Gartner: Unternehmen stehen bei Social Software fünf großen Herausforderungen gegenüber

Nach Angaben des IT-Marktforschungs- und Beratungsunternehmens Gartner kämpfen viele Unternehmen damit, ihre Investitionen in Social Software zu rechtfertigen und festzulegen, welche Geschäftsbereiche fokussiert werden müssen. Gartner prognostiziert, dass Social Software Techniken und Technologien grundlegend für die Unterstützung und Stärkung der Zusammenarbeit im Geschäftsleben werden und warnt davor, sie als Modeerscheinung oder Bedrohung von Produktivität zu verwerfen.

„Einige Unternehmen haben beachtliche Ergebnisse mit Social Software erreicht und viele experimentieren jetzt mit dieser Technologie“, erklärt Gartner Analyst Anthony Bradley. „Die Nachfrage von Seiten der Mitarbeiter steigt und sie werden sich vom Corporate Technology Provider abwenden, wenn dieser keine eigenen Lösungen anbietet. Unternehmen müssen die wachsenden Kenntnisse der Konsumenten für ihre Geschäftszwecke nutzen und eine Social Software Strategie entwickeln, die ein realistisches Verständnis für die damit verbundenen Chancen und Risiken beinhaltet.“ Darauf aufbauend hat Gartner fünf Herausforderungen sowie Lösungen definiert, denen Organisationen gegenüberstehen, die Social Software anwenden.

STAMFORD, Conn., March 3, 2008

— Many organizations are struggling to justify investments in social software and identify where to start or what business areas to address, according to Gartner Inc. Gartner said that social software techniques and technologies are becoming crucial in supporting and strengthening collaboration and nonroutine work in businesses and warned against dismissing them as a fad or a threat to general productivity.

“Some enterprises have achieved substantial results with social software, and many enterprises are now experimenting with the technology,” said Anthony Bradley, research director at Gartner. “The demand from workers is escalating and they can and are turning to the consumer Internet if their corporate technology provider isn’t offering a solution. Organizations need to exploit this growing consumer literacy for business purposes and prepare a social software strategy with a realistic understanding of the associated challenges, risks and benefits.”

Based on extensive discussions and experiences with clients, Gartner has identified five major challenges that organizations face when pursuing social software applications as well as advice to help businesses respond to them:

Challenge 1 — Delivering Business Value

Many organizations are keen to explore the potential of social software in their enterprises but are confused by the ever-growing hype surrounding Web 2.0. Gartner said that all organizations should at least be at the stage where they are investigating social software, even if the explorations are likely to result in a "wait and see" strategy. A wait and see strategy should not be an "ignore and it will pass" strategy and should include monitoring relevant changes in the industry that will trigger next step actions.

Challenge 2 — Overcoming Cultural Barriers

Almost every organization will face some cultural obstacles to the use of social software. Organizations face the difficulty of motivating a large enough portion of the community to progress beyond observers to active content contributors. Gartner has advised enterprises to invest the time and resources required to understand, design, grow and nurture social software implementations rather than simply installing a social software tool and expecting a community to automatically assemble and flourish.

Challenge 3 — Ensuring Privacy

Data security breaches and the privacy missteps of FaceBook, MySpace and YouTube have concerned many businesses and are often stated as impediments to social software initiatives. However, these social applications are advertising driven and intended to be open to the general public, whereas most enterprise applications of social software will and should address more-constrained social circles with defined and implementable privacy measures.

Challenge 4 — Governing Participant Behaviors