
teams growing the transfer of
knowledge.
Smarter Decisions
Communication and collaboration
enabled business processes
through the use of social media
tools support faster decision-
making, efficiency, and profitability.
Increased productivity
Social media tools facilitate easier
sharing of information across greater
distances. Distributed teams can
collaborate more easily than ever.
Employees can discover the best ideas
and apply them to their own teams,
which opens potential for more
standardized business processes.
Table by Forster
7

7. 4 [Short Term Objectives]
As the saying goes, “you have to walk before you can run.” Walking in this
case refers to deploying the proper tools that will create the foundations
for long term initiatives. Just as every physical structure needs a proper
foundation, so does your company’s long term objectives. The first steps
to creating a socially empowered workforce is to build socially
enabled teams using cloud tools that facilitate communication and
collaboration.
Each department within your organization is its own community, with
processes and needs unique to their responsibilities. To foster social
interaction and collaboration the type of tool to deploy with be dictated by
the distinct needs of the group using it.
A socially enabled
issue-tracking tool
would be essential
for software
engineering
teams, but has no
application for
marketing teams.
Solutions must fulfill the individual group’s business
needs and increases user productivity. Occasionally
multiple solutions may need to be implemented to
meet all the businesses needs, with each tool
meeting a distinct set of needs with an emphasis on
minimizing further data fragmentation. Established
out-of-the-box solutions offer the ability to
implement viable tools that will form a solid
foundation that will support your long term
accessibility goals.
Shift from static
documents to wikis to
develop group
resources; move
email discussions
into group chats or
forums; migrate email
list-serves to blog/
microblog platforms
that allow for
commenting and
discussion. Graphic by Forster

8. 5 [Available Solutions]
Before researching new tools, that may not integrate well into
your company established workflow, look at solutions offered
by vendors your company already works with.
Types of social media tools
 collaborative projects
 blogs and microblogs
 social networking sites
 shared storage
Social Media is a group of Internet-
based applications that allow the
creation and exchange of User
Generated Content.
Company name Product name
Box Box
Cisco WebEx/Jabber/WebEx Connect
Citrix
GoTo Meeting/GoTo Webinar/
ShareFile/Podio
Google Google Apps for Business
IBM SmartCloud for Social Business
salesforce.com Chatter
Microsoft Office 365
Yammer Yammer
Solutions from Top Vendors
5

9. 6 [Long Term Objectives]
In order to increase the collective knowledge, the overall objective is
unification of information. Beyond centralizing the storage of
information, data stored within the centralized locations must be properly
indexed and accessible. The users access to the data determines the flow
of knowledge across the community.
Just as each department
required its own set of tools,
each business needs to
develop its own custom
platform that bridges the
gaps creating a growing
knowledge base for the
Custom solutions can range from simple (yet efficient) search tools,
to advanced dashboards that link together multiple cloud tools.
Google offers a customized platform that implements
their search algorithms into any corporate intranet,
providing an efficient search solution that can be
used across the business.
Salesforce offers chatter which integrates into
Salesforce platform.
Small steps add up to giant strides...

10. 7 [Case Studies]
W.K. Kellogg
Foundation (WKKF) &
The Vine
The vine social collaboration
capabilities focus person-to-
person, person-to-team, and
person-to-company
interactions including:
 Common and integrated
taxonomy
 Enabled social conversation
 Personal social space
 "Like" and commenting
 Organizational news page
 Team pages
 People Directory
 Unified search experience
 Key Contacts
 Single task interface
 Multi-platform
Vine became go-to resource for WKKF’s employees to: Learn about what is
happening across the foundation; Stay better connected and engaged with staff/
teams; Access news, information and resources needed to be productive.
Ernst and Young &
Yammer
Enable employees to quickly
connect and collaborate across 150
countries. EY’s Yammer roll-out
emphasized a focused strategy,
comprehensive group management
and insightful measurement
techniques. Established “Verified
Groups” groups act as official hubs of
conversation and dialogue. groups are
sustained and nurtured by trained
community managers and dedicated
mentors.
Established “health” scorecards
Scorecards provided key insights
concerning group performance and
maturity, and identified opportunities
for continual improvement.
NORC & InSite
Provides a one-stop shop to learn, share, and conduct its research through an innovative com-
bination of collaborative workspaces and social tools. InSite allows NORC’s 700+ professional
research and administrative staff throughout the US to work more efficiently and “think in the
open.” It encourages sharing and helps dismantle the departmental and project-oriented silos,
increasing efficient reuse of existing ideas, practices, and tools.
Accomplishes:
 Collaborative, uniform workspaces for each group and project team.
 Improved discussion and document visibility through advanced, open security scheme.
 User-customized information flows (subscriptions, following, and feeds).
 Workflow and business process improvement.
 Social engagement, tools, and games.

11. 8 [Tips]
Shift the way business thinks...
Efficient search capabilities are essential to
user adoption, with lower usage reported within
systems that have poor search abilities. In order
for tool to be relevant and integrated into their
workflow, users must be able to efficiently
search for the information they need.
To ensure user adoption...
Start with a select group of “early adopters” to
build foundation, and help keep users active as
social applications open up to entire company.
Communication coupled with an effective search
tool that will allow for more easily finding
information relevant to their task at hand.
Adoption of social media tools by
upper level management is essential
to organic adaptation. Some
companies use reverse mentoring,
pairing younger (college hires)
employees with senior management .
Organic adoption refers to usage not
through pressure to do so, but natural
tendency to share and communicate.

12. 9 [References]
[cover graphic] unknown. (Designer). 757913ac9efccba3c21197be09ac509c.jpg [Web
Graphic]. Retrieved from http://postgradproblems.com/new-study-says-social-media-is-
making-you-crazy/
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