Research Report Abstract: Social Enterprise Adoption Trends By Tom Petrocelli, Senior Analyst With Bill Lundell, Senior Research Analyst, and Jenn Gahm, Senior Project Manager June 2012 2012 Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Introduction Research Objectives Research Report: Social Enterprise Adoption Trends In order to assess the current state of the social enterprise market, ESG recently surveyed 353 senior IT professionals based in North America, representing midmarket (100 to 999 employees) and enterprise-class (1,000 employees or more) organizations. All respondents were responsible for their organization s current social enterprise, collaboration, and messaging efforts and familiar with and/or personally responsible for evaluating, purchasing, or managing application software for their organization. The survey was designed to answer the following questions: Are organizations adopting social enterprise collaboration and communications tools? What tools are organizations adopting or planning to adopt, and under what circumstances? What factors are driving and inhibiting widespread adoption of social enterprise tools? Are social enterprise features being integrated into enterprise applications? What are the patterns of adoption for social portals? What are the general usage patterns of social tools? Is age a factor in adoption of social tools? What is the perceived benefit and value of social tools? What is the perceived ROI of social tools, and what factors may be effecting that perception? Survey participants represent a wide range of industries including manufacturing, financial services, communications and media, health care, retail, government, and business services. For more details, please see the Research Methodology and Respondent Demographics sections of this report.
Research Methodology To gather data for this report, ESG conducted a comprehensive online survey of IT managers from private- and public-sector organizations in North America (United States and Canada) between March 28, 2012 and April 5, 2012. To qualify for this survey, respondents were required to be senior IT managers familiar with and/or personally responsible for their organization s current social enterprise, collaboration, and messaging efforts, as well as forward-looking strategies. All respondents were familiar with and/or personally responsible for evaluating, purchasing, or managing application software for their organization. After filtering out unqualified respondents, removing duplicate responses, and screening the remaining completed responses (on a number of criteria) for data integrity, we were left with a final total sample of 380 IT managers. However, the vast majority of survey questions were posed to the 353 respondent organizations that either currently use or have plans to adopt social tools. Please see the Respondent Demographics section of this report for more information on these respondents. Note: Totals in figures and tables throughout this report may not add up to 100% due to rounding.
Respondent Demographics The data presented in this report is based on a survey of 353 qualified respondents. The figures below detail the demographics of the respondent base, including individual respondents gender, age, current job responsibility and technology area of responsibility, total number of employees, primary industry, annual revenue, number of IT staff, and the percent of IT staff employees that are application developers. Respondents by Gender The gender breakdown of survey respondents is shown in Figure 1. Figure 1. Survey Respondents, by Gender What is your gender? (Percent of respondents, N=353) Female, 27% Male, 73% Respondents by Age Respondents breakdown by age group is shown in Figure 2. Figure 2. Survey Respondents, by Age Please select your age group. (Percent of respondents, N=353) Over 55, 9% 35 and under, 26% 46 to 55, 32% 36 to 45, 33%
