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Social technologies enable people to connect and interact with unprecedented speed and ease. Yet there is still confusion about the value that social technologies deliver. Savvy business and IT leaders are getting smart about exploring — and possibly exploiting — the opportunities these new relationship dynamics promise. This special report offers a growing body of research to help understand this fast-evolving arena.

VP & Distinguished Analyst Carol Rozwell discusses how social media and social technologies are impacting your organization.

Social Media Research

  • Seeking Social Intelligence
  • Socially-Enabling the Business
  • Enabling Technologies
  • Foundations

Seeking Social Intelligence

The accumulation of the hundreds of millions of conversations, comments, ratings and rankings across new social tools is already being mined by some for "social intelligence." The IT organization has a challenge on its hands. How does it provide leadership in intelligence gathering and other efforts to integrate these collective activities in enterprise processes?

Top 10 Signals That Your Management Doesn't "Get" Social Media and What To Do About It

4 October 2011

Senior leaders frequently express their skepticism about social media through a similar set of statements. We explore 10 of the most frequently cited reasons why social media presents a danger to the enterprise, and show what leaders of social initiatives can do to deal with these concerns.

Social CRM Has Made Your New Customer Service Systems Obsolete

29 September 2011

Even the newest customer service systems fail to keep pace with the demands of the "social customer." Buyer demands for better systems will drive a rapid round of acquisitions in the market for social tools.

Survey Analysis: Social Media Is No Longer a 'Kids-Only' Playground

27 September 2011

Generation Y (ages 13 to 29) users continue their addiction to social media. However, mature consumers (ages 30 to 74) with greater spending capacity are now also on these sites, and spending more time there.

Market Insight: Participation Can Lead to Profit in the New Social Consumer Experience

6 September 2011

Vendors can benefit financially by using tools to monitor and engage in real-time consumer conversations on social networks. Social media efforts that are perceived as positive and authentic can help prevent against lasting brand damage, but also increase revenue and lower operational costs.

The Gartner CRM Team's Perspective on Great Customer Experiences

10 November 2010

The Gartner CRM team shares its views on great customer experiences and what made them great. Businesses can use these examples to adjust customer service processes for maximum customer satisfaction.

Market Insight: Opportunities Await in the Consumer Social Ecosystem

1 September 2011

As consumers flock to social networks, platforms have expanded to support additional content, applications and services. Platform providers and device vendors alike can reap the rewards, benefiting from the monetization of social games and the move to mobile technology.

Search Analytics Trends: Business Solutions Among Top Social Networking Sites

24 March 2011

Searches on top social networking services made by Gartner end users confirm their interest in Facebook, followed by Twitter, which are both consumer-oriented. The first business-oriented solution, Jive Software, is in third place, showing there is still space for business solutions to ramp up.

Ignorance Is Not Bliss When It Comes to Social Media Monitoring

21 March 2011

Social media is used to organize and report activities related to rapidly changing risks for people and organizations. Government agencies and private enterprises should monitor social media to develop enterprise operational intelligence and situational awareness.

Market Insight: How Consumers Socialize On the Go, The Rise of Portable Social Networks

11 May 2011

The intersection of mobile phones and social media has created portable social networks. We explore the implications as social networks shift toward mobile use models.

Guide to CRM Analytics for CRM Customer Service, 2011

5 May 2011

Analytics for customer service and support is emerging as an essential tool to better drive retention, revenue and process improvement. The vendors in the market supply only pieces of an overall analytics suite. This best-of-breed environment will continue at least through 2014.

Analytics for CRM Customer Service: Key Roles and Metrics

5 May 2011

Applying analytics to key CRM customer service processes can have a dramatic impact on loyalty and total lifetime value. A framework is required to understand how specific roles in customer service are supported by analytics.

Access to research documents may vary based on your subscription.

Socially-Enabling The Business

Social networks have the potential to deliver a new category of information based on social interactions. This information can be used to inform operational processes, facilitate engagement with employees, customers, business partners and the social Web, as well as create innovative business opportunities.

Report Highlight for Market Insight: Social Media Market Tops $7 Billion, Driven by Advertising

10 October 2011

The global social media market is now worth more than $7 billion per annum, with advertising revenue accounting for more than 60% of the total.

