Employees See Big Potential For Social Business

InformationWeek

Appirio study shows disconnect between how companies and individuals use social technologies.

Employees are interested in the potential of social business, but often unclear about what their employer is doing to take advantage of it, according to a survey.

The study sponsored by Appirio, a services firm that helps organizations with their cloud computing initiatives, was conducted by the independent research firm iTracks based on responses from 300 managers and employees from across the U.S. and U.K.

Although the study showed awareness of the potential of social media and social tools, only 57% of respondents said they used social tools in their daily work, whereas about 90% used them in their personal lives. Thirteen percent of respondents would go as far as to label their company "anti-social," meaning it is making no investment in social. Forty-four percent say their company is still just researching or testing social tools or strategies, and 43% are using one or more social tools.