Respondents by Role Research Report: Social Enterprise Adoption Trends The breakdown of current roles within an organization among survey respondents is shown in Figure 3. Figure 3. Survey Respondents, by Role Which of the following best describes your current responsibility within your organization? (Percent of respondents, N=353) Non-IT Business Manager, 10% Application developer, 3% Other, 3% Senior IT management (e.g., CIO, VP of IT, Director of IT, etc.), 34% IT staff, 13% IT management, 38% Respondents by Primary Technology Responsibility Respondents primary area of technology responsibility is shown in Figure 4. Figure 4. Survey Respondents, by Primary Technology Responsibility Which of the following would you consider to be your primary area of technology responsibility? (Percent of respondents, N=353) Collaboration / social enterprise, 3% IT architecture / planning, 5% Other, 1% Executive management, 26% Applications / application development, 11% IT infrastructure, 13% IT operations, 21% General IT, 20%
Respondents by Industry Research Report: Social Enterprise Adoption Trends Respondents were asked to identify their organization s primary industry. In total, ESG received completed, qualified responses from individuals in 20 distinct vertical industries, plus an Other category. Respondents were then grouped into the broader categories shown in Figure 5. Figure 5. Survey Respondents, by Industry What is your organization s primary industry? (Percent of respondents, N=353) Other, 27% Manufacturing, 20% Communications & Media, 5% Retail/Wholesale, 7% Health Care, 8% Government (Federal/National, State/Province/Local), 12% Business Services (accounting, consulting, legal, etc.), 11% Financial (banking, securities, insurance), 10% Respondents by Number of Employees The number of employees in respondents organizations is shown in Figure 6. Figure 6. Survey Respondents, by Number of Employees How many total employees does your organization have worldwide? (Percent of respondents, N=353) 20,000 or more, 12% 100 to 249, 18% 10,000 to 19,999, 7% 5,000 to 9,999, 10% 250 to 499, 12% 2,500 to 4,999, 12% 1,000 to 2,499, 14% 500 to 999, 13%
Respondents by Annual Revenue Respondent organizations annual revenue is shown in Figure 7. Figure 7. Survey Respondents, by Annual Revenue 18% 16% 14% 12% 10% 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% 11% Less than $25 million What is your organization s total annual revenue ($US)? (Percent of respondents, N=353) 12% 12% $26 million $50 million to $49 to $99 million million 16% $100 million to $499 million 11% 11% $500 million to $999 million $1 billion to $4.999 billion 7% $5 billion to $9.999 billion 5% 6% $10 billion $20 billion to $19.999 or more billion 8% Not applicable (e.g., public sector, non-profit) Respondents by Number of IT Staff Respondent organizations number of IT staff is shown in Figure 8. Figure 8. Survey Respondents, by Number of IT Staff To the best of your knowledge, approximately how many IT staff does your organization employ worldwide? (Percent of respondents, N=353) Don t know, 1% 1,000 or more, 14% Less than 25, 29% 500 to 999, 7% 250 to 499, 7% 200 to 249, 4% 150 to 199, 4% 100 to 149, 7% 51 to 99, 13% 25 to 50, 14%
Respondents by Percent of IT Staff Comprised of Application Developers The percent of respondent organizations IT staff that are application developers is shown in Figure 9. Figure 9. Survey Respondents, by Percent of IT Staff Comprised of Application Developers Approximately what percent of your organization s IT staff would you say are application developers? (Percent of respondents, N=353) Don t know, 1% More than 20%, 19% 1% to 5%, 32% 11% to 20%, 22% 6% to 10%, 26%
Contents List of Figures... 3 List of Tables... 4 Executive Summary... 5 Report Conclusions... 5 Introduction... 7 Research Objectives... 7 Research Findings... 8 Current Social Tool Usage... 8 How Social Tools Are Being Deployed... 13 Social Enterprise: Mobile Computing and the Cloud... 17 Social Enterprise Usage Patterns... 20 Inward and Outward Focus... 22 The ROI of Social Enterprise... 23 Social Portals and Socially Enabled Enterprise Applications... 26 Conclusion... 35 Research Methodology... 36 Respondent Demographics... 37 Respondents by Gender... 37 Respondents by Age... 37 Respondents by Role... 38 Respondents by Primary Technology Responsibility... 38 Respondents by Industry... 39 Respondents by Number of Employees... 39 Respondents by Annual Revenue... 40 Respondents by Number of IT Staff... 40 Respondents by Percent of IT Staff Comprised of Application Developers... 41
