We are at the edge of 2012 and within a week or so will be getting into sparkling and refreshing 2013. This year saw some great development in the Enterprise collaboration software segment. Starting with IPO of facebook in the month of May it was considered to be the biggest in the history for any internet company. After that the announcement from Microsoft that it is purchasing Yammer the enterprise social network company. Then Bluekiwi was purchased by Capgemini and likewise 2012 saw many high profile accusation and merger. Reports by leading research firms like Gartner, IDC, Mckinsey, forrester showed that future is social collaboration and it will important to companies to leverage the social aspect of business. IDC predicted that this segment is going to see double digit growth of 43% year-on-year and will be a US $4.5 billion company by 2016. Enterprise collaboration is a need of time so as to get the leading edge in the competitive market but still many businesses shy away from adopting it at their work-place. But many analysts are hoping this to change in the coming year.
If year 2012 saw some resistance to the deployment of enterprise collaboration then 2013 will see the acceleration of this platform. Companies will show greater confidence towards enterprise collaboration software and will chalk out a strategy how it can be seamlessly integrated into the work process. IBM and Jive are some good examples, companies those have implemented this platform have seen visible difference in the productivity and profitability. Though the results are not imminent but it does give you long-term ROI. One of the chief reasons many CIO shy away from this technology is due to security reasons but many research have confirmed that cloud technology is indeed safe and form a long-term solutions. But the coming year will see some hybrid cloud solutions for enterprise collaboration software segment. Many CIOs have got the wrong message about Enterprise collaboration software, they think it as a “facebook inside the office”, which is incorrect, just having a activity stream like feature, along with image and video upload or profile creation does not mean it is a facebook kind of think or time-wasting tool. This notion can be changed through proper training and knowledge regarding enterprise social collaboration software.
The future of business will be social and if companies are not able to leverage it for their benefit then they will be left behind in this competitive race of gaining a market share. The year 2013 is almost here so is the opportunity to make right decision.
