#SMWLDN in Rewind: McKinsey Unlock £800m Value and Productivity through Social Technologies

Want to know what holds the key to global enterprises unlocking up to £800million in economic value on a yearly basis? 

Social technologies have been the fastest adopted form of media in human history, and according to McKinsey Global Institutes (MGI) recent report “The Social Economy: Unlocking Value and Productivity through Social Technologies" we're still only at the beginning of what the potential impact of these technologies could be. Two-thirds of this potential £800million lies within the need to improve collaboration and communication within and across enterprises. Social technologies are no longer merely a 'new media platform', but an increasingly necessary business tool.

MGI’s findings suggest that by fully implementing social technologies, companies have an opportunity to raise the productivity of interaction workers - high-skill knowledge workers, including managers and professionals - by 20-25%!

With 72% of companies using social tecnologies but the majority not yet reaping the full benefits, McKinsey Global Institute principal Michael Chui discussed the potential value in using social tools to enhance communications, knowledge sharing, and collaboration within and across enterprises at 'The £800million Elephant in the Room: Social Inside the Enterprise' event at Social Media Week London last Monday.

"Social is a feature not a product. Even for people that are using social technologies, there's a trememdnous upside just in the adoption. So why is this thing so powerful? We believe social technologies bring the scope, speed, scale and economics of the internet to human interaction. It brings tremendous power given that interacting is something we all do naturally."

Providing employees the opportunity to interact on internal social media networks allows what would normally be email messages to become public company content - ultimately meaning less time searching for information or tracking down help from colleagues for specific tasks.

Following Chui's introduction, a panel featuring Will McInnes (Managing Director, Nixon McInnes), Tejal Patel (Global Digital Marketing, Nokia), JP Rangawami (Chief Scientist, Salesforce.com) and Barney O'Kelly (Senior Manager of Digital Communications, Freshfields) debated the question of return of investment (ROI) through social media initiatives and also discussed the dramatic changes 'social' is making inside the enterprise.

Check out the discussion and download the full report below.

Watch Event Video

Find out more and download the full MGI report here

Graph (cc) McKinsey Global Institute