Over the past couple of years, there has been a proliferation of social collaboration tools. Some of these are free while others are subscription based. All of them aim at one thing—improving the communication within organizations and with their clients, suppliers, partners, etc. However, even with the easy availability of these tools, or platforms, it has been noticed that companies have been slow or reluctant to adopt them.
Everyone would think that everyone would know to exchange information via knowledge forums, feeds, and chat by now. Then what is causing this delay?
Such tools allow an individual to work in his own space with minimal intrusion and a record of almost everything he does. They allow the exchange of information, ideas, and much more by removing the barriers between departments. However, a research by Denis Duvauchelle, CEO and co-founder of Twoodo, has revealed the following reasons that enterprises have not rushed to adopt social collaboration tools.
Misuse of tools is bad for every company
Most companies already have social collaboration tools in place and the higher management has happily assumed that the employees are using the tool. They also believe that they all know how to use it best and that the current tool suits everyone’s job requirement. Even though most people know that the uses of a social collaboration tool go beyond file sharing, that’s all that they are used for. That is why, most of the times, companies have a social collaboration tool that is just lying unused in a corner.
The belief that the price of these tools is more than their benefits
With the amount of ready information at the tips of your fingers, the prices of these tools could be easily found out. It has been found that most of these tools are really affordable, especially if you see the increase in productivity that they bring about. The greatest advantage of these tools is that they eliminate the need of multiple tools or platforms for different tasks. All the systems such as your HRM and Payroll Management, Project Management, ERP, Inventory Management could be configured to run on the same platform. However, if you are worried about the training costs for these tools, you should know that these tools have been developed to be as intuitive as possible, thus reducing the training and learning costs. Return on Investment is assured for these tools.
Not taking the time to really learn and train to use these tools
I mentioned that users of these tools do not need to be trained in using them. However, training and development are an integral part of each company’s process and some basic training of these tools is required. Also, one important point to be understood is that the profit brought about by the use of these tools will be seen only over a period of time, not immediately.
Change is hard, but companies that do not learn to adapt to change will get left behind in the competition. In this age of working smart, not hard, a social collaboration tool has become a necessity.
