Today in eWeek, Matt Hicks questions: Are Enterprises Ready for Social Networking?
Stowe Boyd says: "There's no place more evident than in sales that who you know is more important than what you know."
"Sales and business-development groups are heavy users of sales force automation systems, which already track ROI and deal flow metrics. Companies who first use social networking in a coordinated way should have little trouble tracking the impact that the technology has on the number of deals or time it takes to make a deal," Boyd said.
Social Networking software mentioned in this article:
Spoke Software, Visible Path, Zerodegrees, and LinkedIn.
K-Collector Topics: LinkedIn Social networks ZeroDegrees Stowe BoydYes, it is 'who you know'... but just because I know that X is the VP of Y at Z Corp. does not give me access to him/her. I may be able to find physical access[phone/email], but not REAL access. Getting the technology right is only 20% of the battle.
I have been doing social network mapping in major orgs for 15 years, you wouldn't believe all of the nuances that make a difference, and can not be ignored.
Posted by: Valdis at January 1, 2004 11:53 AMwhat continues to fascinate me valdis is that it is the 'loose' connections that often create the strongest interest. as you so aptly summarized, it is the nuances or 'details' that often 'seal the deal' - and 'institutional intuition' still figures strongly in those nuances.
Posted by: judith at January 6, 2004 09:19 PM