WAYS OF INTEGRATING SOCIAL NETWORKS INTO IBM'S BUSINESS INFORMATION SYSTEMS

 
Ways of Integrating Social Networks into IBM's Business Information Systems
Introduction
Companies are frequently looking for sources of competitive advantage that can drive
their revenue upwards. One of the possible ways to achieve this is social networking since this
phenomenon offers ways of simplifying companies’ business models and at the same time
connects them with their stakeholders. The current business environment has changed
tremendously. First, organisations are taking on more global dimensions; they are sourcing their
raw materials, suppliers, trading partners or other business processes from different parts of the
world. Such collaboration creates different needs for businesses. For instance, companies create
a scenario in which the concerned parties have to be available twenty-four hours a day; they also
increase the need to enhance efficiency, as competition is no longer restricted by areas. In other
words, all the challenges and opportunities brought on by globalisation become a reality to most
companies. This presents IT stakeholders with unique opportunities to serve these new needs.
Changes in Business Collaboration
Many businesses are now changing their organisational models. It is no longer enough to
work in isolation and hope for the best as no business can survive on its own. Instead, different
aspects of the supply chain are merging to create the most effective business collaboration
networks. In fact, nowadays, competition is based on the most effective collaboration networks
and on not so effective companies.
Companies are now specialising in their main areas of activity and outsource other
business functions to other companies who are also experts in those functions. Such networking
strategy helps to provide consumers with better services at the same cost. Besides, this creates a
serious need for information management systems that can handle varying organisational 
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models.
The level of complexity in organisations is changing tremendously. These days, it is
possible to find so many different parts of an organisation with unique needs and tasks. Most
commonly, the information systems have to be adjusted according to the needs prevalent in
particular departments of the company. For example, business-to-business process management
is more necessary than single enterprise knowledge management (Fost, Moreno and Chrotsiakis,
2005). The major task of the IT technologies is to simplify all the processes between businesses
so that integration is facilitated in the most effective ways possible.
Restrictions in business technologies slowly become outdated. Nowadays, agility and
responsiveness are critical aspects in organisations, and they cannot be delivered if there are too
many rules imposed within a company system. There is, therefore, a need for a change in the
mindsets of both business personnel as well as IT experts who must provide businesses with an
adequate control over their databases. Collaboration between these two groups takes on a new
dimension because now companies need to think about IT personnel as partners rather than about
mere service providers. These two kinds of stakeholders need not engage in blame games as all
of them contribute towards business performance.
Perhaps, the most interesting aspect of the new face of business collaboration is the
unconventional way in which ideas are generated. In the past, it was assumed that the corporate
arena would try out a new system and then it would be transferred into the consumer world.
Nowadays businesses borrow from the consumer world and customise those systems. For
instance, the idea of social networking was thought to be an element distinct to social aspects of
life, but this role changes fast as it has been established that there are numerous advantages
coming with such a phenomenon.
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Overview of Social Networks
In simple terms, social networks can be defined as online aggregates of individuals who
want to share information with others through people’s opinions and experiences. Social
networking websites allow members to link up with one another based on similar interests, goals,
or ideas. On the one hand, traditional websites are those ones that allow various individuals to
link with others irrespective of their geography, interests or any other traits. On the other hand,
there are social networking websites for academic purposes while others have been established
for professional purposes alone. Users are usually expected to create their personal profiles
where one can give general information and accompany it with personal photos. These social
networks may either be generic – those where the general public can be invited by an existing
member, or specialised – those where membership is restricted to a certain society, institution,
company, or community of people (Andrews, 2009). Both social networks allow individuals to
form new associations.
Social net