What is nerdy today is often trendy tomorrow. Early social software such as BBS, ICQ and IRC were the toys of computer nerds. Today, social software is not only trendy — it is very big business.
Business Automation — Human vs. Machine
Enterprise Software is a $245 billion dollar business (2010). That's roughly equivalent to the entire GDP of Finland.Ever since the first commercial software hit the shelves in the mid-1970s — much of this investment has focused on business automation. Automation reduces costs and improves efficiency by replacing humans with IT.
Social Software — The Game Changer
The human mind has up to 1 quadrillion synaptic connections — complete business automation is often a mistake.Enterprise Social Software leverages social media to engage humans in business processes.
Humans are key to decision making, product development (and other creative tasks), customer relationships and business process improvement. What better way to engage humans than with social media?
Social software is the bridge between social media and business automation.
The Convergence of Social Media and Enterprise Software
The enterprise software market has fully embraced social software. Look at the roadmap of any large software company — they all intend to develop the social capabilities of their tools.
Social software had its first real commercial success with Social CRM (SCRM). Social media is now key to the sales process — marketing, lead generation, sales and customer loyalty can all be driven with social tools.
The next step for social software is to conquer the bastion of business automation — Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).
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