Sociagility

Update: I’ve been challenged by Jon Husband in the comments on the number of infographics required for a “round up”, so have changed the title and am adding more as I come across them.

Like it or loathe it, the term ‘social business’ looks like it’s here to stay – if judged by the increasing number of infographics appearing online. So I thought it would be worth rounding them up and picking out the most salient points. Here goes…

#1: Social Business Imperative – Michael Brito (May 2011)

Not your traditional infographic, this one, but more an aggregation of philosophies and key data points in the form of “A playbook for social media in your organisation”, mainly to promote Michael’s book Smart Business, Social Business. You get some good stuff from Altimeter Group at the end in return for a sore scrolling finger, but can’t help think that this would have been better as a PDF. Infographics shouldn’t have this much text IMHO, but slap the word ‘infographic’ on anything these days and it’ll get noticed.

#2: Let’s Get Down to Social Business – Get Satisfaction (August 2011)

OK, this is more like it. Bringing together data from a number of sources, Get Satisfaction created a nice infographic looking at the demand for social business, key industries already engaged and specific internal and external strategies being focused on in 2011.

#3: Execs Make Jump to Social – Jive Software (June 2011)

This is possibly my favourite, as it employs the infographic format at what it’s good at – visualising complex data in an easy-digestable way. The basis for Jive’s infographic is data from a survey of executives, millenials and knowledge workers that they had commissioned, and it tells a believable story: as personal use of social media grows, the more professional it becomes. I particularly like the final conclusion that even though personal and professional usage increase and almost three quarters of executives think that social will fundamentally change how business gets done, only 17% of them think that their company is “ahead of the curve” in terms of adoption.

#4: Social Media and your Business Communication Strategy – Socialcast (July 2011)

I like the focus on the different kinds of outcomes that companies can achieve from social media in this infographic from Socialcast. The most informative data from The Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachussetts Darmouth comparing the success of different platforms to the importance of social media is looking a bit dated now though. Any chance of a refresh, Socialcast?

#5: Calculating the Return on Investment of Enterprise Social Software – Socialcast (again) (November 2010)

I wonder if it was Socialcast’s infographics that attracted VMware to acquire them? Anyway, here’s another nice one on the prequel to social business, ‘enterprise 2.0′ (what the rest of us called it before the Dachis Group came along!). I really like this one because it answers three simple (and pretty important) questions: what happens to ROI when you do x; why is it important; and how do you measure it. Nice work.

Having dismissed the term ‘social business’ as inappropriate a few months ago, it’s with a rather sheepish grin that I write this post introducing the concept on which our new consultancy has hung its hat, boots and all.

In case you hadn’t already worked out the neologism, Sociagility is about helping organisations achieve social agility. Aside from the fact that I like the term ‘agility’ better than ‘business’ (the latter being, according to the inimitable Euan Semple, often mistaken for just busyness), why ‘social agility’?

First, if social media describes the new world of communication and business agility describes how well organisations respond to changes in the marketplace, then social agility must surely describe how well organisations respond to the new world of communication.

Agility also implies dynamism, dexterity, speed, etc. In sport, agility requires a combination of balance to maintain equilibrium, speed to move quickly, strength to overcome resistance and co-ordination to control movement in co-operation with other functions. There’s something about these attributes that would seem to apply just as well to an organisation trying to achieve competitive advantage from its use of social media as to an Olympic athlete.

In business, agility is often described as the capability to rapidly and efficiently adapt to changes in the business environment. I would argue that there’s no greater change taking place right now than social media (or whatever derivative thereof) and how well an organisation reacts to the new ways (and for many executives outside the social bubble, they are still new) that customers, staff and others are interacting and communication with and around it.

The key factor for me, however, when it comes to being socially agile, is capability. Having the right people, with the right skills, implementing the right strategy, against the right objectives, tracked using the right metrics, using the right systems, processes and rules is absolutely fundamental to any organisation that wants to achieve competitive advantage from social over the long term. Capability – not tools or software – is what differentiates one organisation’s social agility from another, and ultimately what determines competitive advantage.

And that’s what Sociagility is about. Social capability. Building your own in order to become socially agile, not abdicating responsibility for it to PR, advertising, digital or even social media agencies.