Large companies and SMBs use business social tools defined as technologies that enable business collaboration and communication, such as intranets, video conferencing and social networks in dramatically different ways, leading to very different selling motions and partner opportunities, according to a new research released by Microsoft Corp.(NASDAQ:MSFT) at its annual partner conference at Houston, USA .
The study, conducted by the research firm Ipsos among nearly 10,000 end-users at SMBs and large companies in 32 countries, found that, in addition to using solutions such as intranets and instant messaging services, SMBs are more likely to utilize multiple external social tools for professional purposes. Large companies, on the other hand, are more likely to deploy fewer, more prevalent collaboration tools.
“Social collaboration technologies represent a growing opportunity for both large companies and SMBs to fully realize the benefits of cloud computing through and all-inclusive approach to productivity,” said Ramkumar Pichai, GM, Microsoft Office Division, Microsoft. “The new Office is more social than ever. With SharePoint, Lync and Yammer, Microsoft alone has the expertise, portfolio, capabilities, vision and insight to make the future for workplace collaboration a reality.”
Although the top use for social tools in both large companies and SMBs is communicating with colleagues (selected by seven in 10 of all end users surveyed), those at smaller companies use social tools for a broader range of tasks, including communicating with customers, clients or vendors and researching customers, clients and competitors. In contrast, end-users at large companies are more likely to use social tools for finding an expert of information within their company.
