Do you know if someone in your company has already started an internal community?

Could you simply shut it down and start again at a more appropriate time?

We've seen over the past few years that it can take some time for an internal social network to stabilize and gain traction amongst employees.

Successful top-down social business networks are driven by senior executive management who can lay down the vision, successfully navigate objections and overcome the concerns.

Bottom up, or viral social business networks start without any plan or vision, however offer a brilliant chance of achieving success within the business.

Despite what we sometimes read in the media, private social communities are still new to business. Executives have witnessed the transformational power of Facebook and other social media tools like Twitter. They are concerned (and rightfully so) about the potential impacts on their organization. 

Mumba has been fortunate to work through one of the world's largest "top down" social business software implementations. Top down means that the private social network has been systematically implemented from management downwards when compared with viral un-structured adoption.  Private social business networking software is a disruptive technology and we therefore follow a structured consultative approach to overcoming the inherent business concerns.

Should you be concerned that a private social community will distract staff from their work?

This is in fact a concern that often poses a barrier to adoption. If you share this apprehension then it is important to understand that a private business community can unlock far greater benefits than detractions. It's really a case of taking five steps forwards and a single step back.

I recently came across an interview with the CEO of Deloitte Australia, Giam Swiegers, talking to Leon Gettler about the implementation of their social business software (also known as Enterprise 2.0).

Deloitte Australia has adopted Yammer (a social business software tool) to enhance and flatten organisational communication. Based on information in this video (see below) and their social media whitepaper, over 50% of Deloitte employees are active on Yammer with more than 100 conversations each day. It seems that Yammer is currently being used to identify skills, share knowledge and openly debate business issues.

In this interview Mr Swiegers mentions how a first year analyst debates one of his presentations within an open (un-moderated) discussion using Yammer, while another analyst initiates a firm-wide policy change within 48 hours.

Mr Swiegers enthusiasm for flattening the organisation via social business software is unique and perhaps admirable at this early stage of market adoption, however many senior executives would baulk at the thought of his scenarios gaining traction within their company (even Leon Gettler seemed uneasy at times).

Social media experts advise their clients to embrace the free flow of social media participation. Primarily because you cannot control it - so this is really just good common sense. However social business software is different and can be controlled. This enables management to protect the integrity of information being broadcast within their corporate environment.

Nearing the end of this segment a lively discussion emerged. The primary concern was related to the company's obligation to implement ideas and suggestions that gain employee popularity.

Would management be increasingly compelled to discuss business decisions and more importantly would this type of general employee involvement eventually lead to 'democratised' decision making within the organization?

We like the term "Pure-play social business software specialist" because it differentiates us from the behemoth "Microsoft SharePoint" vendors of this world.

How developed is the Enterprise 2.0 and Social Business Software market? Are we nearing a Social Business tornado? The following thought might help you understand the market position.

Most of our clients; large public companies spread across a range of industries, are still deploying Internet Explorer 6 as their default web browser.

For those out of the know, IE6 was released in 2001 and in tech years is now way past its extinction date.

No one disputes the importance of communicating with employees. Consultancies, books, workshops and public speaking careers have been built around educating management on the latest communication techniques.

Effective employee communicating is a key focus for all employee engagement strategies and the foundation of the Social Business Software and Enterprise 2.0 industry. It's obvious, we work in a knowledge-share age and this knowledge can only be shared through communication.

Here’s an explosive insight...

Question: Your employees receive thousands of emails each week. How do you cut through the clutter?

Answer: Regular communication with relevant content.

Rational thinking dictates that periodic communication will increase responsiveness. The reasoning is that employee’s will believe the message to be “more important” because it is less frequent.

Many employee benefit programs consist of a few pages on the intranet under the title "Staff Benefits." 

The fastest and cheapest way to encourage interest in your staff benefits is to...

HR professionals regularly tell me that they are focused on employee attraction and retention. Interestingly, when I ask about their employee communication strategies they seem to rank low as a priority.

Is it possible to attract and retain good staff without a core focus on regular (and relevant) communication? The answer seems obvious however the truth is that most organisations are afraid to recognise or act on inadequacies within their staff communication strategies.

While Social Business Software applications are yet to become mainstream, many businesses are beginning to assess their usefulness. Most large scale live implementations (that I'm aware of) are still in their pilot phases - at least in Australia.