Toolkit: Establishing a Policy for Social Media Participation

4 August 2011

Use this Toolkit to formulate policy and guidelines for employee and other stakeholder participation on social media.

Maverick* Research: Never Mind Consumerization; There Will Be No Consumers as We Know Them

7 October 2011

Consumerization is disruptive, pervasive and irreversible. The "ubersumer" will take over to such an extent that some consumer-oriented industries will be dramatically transformed. Maverick research deliberately exposes unconventional thinking and may not agree with Gartner's official positions.

Case Study: Tackle Customer Service to Expand Marketing Initiatives Using Social CRM

26 September 2011

Bonobos men's clothier needed a practical system to manage customer service and support via social media. By establishing a base to engage with customers via social media, the retail clothier was able to extend its marketing efforts into this space and see a 65% increase in revenue.

Five Steps to Social Media Reputation Management in Maintenance Mode

20 September 2011

The viral nature of social media differentiates social reputation management from similar opportunities and threats across other media. We explore why organizations must clearly assign roles and be proactive to establish and maintain a strong social media reputation.

Reduce Privacy Risks When the Enterprise Uses Public Social Media

9 September 2011

The use of public social networking sites for business opens the enterprise and its users to privacy risks they may not understand and cannot easily control. The leaders of social media projects can take steps to assess and reduce these risks.

Newspaper Scandal Offers Lessons in Crisis of Reputation Management via Social Media

25 August 2011

The News of the World scandal in the U.K. has sparked popular outrage, forcing the venerable newspaper to close within three days of the story breaking. This case shows that companies need to incorporate the social media channels into their crisis management plans.

The New Web: Rich, Mobile, Social, and Programmable

1 August 2011

Growth, technical innovations, and consumer expectations have changed the Web, and organizations must evolve their Web strategies accordingly. The Web is no longer limited by the browser interface. An organization's Web presence must expand to provide rich experiences across mobile, social, and programmable interfaces. In this overview, VP Distinguished Analyst Anne Thomas Manes discusses current trends and the resulting metamorphosis of Web application architecture.

Five Ways Social Media Will Revolutionize Marketing

15 August 2011

Most marketers view social media as another set of channels through which they can reach prospects and customers with campaigns and offers. However, social media's profound, strategic impact on marketing goes well beyond providing another channel.

How To Stay Competitive With Video Interaction

26 August 2011

This case study provides an update on the story of how major Spanish bank Bankinter continues to innovate in video technology, to open up new communication channels with its customers and remain competitive.

You Need an Enterprise Strategy for Social Business Initiatives

6 May 2011

Social business initiatives will affect almost every activity within the enterprise. The enterprise needs to take a more strategic approach, so IT leaders involved in social projects must take steps to move their organization in that direction.

Marketing Essentials: How to Integrate Social Media Into Your Marketing Communications Strategy?

31 March 2011

Marketing executives agree that it's time to convert social media from its experimental, ad hoc status to a formal member of the marketing communications mix. But where and how do you start?

Market Trends: Social Media in Banking and Investment Services, Western Markets, 2011

18 March 2011

Banking and investment services firms' use of social media is widespread but not deep. Providers can best position themselves to capitalize on social media growth by building messaging and portfolios that target fast-evolving use patterns, business benefits and risks related to social media.

U.S. Consumer Use of Social Media and Its Impact on Retailers

18 March 2011

Clearly, substantial numbers of consumers are members of social media sites. But are they accessing retailer pages via the social media vehicle, and should retailers be leveraging this touchpoint for consumers?

Digital Innovation Interview: Lonely Planet's Matt Goldberg and Chris Boden

15 March 2011

In a Mastermind keynote interview at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2010 in Sydney, Lonely Planet's CEO Matt Goldberg and Global Director Emerging Platforms Chris Boden discuss how social media, digital and mobile channels create new opportunities and challenges.

The Five Styles of 'Free': Emerging Business Models Threaten Significant Disruption

11 March 2011

The idea of something for nothing remains intrinsically attractive to users, but challenges organizations to retain profitability. We describe five different models for "free" products and services and their critical requirements and capabilities.

Marketing Essentials: How to Engage the Blogosphere in Media Relations Programs

25 February 2011

Stories that begin in the blogosphere can seep into mainstream media in an instant. This has marketing executives and their media relations teams both excited and concerned. It's a trend that is here to stay, and CMOs must adapt. We explain how.

