Adoption of social media is on the rise in Indian IT companies as the internal social networking tools that are similar to Facebook, twitter and collaborative tools like blogs & wikis help in communication among employees and between employees and managements, knowledge management, and also helps in curbing the higher attrition levels in the companies. The rise of social networks like the Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc and millions of users that log on to these networks and actively engage with friends, communities and others have forced the Indian IT companies to build internal social networks for their employees as the employees particularly the young employees fresh from the colleges and universities (average age 22-26 years) who are already active on various external social networks are also looking for similar platforms for interacting within their organizations as these companies have more than 1,00,000 employees spread across the globe. Employees use these internal social networks not only to collaborate on projects, share knowledge and interact with colleagues and clients but also share their personal information & opinions, passions, hobbies and participate in various cultural events. Social networking tools and platforms provide employees an opportunity to engage with the management and actively participate in the organizational development activities and voice their opinions on the various strategies and policies. Employees will be motivated and will work with greater commitment for the organizational goals.
Indian IT vendors are investing in these internal social networking platforms both for engaging their employees and also sell these platforms to their clients who can use them in their employee engagement. Significant investments have been made by Indian IT vendors over the past few years as the social networks have seen tremendous growth and most of the companies be it large, medium and small are all making sure that they are present on all the major social networks and are also encouraging their employees to actively participate and interact on these networks. Most of the companies have formulated a social media policy and guidelines for their employees too. This provides an opportunity for the Indian IT vendors to extend their offerings into the social media platforms and help their clients in communicating with the employees, clients and other stakeholders, increase collaboration and knowledge management and monitor the social networks in terms of the employee engagement, brand reputation, consumer opinions, feedback and complaints so as to avoid any brand or reputation damage. Companies are looking for social network platforms that are secure, do not violate the intellectual property rights, and provide an easy to use platform for their employees, customers and other stakeholders.
Employees in Indian IT companies are actively engaging in the internal social networking platforms as evident by the details provided by major Indian IT vendors like TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL and Cognizant Technology. Employees are actively creating their work and personal profiles, expressing their interest, hobbies, affiliations and uploading content like photos, music, and videos. Lakhs of employees spread across the globe are actively interacting, understanding and appreciating the different cultures and working on their hobbies like forming music bands, dance groups, literary groups that are totally unrelated to their work or company. Managements are allowing these activities with an expectation that employees will stick with the company for longer periods, be loyal and actively involve in developing innovative products and services and improve the brand reputation of the company and ultimately increase the revenues and profitability. Some of the Indian IT vendors have announced that there has been significant reduction in the attrition levels and employee engagement and satisfaction levels have also increased.
These internal social network platforms are not totally internal but also allow consumers and other external stakeholders to communicate with the company and its employees. Consumers and other external stakeholders are provided with necessary access and secured logins. Communication among these groups is significant as it will help in innovations and development of products and services. Innovation is critical for the Indian IT vendors and the employees as well as the management have to constantly learn about new technologies and developments that are happening in the industry so as to incorporate them into their products and service offerings. Operational efficiency will increase and the costs of communication will come down significantly as employees will be using the internal social network platforms for communication and these communications will be more productive. Indian IT vendors have to use the various social media and networking tools internally for their employees before they go to their clients offering various social media related service offerings. Their implementation and usage internally will be the best testimonial for the social media service offerings. The competition among the Indian Vendors and Global Vendors is so tight and any lapses in identifying the emerging and disruptive trends and consumer preferences and necessities will have drastic effects on the business and its survival.
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