The use of social technologies within organizations can facilitate communication and collaboration, leading to peer-to-peer value creation and increased organizational effectiveness. McKinsey’s research indicates that there are three phases of adoption, starting with experimentation and eventually expanding to all aspects of the business. Social technologies can take on many forms, including social objects, activity streams, task management, file sharing, telepresence, virtual and augmented reality, and emotional sensing. These technologies can help reduce decision latency, improve coordination and clarity, and spread knowledge more widely.
The adoption of social technologies can support exponential organizations (ExOs) in executing their strategies and achieving rapid growth. They can improve innovation processes through social media monitoring, idea management, case management, requirements analysis, project management, and integration of critical business processes. Social technologies can also create transparency and connectedness, keeping the organization tightly connected to its Massively Transformative Purpose (MTP) and reducing information latency. The ultimate objective is a zero-latency enterprise, where the time between an idea and its final implementation disappears.
J.P. Rangaswami, chief scientist at Salesforce, identifies three key objectives of social technology: reducing the distance between obtaining and processing information and decision-making, having information flow through perception, and leveraging community to build out ideas. Social technologies can also serve as a gravity force, keeping the organization connected to its MTP and ensuring that its diverse parts don’t drift away in pursuit of conflicting goals. By implementing social technologies, organizations can increase transparency, connectedness, and information flow, ultimately moving towards a zero-latency enterprise.