Integrating enterprise social networking into the digital ecosystem
What is enterprise social networking? How can you integrate it into your digital ecosystem to encourage adoption, increase productivity, and create a collaborative culture?
Enterprise social networking is transforming the way organizations collaborate and communicate within their digital ecosystems. By integrating social tools directly into the digital workplace, companies can enhance productivity, break down silos, and foster real-time collaboration across teams.
For more insights into how enterprise social networking works and can be successfully integrated, watch the webinar replay:
What is enterprise social networking?
Enterprise social networking is a social media tool or platform an organization uses to enhance communication, collaboration, and knowledge sharing among employees.
Unlike consumer-facing social networks such as Facebook or Instagram, which prioritize casual interactions, entertainment, and social engagement, enterprise social networks are specifically designed to facilitate work-related interactions, project collaboration, and organizational culture.
These platforms integrate with existing enterprise systems to provide a secure and centralized environment where employees can exchange ideas, participate in communities, find information, and contribute to innovation.
With Meta announcing they’re sunsetting Workplace, enterprise social networking platforms have become a hot topic. The removal of Workplace offers opportunities to rethink the way enterprise social works for your organization:
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How does social networking work as part of the enterprise digital ecosystem?
Enterprise social networking should integrate into your organization’s broader digital ecosystem. This includes other enterprise tools such as social intranets, ERPs, CRMs, and collaboration platforms. Social networking enables employees to engage in real-time conversations, contribute to knowledge bases, and participate in cross-functional communities, all from within the same platform that houses their work tools.
This integration reduces reliance on fragmented communication channels like email, and creates a centralized hub for organizational interaction. It also helps organizations break down silos, allowing teams to collaborate fluidly across geographical and functional boundaries.
Features like AI-powered search, governed content accuracy, and real-time feedback loops enhance productivity by making it easier for employees to find relevant information and share innovative ideas. Social networking further personalizes the employee experience, offering mobile access, multilingual support, and user-controlled notifications, which empowers individuals to engage with the digital ecosystem in ways that align with their work habits and needs.
Tips for integrating social networking into the enterprise digital ecosystem
Zoom out and think about how it all fits together
Before integrating enterprise social networking into your organization’s tech stack, think about how it will integrate with the rest of the tools employees use on a daily basis.
"Large complex organizations already struggle with silos, so having a technology stack that also operates in silos is just going to have a negative impact on how they can report, how they can innovate, how they can be productive."
Instead of thinking about technologies as reactive bolt-ons, organizations need to understand what’s needed, and zoom out to understand how it all fits together and how tools talk to each other. How does the organization expect employees to use the technology day to day?
"When it comes to any communication technology, you have to make conscious decisions about how all of this fits together. The actions you take today will shape your organization's future of work."
Employees’ social experience needs to be weaved into the EX (employee experience), that means recognizing the value you’re trying to get out of it.
Example outcomes include:
- Increases in productivity
- Better knowledge management
- Engaging frontline employees
Use consumer-grade enterprise social networking tools
Employees are used to technology with excellent user experience and interfaces in their home lives, only to be faced with clunky technology at work. To encourage adoption, increase productivity, and the effectiveness of your enterprise social networking, creating consumer-grade technology is key.
"I grew up with some of these social platforms – the Facebooks of the world – communication was so different coming into the workplace. Effective enterprise social networking is growing from that."
With increasing numbers of social media native employees in the workforce (Millennials, Gen Z and now Gen Alpha), the importance of consumer-grade technology is vital, especially when it comes to frontline workers who are usually not at a desk. According to Gartner, 82% of hourly employees say it’s important that their organization sees them as a person not just an employee.
"The strategy needs to be around capturing the engagement of that workforce, who are often some of the most disengaged members, and doing that with tools that are integrated, that are consumer grade."
This is something Wipro has experienced when building a successful enterprise social networking tool, regularly used by over 30,000 employees.