Top Use Cases and Benefits for Successful Social CRM

3 December 2010

Companies are rapidly adopting social CRM applications for diverse purposes, with initial experience and benefits gained in a single department. We analyze emerging social CRM use cases and their corresponding benefits.

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Enabling Technologies

Over time, the boundaries between social and collaborative applications and business applications will blur, and transactional activities will be augmented by socially-enabled capabilities. To prepare for this transition, business and IT leaders need to consider the entirety of a worker's responsibilities and activities when planning and prioritizing business application investments.

Use Social IT Management to Support IT Operations

19 August 2011

Social IT management is an emerging category that leverages social media technologies and IT best practices. Gartner has identified three areas where social media can help the IT organization increase end-user satisfaction, improve IT operations effectiveness and foster collaboration.

Magic Quadrant for Social Software in the Workplace

25 August 2011

Within the enterprise, social software has started to evolve into an information-sharing platform. The leaders of social initiatives should factor these and other trends into their strategic plans, and make buying decisions based, in part, on how vendors will adjust to the new realities, not just on their current products and market position.

Facebook Overhaul Signals the Era of the Social Cloud

23 September 2011

Facebook's planned overhaul will further its evolution from social network to platform. The changes will enable developers to create more socially aware apps, and help organizations learn more about customers in real time.

Magic Quadrant for Externally Facing Social Software

25 August 2011

Social interactions do not stop at company boundaries; neither should the social software products that support these interactions. EFSS products facilitate interactions beyond the firewall to create communities among employees, customers, suppliers, partners,?alumni and other stakeholders.

Magic Quadrant for Social CRM

25 July 2011

Hype continues to grow around social CRM, with analytics gaining visibility and adoption. Social CRM vendors will increasingly have to show examples of how their social data is used in core business processes, not just provide an API.

Who's Who in Collaborative Decision Making

1 September 2011

CDM platforms combine business intelligence with social networking and other technologies to bring together the right people and the information and analysis tools they need for effective decision making. Gartner discusses some of the leading vendors in this area and explains their offerings.

The Use of Social IT Management Tools and Technologies for IT Operations Is Embryonic, but Growing

26 August 2011

Social ITM capabilities are beginning to emerge in support of IT operations and other corporate IT departments. We discuss the tools and technologies that are visible at this early stage.

Use This Framework to Plan the Evolution of Social Networking Your Organization

24 August 2011

Gartner forecasts the evolution of enterprise social networking from simple, self-contained applications to far more complex and intertwined platforms. Use our technology evolution model to assess current investments and to plan for the future needs of your organization.

Apple iPhone Tracking Discovery Highlights Risks, Benefits of Location-Based Data Sharing

18 May 2011

The discovery that Apple was gathering location information from its devices has caused a firestorm of controversy. But in certain contexts, location services offer many benefits to users, even as they raise questions regarding the implementation of potentially invasive practices.

Supercharging Context-Awareness with the Social Graph and Social Analytics

5 May 2011

Social context and social analytics will become key enablers for context-aware computing. Facebook's social graph is an example of how a social graph can be used to implement socially powered, context-aware business solutions.

Market Share Analysis: Team Collaboration and Web-Conferencing Software, Worldwide, 2010

29 April 2011

Gartner tracks more than 50 vendors in the team collaboration and Web-conferencing software markets. Both markets showed revenue recovery in 2010 aligned to general business recovery and new deployments.

Cool Vendors in Social Software and Collaboration, 2011

18 April 2011

This research highlights five vendors that offer interesting and innovative products for the social software and collaboration markets.

Cool Vendors in CRM Marketing, 2011

4 April 2011

Innovative social marketing and social analytic solutions have opened up opportunities for companies to differentiate themselves. Clients intent on differentiation should consider Cool Vendors, but should also take into account the risks associated with using these smaller vendors.

SWOT: Facebook, Worldwide

28 March 2011

Facebook is a social networking service where users make connections with others and contribute to the community by sharing comments and multimedia. As the largest social networking service its dominance appears secure, but competitors and privacy issues may impede its growth and sustainability.

SWOT: LinkedIn, Worldwide

28 March 2011

LinkedIn is synonymous with the social business networking and recruitment market. Given its strong and unique position, LinkedIn has ample opportunities for expansion. Yet it faces significant threats in the constantly mutating and highly competitive social networking market.

