Most B2B employees think enterprise should go social (survey)

We all know how Salesforce feels about integrating social media into the enterprise world after CEO Marc Benioff's keynote on Wednesday at Dreamforce.

He's not alone on this topic. The majority of companies are becoming more social both internally and externally, according to a new survey conducted by Bluewolf.

Here's some of the highlights from the Social Enterprise Readiness Survey:

• 60 percent of respondents believe that "every business" needs to be social
• 61 percent list social media strategy as a "high priority"
• 52 percent are extremely confident in their social media strategies
• 48 percent of companies surveyed track company-related discussions online and via social networks
• 42 percent offer employees a private social network for internal collaboration

This might be shocking for some, but not all companies are against letting their employees check Facebook at work. At least 56 percent of the companies surveyed permit their employees to access external social networks during work hours.

Nevertheless, 27 percent of employers participating in the survey fear a loss in productivity with social media. Other roadblocks include management and ownership of social media as well as proving the value of integrating this technology.

Incorporating social media into the enterprise world is going to be especially important in the coming years, Bluewolf warns. The next generation that enters the workforce is going to be accustomed to having social media throughout their teenage and college years. Thus, they're going to be seeking out those same solutions in the workplace as well.

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