Getting Down to Business
with Cloud Computing

Social networking goes global in the cloud

While it typically conjures up images of loosened ties and scarves with a cold drink late Friday afternoon, being ‘social’ has become an increasingly important part of doing business in today’s always-on, interconnected world.

The Facebook for business

Facebook is successful because it’s addictive. More than half a billion people around the world voluntarily log into Facebook to share and update their network of friends. More than 50 percent of users are logged on at any one time, and more than 600 billion hours are spent on it each month. They update their status on their wall from their mobile devices, post pictures, and share links to information they find interesting. Imagine if you could do this for your own business? 

Facebook has given birth to a whole new category of business apps that are “social”.

Salesforce.com’s Chatter, for example, is like Facebook but it’s built for businesses, so it is private, secure and trusted. Chatter allows people to easily share ideas and information, such as documents and rich multimedia files, as well as initiate, nurture and maintain relationships without borders. Chatter also enables you to communicate in real-time with people in your business, enabling a higher level of interaction compared to email.

Take Flight Centre Management as an example. It provides travel services to business clients in Australia and NZ and uses Chatter to connect all its customer services representatives. If a rep gets a query they don’t know the answer to, they can ‘chatter’ it to all their colleagues and get instant responses. It’s allowed the company to offer far better customer service and has greatly reduced its email usage and the time taken to resolve problems.

This approach allows you to greatly increase the chances of connecting with exactly the right information and people you need, and in today’s rushed and time-poor world this makes your life a while lot easier.

An independent survey of Chatter customers in November 2010 found that they reported 34 percent more collaboration, 28 percent fewer meetings and 32 percent less email*. Who couldn’t use less email?

But it’s not just about connecting people ¬– Chatter also allows you to connect to applications. Users can follow the sales pipeline dashboard in the salesforce.com app and get real-time updates sent to their feed; they can follow an invoice and be alerted as soon as it’s paid or when it becomes overdue; they can follow a project status and be alerted if it starts to over-run, or when problems arise.

Express delivery

The other thing about social networking tools is that information isn’t communicated in a passive way as with email. Instead, it is ‘pushed’ out to the contact (or contacts), thereby ensuring that everyone is up to speed quickly, and without effort. 

Say, for instance, that one of your salespeople has just clinched a deal. Already she has created a page for the customer with all the details of the sales contract, including any special requests or questions, as well as all the details of the company itself such as contacts for key staff.

Connecting to the internet via her mobile broadband modem – or the client’s WiFi service – she can update the record and her colleagues can read it instantly in their feed.

Immediately you have all the relevant details of the new client at your fingertips, and before the rep has even set foot back in the office. Further down the track, should you or another staff member have any questions about a client, it’s simply a matter of pushing a message out to the rep in charge with a link to every piece of information and conversation relating to their business. No messing around with paper work, just instant, accurate information from anywhere.