Adobe Offers Answer to "What's the Business Impact of Social Media?"

16 March 2011

Adobe SocialAnalytics would add a range of social data to the data streams already available in its Online Marketing Suite. This pending enhancement could help close the loop between business results and social media.

Salesforce.com's Chatter: Facebook-Like Feel for CRM Applications

24 February 2011

Salesforce.com boosts CRM collaboration by combining a Facebook-like user interface with Yammer-like capabilities.

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Foundations

Although vast numbers of business and IT leaders use social networks and social media for personal use, many enterprises are grappling to determine the right approach and timing for enterprise solutions. To optimize investments, competencies, and outcome, it is essential that enterprises establish a shared understanding of social technologies and trends, coordinate strategies and initiatives, and leverage investments.

Hype Cycle for Social Software, 2011

6 September 2011

This Hype Cycle shows the increasing overall maturity of social software and its intersection with other established technologies and disciplines. Leaders of social initiatives should start to take a broader view of social software as it permeates into adjacent technology areas.

Hype Cycle for Business Use of Social Technologies, 2011

25 August 2011

This Hype Cycle examines how specific business functions and industries apply social technologies in their contexts. Consider how social technologies are used by the business when evolving your social strategy. Use this report to guide realistic user expectations in light of market hype.

How to Determine the TCO of Social CRM for Customer Service SaaS Solutions

5 October 2011

There is no average total cost of ownership of social CRM for customer service software as a service. Gartner identifies the four components most greatly affecting TCO in this space: the base monthly fee, customization of the solution, launch integration and change management.

Forecast: Social Media Revenue, Worldwide, 2010-2015

23 September 2011

Global revenue from social media -- composed of advertising, games and subscription revenue -- will reach $29 billion by 2015 up from $7 billion in 2010, increasing fourfold in five years.

Market Insight: Social Media Market Tops $7 Billion, Driven by Advertising

28 September 2011

The global social media market is now worth more than $7 billion per annum, with advertising revenue accounting for more than 60% of the total.

Business Gets Social Innovation Key Initiative Overview

22 July 2011

CIOs and IT and business leaders request guidance on how to apply social approaches to their business. E-business created disruption a decade ago. Social business will have an even more significant impact.

Roundup of Social Media Research 2H10 to 1H11

7 September 2011

This overview of a year's worth of Gartner research into social business will help initiative leaders find advice about all of the eight building blocks of social business.

Apply a Comprehensive Planning Framework as Business Gets Social

23 May 2011

Social initiatives hold the promise of allowing organizations to establish new levels of engagement with employees, business partners, customers and the social Web. This research describes eight building blocks that must be addressed as organizations develop their approach.

Take Four Initial Steps Toward a Social Media Policy

3 May 2011

Most organizations are waking up to the need for a comprehensive social media policy that guides employees as to what they should and should not be doing on internal and external social media sites. Gartner describes the first four steps to take even before developing such a policy.

Toolkit: A Social Media Vision and Road Map for Community-Centric Technical Support

7 April 2011

Use this Toolkit as a "starter kit" for a social media solution based on community-centric technical support, or as a tailorable example for defining a strong social media vision and a purposeful social media solution to positively impact your business.

Use a Gartner Governance Model to More Safely Empower Grassroots Social Media Efforts

1 April 2011

Simply providing access to social technologies, with the hope of energizing grassroots efforts, most often results in failure. This research provides a decision model to help IT organizations determine when a bottom-up or top-down approach to a social media solution is more prudent.

12 Criteria to Assess Grassroots Risk and Potential in Social Media Solutions

1 April 2011

Appropriate and effective grassroots mobilization can mean the difference between social media success and failure, and many initiatives require significant enterprise involvement. We present 12 criteria to help enterprises adjust planning and execution accordingly.

Key Issues for Social Software and Collaboration, 2011

17 March 2011

Our 2011 agenda will cover the promising, but disruptive, ways in which social media and a new generation of technologies are changing business; and the incremental evolution of communication and collaboration initiatives.

Social, Simplified: Gartner's Glossary of Social Terms

5 October 2010

This document identifies and defines the most prevalent social technologies and terms used today.

Access to research documents may vary based on your subscription.