February 2012 News


Corporate Business Overhaul: Go Social or Be Left Out

Together with mobile and cloud computing, everything 'social' emerges as a leading trend.

Much of the business community in Asia is not acting on these trends. Still, even large organizations are operating on the belief that "social' is not that important, because their business remains profitable.

However, a new trend can be a game changer and entire industries can be wiped out or forced into bankruptcy. Remember how fast the retail software, music, video and book chains have disappeared not so long ago?

Can a similar phenomenon happen to business that are not adopting to changes, not listening, engaging and nurturing their employes and customers?

In recent years, social media has rapidly reshaped politics and culture, but now it turns to the business. The world becomes more democratic and receptive of the opinions of ordinary people, therefore business leaders need to figure out how social power can help keep their companies vigorous. All-knowledgeable customers and forward-thinking skillful employees fast are becoming the source of innovation and new ideas to take the company ahead.

Daily, corporations are facing new modern challenges. They can either throw out the traditional business models and adapt to the need of today's socially connected consumers or risk extinction.

Faced with adapt-or-die verdicts, shareholders are counting on executives to bind social technologies with corporate culture in order to meet the expectations of their customers. A comprehensive integration plan must include technology, human resource and strategy. The social company model is still an abstract expression for many CEOs, which is why there will be significant executive turnover in coming years.

Many business leaders appear not to notice how their current and future customers are trampling over the old business book, and rewriting it with their own rules - rules that shft power to the customer. The few that are paying attention recognize that in order to adapt to their customers' needs, they must restructure their organization to anticipate and deliver value on their customers' terms.

Many don't know how to initiate the changes, because there are no firm guidelines yet, change is difficult and ROI models are just beginning to show results.



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