Enterprise social networking is “the new battleground for all enterprise collaboration vendors,” according to Ovum analyst Richard Edwards.
Ovum estimated the current value of the market exceeds US$500 million and that 10 per cent of organisations in established IT markets have enterprise social networking services.
“Merger and acquisition activity has increased markedly in the past few months, and this has led to new entrants appearing on the enterprise collaboration landscape,” Edwards said.
Jive and Yammer are getting the most looks from organisations considering social networking, “but other vendors are generating significant business and revenues from their offerings,” he said. Microsoft recently acquired Yammer for US$1.2 billion.
Meanwhile, Salesforce.com recently launched a social media pilot program, while Google recently announced an attempt to bring social media to the enterprise.
“As the business case for investment in enterprise social networking solutions has yet to be proven to business sceptics, some vendors are encouraging independent user adoption in the hope it will prove business value,” Edwards said.
“Ovum believes that the business potential offered by enterprise social networking will only be unlocked when necessity dictates a business change.”
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