Results on Social Business Study – MIT & DeLoitte Study

Seventy percent of respondents to the 2012 global executive social business survey conducted by MIT Sloan Management Review and Deloitte believe social business is an opportunity to fundamentally change the way their organization works. Yet many companies face meaningful barriers to progress. Now, in the “2013 MIT Sloan Management Review and Deloitte Social Business Study,” researchers delve into why some businesses are reaping value from social business, and what is holding others back. The study included 2,545 respondents from 25 industries and 99 countries. It also incorporated interviews with nearly three dozen executives and social business thought leaders.

Findings from the survey and interviews reveal that the importance of social business is growing, but overall adoption remains slow. CMOs play an important role demonstrating the value of social tools and technologies to the broader organization.

• Social business is an immediate opportunity. Its importance is mounting and growing across all industries. Eighty-five percent of CMOs, the highest percentage among the C-suite and second only to marketing staff professionals (88%), view social business to be important or somewhat important to their organizations today.

• CMOs most frequently cite driving brand affinity, increasing sales, and analyzing customer sentiment as top uses of social business in their departments.

• Companies overall are developing more mature social business capabilities to address important business objectives. More than half (54%) of CMOs use social business to a large or great extent to understand market shifts within their department. More than a third (38%) of CMOs use social business to a large or great extent to improve their departments’ strategy development process.

• Despite progress, more than half (52%) of all survey respondents still rate their organizations as underdeveloped when it comes to social business. The most frequently cited barriers to social business adoption are lack of an overall strategy, too many competing priorities, and no strong business case or proven value proposition.

• To overcome these barriers and maximize the potential of social business, the more socially advanced organizations leverage social as a business tool focused on business objectives, and not a technology fad. They also rely on strong leadership, measure what matters, curate content, and re-engineer processes to change the way work is done.

Read the report online or download the PDF to discover how some organizations are reaping value in their marketing efforts through the use of social.

Click here to view the related social business infographic.

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