A who new culture and set of modern social capabilities is emerging in both the consumer and enterprise space. Customers are talking and collaborating with each other, sharing information, and influencing decision-making. There is a growing imperative to be savvy about influential customers and turn them into loyal advocates. And people are bringing these new behaviors and capabilities into the enterprise. Employees want to be able to find each other, talk, share information, and build new value together across traditional hierarchies and silos. The real power in social comes when you extend this reach to include stakeholders who are external to your organization—including, of course, your customers.

Finally, these interactions are generating a lot of new information and insight. The ability to harness these insights to drive business processes and decisions—and to deliver ever more engaging customer experiences—will transform business, creating significant opportunities for differentiation and new business models. When social information becomes embedded in your everyday business tools and processes, you become a fully connected and engaged enterprise.