Today’s post comes from Norv Leong, Director of Product Marketing at Actiance.
Google is back at it again with the introduction of more business-oriented features for Google+. This is significant because it places the tech giant squarely in the social business sea with the likes of Jive, Yammer/Microsoft, and Salesforce Chatter, just to name some of the biggest fish.
Undaunted by the failure of the short-lived Google Wave, G+ on Roids (btw, there seems to be no official name for this enhanced offering, so this is what I’m calling it for the time being) seems to have a better chance at surviving. Why? Well, presumably, the smart folks at Google learned some lessons from their Wave experiment, and also, the value proposition of social business is much clearer than in 2009-10 when Wave was slip-sliding along.
Is that a Google fish I see?
With G+ on Roids, Google Apps users can leverage the social and business aspects of Google+ and Wave, respectively, much more seamlessly. For instance, sharing of posts on Google+ can be limited to specific individuals, and video meetings can be integrated with Gmail, Calendar, and Docs. However, Google’s emergence in the social business landscape once again highlights the potential dangers around compliance and security.
Businesses and their employees play by a different set of rules. They’re held to higher standards and expectations. For instance, public companies have to answer to Sarbanes-Oxley requirements. Regulated companies have to be mindful of whatever rules and statutes apply to them (e.g., SEC, HIPAA, FDA). And finally, just about any business can be sued these days, so litigation and other legal issues are always in the back of executives’ minds.
It’s all well and good to be chatting with your Facebook friends or tweeting sophomoric jokes to your buddies while you’re at home, but it’s a different ballgame when business-related conversations are happening over social media-type channels. Concerns over data privacy and the leakage of confidential information take center stage. That’s why we’re beginning to see a viable technology space flourish, addressing the compliance issues created by the adoption of social business platforms within the workplace.
Requirements around recordkeeping, supervision, and monitoring have brought more uncertainty and hesitation to the waters. Without the right gear, organizations stand to lose more than just the fish that got away: you could lose your boat, your customers, and your reputation. Companies are thus turning to Actiance to help navigate these murky waters. Actiance provides the visibility and clarity that enable organizations to effectively use these social business platforms, making for a more virtuous cycle in the sea.
Actiance 