Increased smartphone and tablet penetration is enhancing social business usage as people can communicate from wherever they are, according to social business system provider Jive Software.
“There is a transformation going on, driven by mobile platforms,” said Tim Albright, senior business strategist and evangelist at Jive Software, in an interview with RCR Wireless News during the company’s Latin American launch this week.
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Albright explained that When moving toward mobile, companies look to reach people where they are and make it easier for employees to use the social business system.
“Sales and field people, for instance, do not spend much time sitting in front of their PCs, so smartphones and tablets help others communicate with them,” Albright said.
Social media tools have been deployed in many enterprises to facilitate internal and external communications by engaging, creating, organizing and sharing information, as well as finding, connecting and interacting with other employees.
Albright forecasts that within two years, mobile social business users will double, as mobile devices become more prevalent. The mass increase is one of the reasons why many new developments are being designed first for mobile and cloud, and then later are tested on PCs.
“Mobile will become the primary access while browsers will be second,” predicted Cameron Deatsch, director of marketing at Jive Software.
In addition to mobile, social business use is boosted by the network effect (i.e., the increase of Internet connectivity), new tools and features and familiarity — many people already know how to use social networking tools.
Social business software is a tool that can work well for really big enterprises with thousands of employees who may have difficulty finding the right information and expertise, for example.
Latin American launch
Jive Software gathered prospective clients, partners and press members for a São Paulo event to announce the company’s arrival in the region. Although there is no local office yet (the company is in process of getting the appropriate documentation, which can take months in Brazil), the company said they are working through channels to reach regional customers.
“We will go to the market via partners because they know the local market and customers’ needs. We already have seven partners enlisted to cover the main Latin American markets,” said Fernando de Allende, Jive’s VP for Latin America.
Although Jive Software is focusing on Latin America in general, it has targeted Brazil as the main market. In Brazil, Jive plans to have a local sales, marketing and technical team to support its partners.
Jive Software already has one big client in the region, Itaú Unibanco, the largest financial conglomerate in the Southern Hemisphere and the No. 10 bank in the world.
