The complexity of a collaboration task is in part a function of the number and variety of people required to complete the task. For this reason some of the greatest value from using social technology comes when a company connects its employees to a network of partners — suppliers, distributors, service providers and an emerging category of co-creation partners. This installment in my series on the connected enterprise will address some of the opportunities and challenges companies face when they extend collaboration platforms outside the enterprise.
In the first article of this series I discussed how social is a critical part of the digital transformation process that every company must go through today in order to stay competitive and profitable in their industries. The three areas of application for social are first with employees (which I discussed in more detail in part 2 of this series), partners, and ultimately building social collaboration platforms to engage with customers. In examining the importance of social for partner interactions one should start with the four categories of partners and explore how each has different benefits and challenges. Companies can identify the most valuable use cases for social collaboration using the same “business impact vs. feasibility” analysis tool that I discussed in the last article.
