With the rise of social networking, a social transformation is taking place in how people interact and this is changing the way we work.

Many HR executives are confronted with the pressure from employees and business to facilitate social tools in the workplace to collaborate, share information, find expertise and respond quickly to opportunities.

This issue is highlighted in the 2010 IBM Global CHRO Study, for which over 700 CHROs worldwide were interviewed. Crucially, the Study features the actions and ambitions of those CHROs who are successfully embracing and building such structures – becoming social businesses. They are enabling borderless ways of working, predicting future talent and fostering innovation and creativity.

Such a strategy is essential at a time when the research shows that outperformers are 57% more likely to say their organizations use collaboration and social networking to enable their workforce.

Read the 2010 IBM CHRO Study here

Another study of the IBM Institute of Business Value, A new way of working, found that organizations that are significantly outperforming their industry peers also happen to be making more headway on newer approaches to work. They’re using dynamic, collaborative and connected ways of working to get things done effectively within a constantly changing environment.
Yet most organizations are not meeting their ambitions for a collaborative workforce. For those at the forefront and those lagging behind, this research offers insights into the critical practices and technologies that are fundamentally changing the nature of work.

Read the white paper to learn more on new approaches to work

In general, introducing social software tools, helps creating new pathways centered on people and the relationships between them―helping to solve the persistent problem of searching for the information needed to accomplish tasks, make decisions, and inspire new ideas.