‘Social’ is everywhere, and there is not a business or organisation on the planet that could not benefit from leveraging social capabilities in some shape or form. The trick, however, is to deliver and present these social capabilities in a manner that fits the way people work. New and established vendors are now getting to grips with the relationship between social networking and enterprise collaboration, and are engineering and reengineering their products, solutions and services accordingly so that organisations can improve interactions with and among customers, citizens, partners and employees.

Established enterprise collaboration software vendors such as IBM and Microsoft, have responded to customer and market demands by developing and marketing corporate solutions which replicate some of the social software concepts and memes found in successful consumer-oriented tools. But while IBM and Microsoft gradually integrate these Web 2.0 social media concepts with existing enterprise offerings, web-native vendors, such as Google, Box.net, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, continue to attract new business users in perhaps more meaningful ways through the application of more agile and adaptable strategies.

The brave new world of social media is yet to find favour in every organisation, and yet the majority of individuals in these organisations are themselves user of social media. So why is it that so many businesses and institutions fail to examine the opportunities that social media presents? Ovum believes it is because the use cases for social media require a different kind of thinking; one which looks ‘outside-in’ rather than ‘inside-out’ from a business perspective.

Ovum considers social media to be the blending of technology and social interaction for the co-creation of value. But what does this actually mean in business terms, and what should business leaders and IT managers be doing about it? The Ovum Social Media workshop has been designed to answer these questions and to provide the delegate with a solid understanding of the social media domain.

This workshop will provide delegates with practical insights into the rapidly evolving world of social media and analytics. Participants will take away useful and actionable knowledge that will inform and stimulate the development of a cohesive social media business and IT strategy.