关键字：社交网络
这份名为《Leading Through Connections: Insights from the Global Chief Executive Officer Study》的报告，是根据对于全球1,700多名企业CEO面对面的访谈而来。IBM公司从2004年开始每两年进行一次这项研究，发现技术已经从当时 的第6顺位提升至榜首位置了。现在，技术的排名已经比人际交往能力和市场等因素更重要了。
“正如我们从所有CEO的响应内容中所见的，持续不断出现的一个主题就是：持续且大量地关注于人们如何与组织互动的变化，”在这份报告中并提到，“将技术视为一种效率提升驱动力的看法已经 过时了；当今的CEO将技术视为推动合作与建立关系的推手──而这些更是加速创造与创新的基本关系。”
企业成功的一项关键在于如何有效率地与客户、自己的公司员工以及合作伙伴之间建立连结与合作关系。事实上，共同合作的能力通常是CEO最常提到希望能与员工共同建立的关键。
要能与客户和业务合作伙伴携手合作，CEO们认为社交媒体是一项关键的推动力。约有一半以上的CEO预期社交管道将成为未来五年内连系客户的最主要方式之 一。许多公司甚至投入许多数据分析，将用户资料转变为公司未来付诸实际行动的洞察力。超过70%的CEO正寻求深入了解客户以及改善因应之道的方式。特别是电子产业(占86%)与汽车领域(占80%)的CEO开始进行重大变革，以便能更有效地因应个别客户的需求。“现在正是一个必须不变因应用户反馈的世界，”一位CEO说，“我们需要组织具备更灵活应变的能力。”
根据IBM的这份报告显示，无论如何，这个反馈社群中都会包括业务合作伙伴。“在一个日渐透明化以及即刻传播的社群媒体中，组织通常会经由其合作伙伴的行动加以判断，不只是组织本身。”因此，CEO们期望能在未来三到五年内提升50%以上的合作伙伴关系。这些合作伙伴关系都需要彼此之间更深入、更密切且较以更用心地经营。
在这份报告中，一家日本电子产业的CEO还论及他的公司如何“透过将终端用户的心声直接纳入产品的开发中”，从而协助其B2B客户实现创新。
但前提是──技术必须能尽可能地更深入连接更多的人与企业。能够找到并有效利用这些社交网络关系的公司终将取得竞争优势。
Social Networking: The Ultimate Weapon
Tam Harbert, Freelance Journalist
When I read one of the major findings in a recent report by IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) -- that technology is the most critical factor impacting corporations today -- my first thought was: "Duh." But as I continued to read, it became clear that this was not a "Dog Bites Man" story. The technology that IBM talks about is not just focused on the software or hardware that helps build better widgets. Rather, the most useful technology these days is the technology that brings people together: social networking.
The report, "Leading Through Connections: Insights from the Global Chief Executive Officer Study" (PDF), is based on face-to-face conversations with more than 1,700 CEOs worldwide. Since IBM began the bi-annual study in 2004, technology has risen from No. 6 to the top spot. It's now ranked higher than people skills and market factors.
"As we looked across the whole of CEOs' responses, one consistent theme emerged: an overwhelming focus on changes in how people engage with the organization," the report says. "The view that technology is primarily a driver of efficiency is outdated; CEOs now see technology as an enabler of collaboration and relationships -- those essential connections that fuel creativity and innovation."
A key to business success will be how effectively companies can connect and collaborate -- with customers, their own employees, and partners. In fact, the ability to collaborate was the most commonly cited trait CEOs wanted from their employees.
With customers and business partners, CEOs see social media as a key enabler. More than half expect social channels to be a primary way of engaging customers within five years. Companies are also investing in data analytics to convert customer data into insights and insights into action. More than 70 percent of the CEOs are looking for ways to understand customers and improve responsiveness. CEO, particularly those in the electronics (86 percent) and automotive (80 percent) sectors, are making major changes to respond better to individual customer needs. "This is now a continuous feedback kind of world," said one CEO. "We need the organizational nimbleness to respond."
This feedback loop will include business partners, for better or worse, according to the report. "In a world of increased transparency and instantly disseminated social media, organizations are often judged by their partners' actions, not just their own." CEOs expect the use of partnerships to increase more than 50 percent over the next three to five years. And those partnerships need to be deeper, more integrated, and stronger than ever. The ideal is that collaboration and communication is so tight among partners that any shift in consumer needs or desires is felt and draws an immediate reaction all along the supply chain.
In the report, an electronics industry CEO from Japan discussed how his company is helping its B2B customers innovate by "incorporating the end user's voice directly into product development."
The bottom line: Technology is making more and deeper connections among people and corporations possible. Those companies that recognize and use these connections effectively stand to gain a competitive edge.