5 Recommended Books on Enterprise Social Business

In a previous blog we had written about “What is Social Business?” which is connecting every single person who’s a part of your business to each other. And not only does it connect, it also encourages them to interact in a manner that is beneficial to the growth of your business.

As enterprise social networking continues to mature, different voices with different opinions emerge. Current and potential adopters look to experts, vendors and other users to help them form thoughts on the strengths and downfalls of the technology.

How does enterprise social network fit into my enterprise? What is the return on investment? How to I strategize? How are other organizations using it? For answers to these questions and more here are some recommended books worthy of your attention.

Please keep in mind that this is not a definitive list and there are several other excellent books making their way to the market as well. In no particular order, here are the leading books in our opinion that can help you understand everything you need to know about enterprise social business.

1. The Collaborative Organization by Jacob Morgan

It is a strategic guide to solving your internal business challenges using emerging social and collaborative tools, the book provides a comprehensive strategy guide to emergent collaboration in the workplace.

The book has been endorsed by top executives such as the former CIO of the USA, CMO of SAP, CMO of Dell, CEO of Unisys, CEO of Geneys (and former EVP of Alcatel Lucent), Co-founder of Salesforce, SVP at SAP and several others.

 2. Enterprise 2.0 by Andrew Mcafee

The book provides insights into how to manage social technologies to transform your organization. McAfee coined the term Enterprise 2.0 & in his book he makes clear that the new technologies are good for much more than just socializing-when properly applied, they help businesses solve pressing problems, capture dispersed and fast-changing knowledge, highlight and leverage expertise, generate and refine ideas, and harness the wisdom of crowds.

The book brings together case studies and examples with key concepts in a clear, accessible, and entertaining style.

3. Implementing Enterprise 2.0 by Ross Dawson

This book is practical guide to creating business value inside organizations with web technologies. The book provides detailed practical insights into how to create substantial business value with web technologies, supported by numerous case studies of successful implementation and lessons learned.

Implementing Enterprise 2.0 provides detailed coverage of each step on the Enterprise 2.0 journey, assisting executives to understand benefits and risks, take informed action, and implement successful initiatives.

4. The Social Organization by Anthony J. Bradley and Mark P. McDonald

The authors are two of Gartner's lead analysts who strongly advocate exploiting social technology. The authors share insights from their study of successes and failures at more than four hundred organizations that have used social technologies to foster—and capitalize on—customers’ and employees’ collective efforts.

The book highlights the benefits and challenges of using social technology to tap the power of collective effort. Packed with practical advice and compelling examples, this new book reveals how you can make collaboration a source of enduring competitive advantage in your enterprise.

5. Enterprise 2.0 by Niall Cook

The book explains the impact that social software will have inside the corporate firewall, and ultimately how staff will work together in the future. Niall Cook helps you to navigate this emerging landscape and introduces the key concepts that make up 'enterprise 2.0'. The book uses practical examples from well-known companies in a range of industry sectors to illustrate how to apply enterprise 2.0 to encourage communication, cooperation, collaboration and connection between employees and customers in your own company.

Now, it’s your turn to tell us what you think. Think we’re missing some good ones? What are you looking forward to reading? Make sure to leave your suggestions and ideas in our comments.