List of Figures Figure 1. Social Enterprise Tool Adoption... 8 Figure 2. Why Organizations Have No Plans to Deploy Social Enterprise Tools... 9 Figure 3. Planned Social Enterprise Tool Deployment... 10 Figure 4. Length of Social Communication and/or Social Collaboration Tool Deployment... 10 Figure 5. Factors Inhibiting Broader Deployment of Social Enterprise Tools among Current Users... 11 Figure 6. Usage of Social Communication Tools/Features... 12 Figure 7. Usage of Social Collaboration Tools/Features... 12 Figure 8. Where Social Enterprise Tools Have Been Deployed... 14 Figure 9. Where Organizations Plan to Deploy Social Enterprise Tools... 15 Figure 10. Extent to Which Social Enterprise Tools Have Been Deployed... 16 Figure 11. Extent to Which Organizations Plan to Deploy Social Enterprise Tools... 16 Figure 12. Importance of Mobile Access, Current Social Tool Users vs. Planned Social Tool Users... 17 Figure 13. Current Social Enterprise Tool Usage and Cloud... 18 Figure 14. Planned Usage of Social Enterprise Tools in the Cloud... 18 Figure 15. Why Current Social Tool Users Will Not Deploy Social Enterprise Tools in the Cloud... 19 Figure 16. Weekly and Daily Usage of Social Enterprise Tools... 20 Figure 17. Social Enterprise Tool Usage, by Employee Age Groups... 21 Figure 18. Why Organizations Use or Plan to Use Social Enterprise Tools... 22 Figure 19. IT Organization s View of Social Enterprise Tool ROI... 23 Figure 20. How Organizations Measure ROI of Social Enterprise Tools... 24 Figure 21. Benefits Realized Since Deploying Social Enterprise Tools... 25 Figure 22. Benefits Organizations Hope to Realize by Deploying Social Enterprise Tools... 25 Figure 23. Social Portal Adoption Plans among Current Social Tool Users... 27 Figure 24. Social Portal Adoption Timeline for Social Tool Users Planning to Deploy Social Portals... 27 Figure 25. Social Portal Adoption for Planned Social Tool Adopters... 28 Figure 26. Planned Deployment Timeline of Social Portals for Planned Social Tool Adopters... 28 Figure 27. Social Portal Features/Functionalities Usage... 29 Figure 28. Current Social Tool Users Usage of Socially Enabled Applications... 30 Figure 29. Socially Enabled Application Usage Timeline for Social Tool Users Planning to Deploy Socially Enabled Applications... 30 Figure 30. Planned Use of Socially Enabled Applications for Planned Social Tool Users... 31 Figure 31. Current Socially Enabled Applications for Current Social Tool Users... 32 Figure 32. Applications Planned Socially Enabled Application Adopters Would Like to See Be Socially Enabled... 33 Figure 33. Additional Applications Current Socially Enabled Application Users Would Like to Be Socially Enabled 33 Figure 34. Why Current Social Tool Users Deployed or Plan to Deploy Socially Enabled Applications... 34 Figure 35. Survey Respondents, by Gender... 37 Figure 36. Survey Respondents, by Age... 37 Figure 37. Survey Respondents, by Role... 38 Figure 38. Survey Respondents, by Primary Technology Responsibility... 38 Figure 39. Survey Respondents, by Industry... 39 Figure 40. Survey Respondents, by Number of Employees... 39 Figure 41. Survey Respondents, by Annual Revenue... 40 Figure 42. Survey Respondents, by Number of IT Staff... 40 Figure 43. Survey Respondents, by Percent of IT Staff Comprised of Application Developers... 41
List of Tables Table 1. How Organizations are Utilizing Social Communication Tools... 13 Table 2. How Organizations are Utilizing Social Collaboration Tools... 14 All trademark names are property of their respective companies. Information contained in this publication has been obtained by sources The Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) considers to be reliable but is not warranted by ESG. This publication may contain opinions of ESG, which are subject to change from time to time. This publication is copyrighted by The Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc. Any reproduction or redistribution of this publication, in whole or in part, whether in hard-copy format, electronically, or otherwise to persons not authorized to receive it, without the express consent of the Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc., is in violation of U.S. Copyright law and will be subject to an action for civil damages and, if applicable, criminal prosecution. Should you have any questions, please contact ESG Client Relations at 508.482.0188.
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