Firms failing to take advantage of social media

Businesses might be changing their attitude to social media platforms allowing more staff to use the technology but the majority are yet to set out usage policies.

As a result they are potentially leaving themselves open to risk of staff sharing the wrong information as well as failing to take advantage of the greater collaboration it can deliver to the organisation.

The latest AIIM report into the use of social media found that resistance to the use of the technology had dropped to just 19% among customers, but almost half the government sector was still holding out against allowing staff to use it.

In those organisations where staff were being allowed to use social media only 37% of firms had plans to integrate it into the business processes in the next two years and half had no policies to encourage greater collaboration.

“When it comes to reaping the business benefits of social media, you need to think how it can help within a given business process,” said Doug Miles, director of market intelligence at AIIM.

“Nearly half of organisations do not have any official strategies for social content creation and collaboration which represents missed opportunities for faster response and better knowledge-sharing in product development, recruitment, help desk, employee relations and project management," he added.

AIIM is recommending that resellers deliver the advice that customers need to take advantage of the social media trend.