Social IT Planning & Adoption Very Active, Reveals First-Ever Survey Of U.S.-Based Information Technology Organizations

ORLANDO, June 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- ITinvolve, the leading innovator of IT collaboration solutions, today announced results of the first-ever Social IT Index at the Gartner Infrastructure and Operations Management Summit taking place at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Conference Center in Orlando, June 18 – 20. The Index's key finding: planning and adoption of Social IT capabilities is well underway and maturing, according to the input from nearly 400 U.S.-based IT professionals, managers, and executives.

Sponsored by ITinvolve, the survey was administered through and respondents were selected by an independent survey service during the second half of May 2013. Social IT is the use of collaboration-based technologies to enhance communication, productivity, knowledge-sharing, and decision-making within IT organizations and between IT and end user communities.

"The survey data clearly shows that a significant portion of IT organizations have already started to research and exploit Social IT capabilities," said ITinvolve VP of Marketing Matthew Selheimer. "What may have started with the simple idea of exploring how social principles in our personal lives might apply to our IT work is now trending toward a fundamental rethinking of how IT professionals get their work done."

Selheimer said ITinvolve and its third-party survey administrator will continue to conduct the survey, expanding access to IT professionals from around the world, and update trending data every six months going forward.

To read the comprehensive Social IT Index report and methodology please visit: www.itinvolve.com/social-IT-index   

Social IT Index top-level findings: Social IT Research and Planning

Approximately a third (31%) of respondents have already documented questions and answers about the role Social IT can have in their organizations.

Large companies (> 1,000 employees) are ahead of smaller companies (< 1,000 employees) in beginning to document questions and answers about the role of Social IT. 40% of large company respondents say they have documented questions and answers about Social IT while only 28% of small company respondents indicated the same.

Managers and above are far more likely to have documented questions and answers about Social IT. 48% of those with job roles of Manager or higher have documented questions about what Social IT can mean for their organizations. Therefore, nearly half of those in positions of authority to drive Social IT projects are already actively exploring the possibilities.

Many IT organizations are actively researching vendor capabilities (37%) and investing in prototyping efforts with internal resources (44%).

Only half (51%) of those who have a developed a formal Social IT plan have quantified the expected benefits. This puts the success measurement of Social IT efforts at risk in those organizations that have not yet quantified the expected benefits.

Social IT Index survey findings: State of Social IT Adoption

35% of respondents report their IT organizations have implemented at least one Social IT capability. The most commonly reported Social IT capability used is a single Facebook-style wall for the IT organization followed by a public Twitter feed. Ranking third on the list of most implemented Social IT capabilities is the ability to facilitate collaboration among individuals in the context of a specific IT activity, for example: triaging an incident, planning a change or determining the root-cause of a recurring problem. 

Despite higher numbers for implementation of a Facebook-style wall for IT and Twitter feeds, respondents rank the top five most valuable Social IT capabilities to be:

1. The ability to facilitate collaboration among individuals in the context of a specific IT activity like triaging an incident, planning a change, or determining the root-cause of a recurring problem
2. The ability to actively promote and push IT knowledge to specific individuals based on their role
3. A social object model for IT process activities like incidents, changes, problems, etc.
4. A Facebook-style wall (single wall for entire organization)
5. The ability to enhance traditional IT processes with social capabilities (such as weighing in on a change among key stakeholders prior to a formal change approval)

Additionally, 58% of respondents report they have defined Social IT communication policies and 25% report they have rewards and recognition systems already in place for Social IT or are considering doing so.

According to Selheimer, "IT organizations have been characterized for a long time as operating with a silo mentality and having a strong prejudice for processes that can stifle knowledge worker creativity and innovation. The findings in the Social IT Index demonstrate that many IT organizations are actively engaged in researching and adopting new approaches to break free from these traditional constraints."

About ITinvolve

ITinvolve is the leading innovator of IT collaboration solutions, offering a breakthrough approach that helps IT organizations easily capture and share their collective knowledge as part of daily work. ITinvolve customers gain unprecedented visibility into their IT environments, have fewer risks from changes, resolve incidents and identify root-causes faster, and more. ITinvolve lowers the total cost of delivering great service and does not require the replacement of existing IT management solutions. Built on the secure and scalable Force.com platform, ITinvolve runs in the cloud and requires no hardware or software installation. Call 1-877-741-8944, visit www.itinvolve.com or follow on Twitter @ITinvolve.

SOURCE ITinvolve