The Rise of the Connected Enterprise

Many have tried to define what a connected enterprise is by talking solely about technology. That’s upside down. A truly connected organization – optimized by mobile and social capabilities – sees itself as a customer-focused enterprise. It operates around the customer, whether it’s interactions through social networks or behind the scenes in managing customer transactions. It is committed to maintaining a comprehensive view of its customers, for the purpose of best serving them, which in turn serves the bottom line. Once your organization has this view, it’s clear why connected apps need to part of your corporate strategy.

Connected apps are particularly adept at knocking down barriers between people and departments, and the back-office has the potential to be the biggest beneficiary from the move towards this new level of connection – shifting its role from command-and-control, to an active participant and enabler in critical business conversations.

Groups from “other sides of the wall” like sales and finance can better collaborate on issues that matter not only to them but to the business as a whole. And management can have a better understanding on the pulse of the business by “listening” to the cross-channel chatter between departments.

Teams can get off of the reply-all, black hole of email and participate in real-time group discussions no matter where they are, and more importantly, inside back-office apps within the context of the customer activity or the transaction that generated the conversation in the first place. But back-office functions have been the laggards in adopting connected apps, particularly mobile. According to one survey, most accountants think of “social” as a distraction or a serious security threat. In another, finance ranked second to last for use of social media among all corporate job functions.

It's Not Just the Bookkeepers

A report from McKinsey Global Institute points out that while almost any human interaction in the workplace can be "socialized, only five percent of all communications and content use in the U.S. happens on social networks."

That’s simply not good enough.

Especially since that same McKinsey report shows that connected technologies stand to unlock from $900 billion to $1.3 trillion in value. According to the report, all that upside comes from “improved communications and collaboration within and across enterprises.” Far from a distraction, connected technologies represent one of the greatest opportunities to boost productivity in the enterprise. And to make the back-office an effective participant, the organizations, across every department, need to redefine customer experience as customer interactions at every touch point, from support, marketing, sales, to billing and collections.

The good news is that there are a growing number of mobile and social-embedded back-office applications that offer a seamless gateway for those in Accounting, Billing, Services and Support. These systems incorporate the financial and back-office aspect of the customer relationship into the domain of the front-office and visa versa. They offer a way for departments to leapfrog to more central and strategic roles where their customer insight plays an integral role in creating a true 360 view of customers for the entire organization.

The bottom line is understanding and commitment. Understanding the “why” behind building a customer-centric enterprise is first. Committing to connecting Sales, Support and Finance to create a synchronized view of customer activity, billing and product usage is a next step. Buying shiny iPads for employees? Without thinking through the first two, you’re likely to do no better than improve corporate Angry Birds scores.

This post originally appeared at Insights.Wired.com. 

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