Enterprises slow to adopt internal social culture

New research has revealed social adoption in the enterprise is still in the very early stages with just a third of companies setting aside budget to make business processes more social.

iTracks and Appirio surveyed more than 300 business staff across the UK and US and found 13% of firms have made no investment at all whilst 44% of respondents say their company is researching or testing.

Of those investing, the survey found that budget was directed at establishing social media policies (47%), building out a presence on social sites (37%) and adding social features to existing internal applications (31%), the figures showed.

However, the lack of social adoption is not representative of the socially-engaged consumer. Additional research from Appirio found nearly 90% of online adults are active users of social networking sites.

Narinder Singh, chief strategy officer at Appirio, said: “As business and technical advisors, we know social tools and processes can have a significant impact on a company's brand, relationships and bottom line," said "But to be truly successful with social, companies must listen to the actual users of those tools and processes rather than force something from the top down.

“Whether it's politics or technology, we all too often forget to consider the people's perspective and fail because our strategies are based on false assumptions.”