Initial Learning Stages, but no Finish Line

MUNICH, Germany, May 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Social Collaboration Comparison Across Countries

An international study, conducted on behalf of the IT Service Provider Beck et al. Services, analyses the status quo of Social Collaboration initiatives in companies by evaluating survey results of 253 executive managers in Germany, Britain and France. This study was perfomed with reference to the initial status of Social Collaboration in these companies, their strategies, budgets and other roles associated with it.

Here are some of the key findings of the survey which was conducted by PAC in March 2013:  

• The majority of the departments (52%) would like to exploit innovation potential and therefore see a big demand for action in process efficiency and networking, as a result 64% want to find experts and build knowledge quickly.
• Almost 60% of all international departments have started Social Collaboration initiatives, but qualify themselves as being at the very beginning
• Every sixth department prohibits the use of public social networking services for the company, every third department has banned Twitter. The majority does not integrate such services in their own social collaboration implementation.
• Three quarters of the departments are concerned that by using Social Collaboration there will be an outflow of corporate information - thus two-thirds demand a dedicated security concept before the start of an initiative.
• Every third project is initiated and funded by the top management. In almost 90% of the projects, IT is neither the initiator nor does it determine the budget.
• The majority of the departments does not define Social Collaboration as an IT project

The study results clearly show that Social Business is generally gaining a strong momentum in companies and has an increasing impact on very different - yet still independently acting - business units. User companies seem to have learned that more efficiency and innovation can only emerge through collaborative liason when cultural, organizational and technical units interlock their engagement wisely.

The demand for greater process efficiency as well as support from external service providers reveals that those responsible become unsettled after their first experience with Social Collaboration. They are not sure whether their chosen approach is the right one in order to work effectively and successfully along collaborative mechanisms. Lack of active involvement of management, a strong sense of security, a ban in the use of social tools, as well as the use of various single applications prove that they approach this complex topic with a proven set of methods. Although already 60% of social collaboration initiatives at international level are planned and implemented across disciplines, every second project is still not strategically fitted.

"Even on an international level, corporations find it difficult to leave their known implementation paths, and in consequence give away precious potential on a daily basis. Instead of analysing and evaluating the first implementation successes in an appropriate approach, they try to force Social Collaboration in a Plan-Act-Control corset. The establishment of a network culture follows a different criteria of measurement. Only a detailed analysis of one's own skills, communication needs with internal and external resources, as well as the goals to be achieved by networking build the right foundation for Social Collaboration. Those who concentrate on the implementation of the right tools exclusively will only scratch the surface, "says Siegfried Lautenbacher, CEO of Beck et al. Services.

Beck et al. Services GmbH is an owner-managed, international IT Service provider whose services are directed towards adding business value through IT. The Munich based company concentrates on providing its clients with higher transparency, more reliability as well as a broader scope of action through its Smart IT Services concept.

Beck et al. Services focuses on Social Collaboration, ServiceDesk, Smart Anayltics and Infrastructures. The company's portfolio ranges from Consulting to Managed Services and Application Management. The services are based on best-of breed tools and methods like ITIL V3 and Business Service   Management. Beck et al. Services started it's IT- Service business in 2000. Today the company, with about 45 employees in Germany and Switzeland, 25 in Romania and Brazil, has a revenue of €6.2 million. Some of the clients of Beck et al. Services include Continental AG, Infineon AG, Daiichi Sankyo Europe GmbH, KWS Saat AG and Zürcher Kantonalbank.

For more information about the Study visit: http://www.bea-services.com

Beck et al. Services GmbH
Silvia Hänig - Marcom Manager
Zielstattstrasse 22
81379 München
Germany
E-Mail: silvia.haenig@bea-services.com
Tel.: +49-89-4484127

SOURCE Beck et al. Services GmbH