"It’s really that ability to merge what you would experience using social media tools – the responsiveness, the really neat user interface – merging that into the work experience is really transformational for an enterprise organization like Wipro."
Create a simple gateway for employees to access everything
Consolidating multiple platforms into a single entry point simplifies navigation and enhances user experience, enabling smooth integration of social tools into the larger digital environment.
Wipro found this during their successful migration to Unily’s enterprise social networking platform.
"We had lots of different applications scattered across different social communities. Now we have one gateway landing spot. When you're a new joiner now, you have a really great employee experience compared to when I joined, because today it's a lot easier to access information that is curated and that will help you get situated in this massive organization that is Wipro. The social aspect is also there. It's very intuitive, and it's bringing the next level of employee experience."
Ensure robust, thought-through governance
Implementing a governance structure is crucial to maintaining control and ensuring the quality of interactions within the integrated ecosystem. Robust governance ensures increased productivity and efficiency. Gartner found that businesses estimate poor data quality is responsible for an average of $15 million in losses.
"If you find something that's out of date, you're then spending time looking for something that's right. So that content accuracy is causing issues."
It's important to look at how systems are putting auto-governance in place; how it can be scaled, making sure it has the right functional structures, and thinking about how we're structuring the content. In 2010, there was a shift from flat content structures to hierarchical structures. Flat structures made traditional information assurance management harder, but it also made discoverability harder. This is something Wipro found helpful when migrating their enterprise social networking platform.
"Before we migrated, we had about 700 communities. There was no governance in place; it was all chaotic. And now, a year after we migrated, we have close to 80 communities that are managed with a governance model that's been defined. It’s not there to make things more difficult; it’s just bringing a bit of rigor to the way we manage our communities. Just having that in place has tremendously improved the quality of the communities without stifling the grassroots aspect where anybody can contribute content. All of that has really helped level up how we're using enterprise social communities in an organization where we have over 230,000 employees, with people scattered around the world working on client projects. That really helps build the engagement over time."
Some examples of Wipro’s increased enterprise social networking governance included prohibited words, and chains of escalation. They focused on building experiences that teammates wanted to engage with and, more importantly, were safe to engage with.
Case study: Wipro’s enterprise social networking platform
in 2022 Wipro moved from their old social platform, Yammer, to Unily’s enterprise social networking solution. The move was part of a broader initiative to modernize their digital ecosystem, and the benefits have been transformative.
Before the migration, Wipro had around 700 communities on their platform. Many were dormant or lacked proper governance. This created a disjointed and chaotic system, making it difficult for employees to find and engage with relevant content. The new platform streamlined this by reducing the number of communities to 80, each managed under a defined governance model. This not only improved the quality of engagement but also ensured that communities remained active and well-managed, with regular updates and a structured onboarding process for new community managers.
A key advantage of the Unily platform is its integration with Wipro’s broader digital ecosystem. Unlike the old, fragmented approach, "The Dot" is Wipro’s centralized digital workspace. This seamless integration allows employees to access social communities alongside other digital tools, such as directories, profiles, and task management systems, all from a single gateway.
The platform features enhanced search capabilities, allowing employees to easily find people, topics, and communities, ensuring better content discoverability. It is also accessible across mobile devices, improving engagement for Wipro’s global workforce, particularly those working remotely or on client projects.
Overall, the transition has vastly improved Wipro’s employee experience by integrating social collaboration into the wider digital ecosystem. It has reduced reliance on email, fostered a more collaborative culture, and enhanced productivity through easy access to the tools and information employees need—all in one place.
Conclusion
Enterprise social networking has become a key driver of communication and collaboration within the modern digital ecosystem. By merging consumer-like social experiences with enterprise-grade governance and security, it empowers employees to engage, share knowledge, and innovate more effectively. When properly integrated with other business tools, enterprise social networks create a more connected, agile, and productive workplace.
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