WyseTalk to shed some light on the growing need for Social Business Software

Innovation is collaborative

Every business wants to be innovative, but not every business taps into the source of inspiration. This is the sentiment of WyseTalk who will be exploring the burning issues facing businesses today at the upcoming Social Business Africa Conference taking place on 20th August 2013 at The Forum in Bryanston, Johannesburg.

“Businesses today operate within a dynamic environment, shaped by variables, such as evolving legislation, globalisation and economic volatility. Disruptive new technologies create new competitors overnight and the only way to get and stay in front is to constantly innovate,” says Gys Kappers, CEO of WyseTalk. “However, innovation is often thought of as the product of inspiration – a spark of genius whose timing or vessel cannot be predicted, or a closed process driven by research and development. However, the reality is that creativity can be cultivated as a habit – by anyone – and it is better when it draws on a collaboration of ideas. By believing that your workforce has a substantial intellect capacity and that it is largely untapped, leaves many organisations with a great capacity to innovate!”

Enter Social Business Software (SBS). Social Business encourages companies to make the paradigm shift towards open innovation, accelerated growth and collaboration with staff and customers by mirroring the natural way social platforms work but in a business context.

“Companies around the world recognise the need to change the way they operate by enabling better business practices that mobilise the collective brainpower of the organisation and its customers in a transparent and meaningful way, that’s considerate of policies and governance issues,” adds Kappers. “Simply put, SBS is the ability to use social media practices within a business to collaborate intelligence, improve responsiveness and productivity, connect and communicate and drive innovation – to do exactly that and so it’s easy to see why the SBS market is growing – as it is everything businesses need today.”

The IDC* predicts that the market for ‘social enterprise software’ will grow 43% annually to reach $4.5 billion in 2016. What’s more, recent statistics reported by McKinsey indicate that businesses that have deployed SBS see a 79% increase in ideas and innovations for the enterprise, leading to a 13% increase in sales revenue which in turn leads to a 3-5% increase in overall deal size and bottom line improvement.

Today, collaboration, networking and knowledge sharing can be seen as antecedents of R&D innovation and knowledge creation. The boundary between the company and its environment could be said to have become more fluid, enabling ideas and knowledge to flow much more freely.

“The success of harnessing business chatter to explore better ways of doing business – cannot be denied,” adds Kappers. “But while businesses explore opportunities, throw money at R&D and seek acquisitions that will enable bigger and better products or services, those that understand the power of SBS will know that the idea that will change the business probably already exists somewhere in company it’s just a matter of asking the right question in an open innovation environment. And it is that, that will set your business apart from the rest,” concludes Kappers.

For more information on the Social Business Africa Conference 2013 – please visit www.socialbusinessafrica.com