How well CIOs leverage social media will have a significant impact on their grade in the next two years. If you are a CIO, how do you get that ‘A’ grade in the future?
Sagar Anisingaraju is the Chief Strategy Officer at Saama Technologies.
When it comes to evaluating and implementing systems such as ERP, CRM and HR, CIOs have a fairly good handle on what works and what doesn't for their internal customers. Most CIOs will get a very good grade in that category, say a B+ or an A.
However social media is fast becoming a vital mechanism for keeping a finger on the pulse of the customers, engaging them and influencing their purchase decisions. As a result, how well CIOs leverage social media will have a significant impact on their grade in two years. If you are a CIO, how do you get that ‘A’ grade in the future?
First and foremost, as a CIO, you have to be socially active yourself. It is difficult to lead unless you are part of the ecosystem.
Even if you are not yet ready to take a plunge in public social media, corporate social networks within your firewalls are a good start. Your employees may already be communicating on Jive, Yammer, Chatter and other social platforms you may have within your environment. It is important that you personally participate actively in relevant discussion threads in corporate social networks.
Secondly, you need to have a good understanding of the relevance of ‘social data’ for each of the functions within the company, especially the department head. After all, you are the keeper of the keys to the most important assets of your business -- the data about your customers, suppliers, operations and employees.
I highly recommend that you form teams of innovation within IT to actively understand the relevance of social media data on each of the business lines and implement pilots. Block your calendar to work with the teams and be engaged
