Social CRM & Mobile Care

Enterprises are aware of social media. They may even dabble in them. But with the news that, in order to stay competitive, they need to bring social media into nearly every corner of their enterprise, many companies are panicking -- and for good reason. Social media are confusing, overwhelming and... let's face it… just a tad scary. Most organizations don't even know where to begin. The sheer amount of data involved is nearly beyond comprehension. So where do you start?

IBM's (News - Alert) Vice President of Emerging Technologies, Rod Smith, addressed the issue during a keynote speech at this week's Social Media Week event in San Francisco. Smith discussed where “big data” and social media meet, according to ZDNet's Rachel King.

“The Web is all about data nowadays,” said Smith, which means that the market is in need of solutions such as analytics that help individuals and companies use all that information, particularly in the realm of social media. Early and direct customer engagement, using both the optimum technology and technique, is also key,” he said. While more and more information flows through the Internet each day – particularly through social media – few companies have found a good way to use that information successfully. Far fewer have found a way to use the valuable data that comes via social networking, a situation IBM hopes to help alleviate.

Social Media Week, which occurs simultaneously in Hamburg, Hong Kong, London, Miami, New York, Paris, San Francisco, São Paulo, Singapore, Tokyo, Toronto and Washington, D.C., explores how local and regional societies, cultures, and economies are becoming more integrated and empowered through a global network of communication.

Going forward, IBM and its Emerging Technologies arm plan to focus on three major areas: “big data,” something called “automated sentiment analysis” and mobile technologies. By combining these three disciplines, said Smith, IBM hopes to help companies put the data (both structured and unstructured) to better use for their organizations.