Social Business: Q&A with IBM's Global Director of Social Business, Tami Cannizzaro

I'm just back from Dublin, Ireland where I spoke at the Disruptors conference. Now in it's second year, the conference brings together emerging tech companies, startups, incubators, established "brick & mortar" businesses - eager to gain insights on the trends and technology rapidly changing everything we do. Will there be another 100 year old iconic business such as Guinness or IBM? The answer to that question is one we are all seeking answers to as we surf the continuing waves of economic uncertainty.

With disruption in mind, I'm reposting an interview I had with IBM's Tami Cannizzaro. Social tools and platforms continue to disrupt our lives - in good, unexpected, delightful and ugly ways - and businesses are increasingly focused on the ways it is affecting how we operate in and with the workplace. Will social, the achilles heel of business, become its savior?

How is social transforming business?

Tami: Social has fundamentally changed the way people communicate and engage with one another and the world around them. This has had major implications for business. For instance, people are now more likely to hear about a new product or a company from their friends vs from a corporation or a news source. Businesses therefore need to rethink their communications strategy. The bar has been raised -- businesses can no longer rely on broadcast messages. They need to create advocates who will promote their brand, their cause, which means they need to be exceptional in some way. In some ways, it's no longer about selling, it's about inspiring a fan base. This is harder.

How has social transformed employees?

Tami: Social is helping companies to drive increased productivity by breaking down traditional boundaries of engagement and empowering employees to collaborate, build collective knowledge and drive shared productivity. Social networking is a powerful tool that employees can tap into in order to find and share information. When employees have the information they need, they can make better decisions, perform more productively and ultimately help your company's bottom line. In addition, employees are not being empowered to advocate for their brands via external social networks. Information flow is changing from a top-down model to a more democratic model where the dominant voice is held by the employee. This has elevated the role of the employee in many organizations. in this environment, you need to think, act and communicate from the inside out.

How has social transformed expectations in the business environment?

Tami: It used to be that a great ad campaign was enough to make your company successful. Today, the world has been turned upside down. The guy next door—your customer, neighbor, employee, or friend—may be the most vocal and visible face of your brand. Customers today are exhibiting greater influence due to the power of social networks. This is forcing enterprises to become more transparent and engaged with customers on a more personal level to meet these new expectations.

What is the competitive advantage of being social?

Tami: Social is a transformative phenomenon. Functions like marketing, customer service, product development and sales can use social to drive competitive advantage. For instance, marketing can use social data to better tap into the core motivation of customers, customer service can use social to engage with clients via social networks, product development can use social data to tap into new trends or crowd source new products and sellers can use social to identify new leads. Most companies have only begun to tap into the power of social networks to drive increases in productivity.

If I'm a CEO, what's the innovation take-away?

Tami: Social networks are a natural resource for inspiration and innovation. Indeed, fully 90% of CxOs plan to collaborate much more extensively with customers over the next three-to-five years. Innovation in business is not relegated to product development teams or to the c-suite; it may come from inside or outside the four walls of a company. For example, Fiat’s MIO is the world’s first crowd-sourced car, which was based on more than 11,000 design suggestions and went on to win numerous car design awards; the University of Washington developed a new anti-AIDS drug thanks in part to Foldit, an online game that crowd sources research; and numerous consumer packaged goods companies, ranging from Ben and Jerry’s to Bobbi Brown to Frito Lay, have turned to their communities for help in identifying the next big thing. Businesses need only to tap into the collective intelligence of the community to share expertise, make more informed decisions, drive innovation, and breakthrough thinking.

What social process should every business implement now (i.e. if HR handbooks are the norm, what's the 1 thing which should be in every businesses social handbook)?

Tami: Recognize that there is a need to redefine how the organization fundamentally operates. Your business is social, your employees & customers are social. As a brand, you need to provide policy and governance to empower your employees to engage in a brand safe way vs trying to direct the conversation.

What is your expectation for social business in the next 12, 36, 60 months?

Tami: Businesses are just beginning to leverage the power of social. The companies who are able to sustain growth in the next 2- 3 years will be those companies who are able to tap into the power of collective networks to build a more productive workforce and build a more meaningful connection with their customers -- more personal and authentic.

Follow Tami on Twitter @tamicann #ibmsocbiz