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Enterprise Social Networks: 2023 Trends to Watch
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The enterprise social network has established itself as the go-to solution for sharing information and building connections among an organisation's employees. Its key strength? Bringing the entire company and its ecosystem together within a single platform! In 2021, a Lecko study found that “for 32% of respondents, networking within the organisation is entirely carried out through an internal collaborative tool”¹! This is all the more evident over recent years, during which the world of work has undergone a series of rapid shifts (the Covid-19 crisis, the Great Resignation, inflation, climate change…), which have driven a massive digital transformation of businesses.
Let's look at the key trends to follow in 2023 to manage your enterprise social networks like a pro!
1. Responsible digital practices
Adopting responsible digital practices is now one of the main trends to implement in enterprise social networks. According to ADEME, companies are responsible for 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. This consumption includes the organisation's overall energy use, waste accumulation, procurement, travel… and also technology — including the daily use of an enterprise social network!
The benefits of an enterprise social network are many. However, it also carries the downside of having a negative environmental impact if not used responsibly… It's all about balance !
In 2023, you will need to be mindful of the carbon footprint of your enterprise social network. The good news is there are plenty of actions you can take to reduce your digital pollution at work. Read this article for 7 ideas to reduce your company's carbon footprint.
Your enterprise social network provider can also support you in this approach. Contact our team to learn more about our support packages.
2. Hybrid work
Since the Covid-19 crisis, hybrid work has proven its worth. It is therefore a trend that will continue into 2023.
Did you know that “employees prefer to come into the office for teamwork, but naturally lean towards remote work for tasks that require greater concentration“²? Today, what matters most to employees is the ability to have flexibility in their workplace and schedule, to communicate effectively wherever they are, all while maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
These are needs that enterprise social networks can address, as many of them now offer mobile apps. Thanks to these apps, employees can stay informed about company news and connect with colleagues at any time.
On the Talkspirit mobile app, for example, you can chat, stay up to date via a news feed and a welcome portal, check upcoming meetings, or search for colleagues via a directory.
3. User experience first
The quality of user experience now plays a key role in the adoption of an enterprise social network. This is why it is — in our view — one of the trends to prioritise in 2023.
Indeed, if your users struggle to use your enterprise social network, they will logically be less engaged, feel less aligned with company culture, and be harder to onboard.
Remember that your employees are your best ambassadors for your enterprise social network. It is therefore essential to offer them the best user experience possible. This means both choosing an intuitive, ergonomic tool and putting in place several best practices. We recommend you:
- Train teams on how to use the platform;
- Designate one or more community managers;
- Regularly gather feedback from employees, for example by running polls;
- Customise your enterprise social network as much as possible, for example by creating multiple home pages tailored to different employee profiles
All of this is of course possible on our platform Talkspirit, but also on other enterprise social networks. Check out our ranking of the best enterprise social networks to find the right tool for you.
4. Personalisation
In 2023, employees also want to receive more personalised communications and to express themselves freely in a dedicated space. To retain employees, companies must therefore personalise their internal communications further and invest in authenticity.
This personalisation can be carried out by your enterprise social network administrators, who can create multiple groups and multiple home pages to better target the information shared with employees. It is also possible to define which employees can access which pages of your knowledge library, so the right knowledge reaches the right person.
Users themselves can also personalise various elements, including their profile, the background of their platform, the groups they wish to join, the display of their news feed, and the content they want to see surfaced.
5. The rise of artificial intelligence
This new year looks set to bring promising developments for the future of work! While artificial intelligence is still seen as a revolution, it continues to evolve rapidly.
Among its successes, we can highlight the popular chatbots — conversational robots capable of interacting with humans in natural language, now found on various platforms and increasingly on enterprise social networks. These chatbots can be used to facilitate access to information and provide greater autonomy to users.
The Talkspirit platform features a chatbot that acts as an FAQ assistant for your teams. Available 24/7, it quickly answers the most frequently asked questions.
The latest breakthrough in this space is ChatGPT, a chatbot developed by OpenAI. What makes it unique? It is a programme capable of “structuring a response, writing and debugging code, composing music, playing games, answering assessment questionnaires, writing poems and songs”³. According to researcher Laure Soulier, the goal of such tools is not to replace the user, “but to help them become more effective.” We can therefore conclude that artificial intelligence, and chatbots in particular, will continue to grow in prominence this year, becoming an enduring part of your enterprise social networks.
6. More engaging internal communications
With the new year underway, it is time to think about how to make internal communications more engaging.
According to a 2022 Gallup study, “14% of European workers say they are engaged at work. This is the lowest level in the world”⁴. Low engagement means reduced involvement, lower performance, and even waves of resignations!
Read also: Internal communications: 7 tips to boost employee engagement
This challenge can be addressed through enterprise social networks. There are many tools and formats that can help you boost employee engagement on these platforms:
- Video. Innovative and effective, video stimulates curiosity and makes information accessible in just a few seconds of viewing.
- Polls and surveys, to gather employee feedback and ideas on various topics.
- A “Wall of Fame” group that encourages employees to share their achievements.
- Contests. What better way to drive participation than to challenge teams with a reward at stake? On your marks, get set, go!
- Use the photo gallery, for example to create a temporary cultural exhibition that sparks your employees’ creative spirit — or simply to share photos from your team workshops.
- Interactive activities, even the most basic ones (polls, informational pop-ups, etc.), help create a space for connection — figuratively and literally — between teams.
end HubSpot Call-to-Action Code 7. Easily accessible knowledge
A study by Workplace Intelligence revealed that, on one hand, the pandemic left employees feeling they had lost some of their learning capacity, but on the other, that upskilling is a key factor in maintaining motivation and engagement.
Today, there is no doubt: employees need easy access to knowledge and information that can support their daily work. This is of course possible on an enterprise social network!
The Talkspirit collaborative platform gives you the ability to set up a knowledge library to centralise information across your organisation. With the knowledge base module, you can create and consolidate all internal resources and information that employees can refer to as needed.
8. Sovereign solutions
Sovereign enterprise social networks committed to data protection are growing in popularity. These platforms, such as Talkspirit, are committed to complying with French and European data protection laws (including GDPR).
Unlike GAFAM solutions, sovereign platforms guarantee their clients that data will be protected and used responsibly. GAFAM companies are often criticised for their lack of transparency and disregard for privacy, as they are subject to the Cloud Act.
The Cloud Act (Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act) is a US law enacted in 2018 that grants American authorities access to data stored by US companies abroad, solely upon request from US federal authorities.
To date, GAFAM tools — including Microsoft 365 — are banned in schools and public sector organisations. This is yet another reason to opt for French, sovereign enterprise social networks. If you are unsure which solution to choose, we invite you to consult our ranking of the best sovereign collaborative solutions.
Read also: [SQOOL TV]: GAFAM banned by the French Education Ministry
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In 2023, the enterprise social network points to several trends that all converge around one theme: continuous improvement. This means focusing on improving the user experience, the platform and its modules, as well as the role it can play in an organisation's culture…
However, deploying a platform to meet these new challenges is no small feat! To know where to start, download our methodology guide!
Access the methodology guide
In our methodology guide “6 steps to deploy an Enterprise Social Network”, you will discover: the key elements to include in your deployment plan, along with best practices for animating exchanges on your ESN and ensuring its long-term success!
¹Lecko State of the Art, 2021
²Asana, Anatomy of Work (2022)
³ChatGPT: Optimizing Language Models for Dialogue (2022)
⁴Gallup, State of the Global Workplace Report (2022)
