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Follow on Google News | IT Directors Ignore Social Media at their Peril, says CrowdControlHQMarc Harris, Chief Technical Officer, CrowdControlHQ, examines the issues of social media for IT Directors
By: PR Artistry Let me start with the elephant in the room – the role of the IT Director. After an extensive IT career in the media, telecommunication and technology sectors recent experience has led me to conclude that social media needs to be firmly at the top of the priority list of every IT Director. In my current role I get to see first hand the impact of reputational damage, by both internal and external sources, through the use of social media and find it surprising how few IT Directors are willing to discuss the issues or attend conferences on the subject. Perhaps they feel an unwelcome interference or ‘elbowed out’ by this new communication channel which has evolved extensively under the umbrella of marketing? In future the organisations which succeed in social media will have marketing and IT departments working seamlessly together to tackle the issues. The DNA of IT makes it the most qualified department to deal with some of the risk issues that surround social media, so why isn’t it more involved? Today, social media is being used in every aspect of business from the boardroom right through to the delivery of customer service. By its very nature social media is a collective responsibility and not surprisingly its reliance on ‘collaboration’ New Rules Apply I overheard a social media officer quite gleefully boasting the fact that they had the twitter login for their company chairman. When challenged, the officer admitted that he was the chosen ONE! If he was off sick that was it – no tweets or updates! Worse if he left the organisation he had the power to bring the organisation down tweet by tweet (sound familiar….. anyone thinking HMV?). This is the stuff that would have kept me awake at night as an IT Director, yet in a world powered by social engagement, new rules seem to apply! Recent research also reported that apparently a scarily large number of employees still use the dreaded ‘post it’ note to record their login usernames and passwords, stuck to walls, desks and even the computer screen. This practice can only end in tears. There have now been too many examples of ‘rogue’ tweets, no audit trail of who posted them (or why) and organisations, who should have known better, being left rosy cheeked. Why would an employee, with their job on the line, ‘fess up’ when they know that at least 15 other people had access to the account that day? I also believe that few IT departments have a handle on the number of users across their ‘official’ Look Both Ways But we can’t just blame the employees. Even organisations with the most robust and celebrated IT protocols let themselves down when it comes to simple issues such as data storage. I suspect very few IT Directors are crystal clear about where their marketing communications teams are storing their social media campaigns? Let alone have an understanding of the conversations from the past that they may need to reference in the future or where they keep their notes about their customers linked to these campaigns? I would hazard a guess that many IT departments are breaking their own compliance and governance issues when it comes to social media. Today there is no need to share passwords. The social media savvy have cottoned on to tiered password access, with both the IT and marketing departments having an ‘on/off’ switch to give them instant control in times of crisis. If IT is involved in the installation of a Social Media Management Solution (SMMS) they can see exactly who is plugged into the system, where accountability lies and who they need to train and develop to uphold the security protocols needed to keep an organisation’ Within the scope of most IT budgets a SMMS will be a drop in the ocean but will address these major issues. Any smart IT Director will be already looking at a SMMS if there isn’t already one in place. Such a system gives control back to the organisation. All passwords are held in one place so accounts are not owned by individuals, but by the company. The right system gives an organisation the ability to moderate content at a senior level, so the risk of misuse or mistakes can be eradicated. A SMMS also takes care of the practical management issues. I fear that some organisations are taking a step backwards in terms of their technological evolution, reverting to time wasting, ineffective manual processing of social media e.g. multiple logins to different social media platforms rather than using readily available tools for automation and effectiveness. The message is clear IT Directors ignore social media at their peril. It is time to wake up, check and challenge when it comes to corporate social engagement. I am really interested to hear your views so please do post your comments below or join our LinkedIn group and connect with me. ENDS About CrowdControlHQ CrowdControlHQ is the UK’s leading social media risk management and compliance platform. The online technology delivers social media control and compliance features, in parallel with social engagement and analytics, to provide a single dashboard for multichannel campaigns. Supported by an award winning customer service team to help brands, organisations and enterprises protect their reputations online. CrowdControlHQ was launched in 2009. The product was born out of recognition that social media would one day be extensively adopted by UK organisations and tasked to deliver tremendous impact across marketing and customer service functions. The business has received backing from angel investors including Midven and Finance Birmingham. CrowdControlHQ services over 125 different clients across the public sector, finance and legal sectors plus many household brands including Experian, Serco and Taylor Wimpey. For further information please visit www.crowdcontrolhq.com or contact: Michelle Leavesley Marketing Director CrowdControlHQ Email: michelle.leavesley@ Or Mary Phillips/Andreina West PR Artistry Limited Tel: +44 (0)1491 639500 Email: mary@pra-ltd.co.uk Follow CrowdControlHQ on Twitter https://twitter.com/ Connect with CrowdControlHQ on Facebook at https://en-gb.facebook.com/ Join CrowdControlHQ’ Read more about CrowdControlHQ on our blog at http://www.crowdcontrolhq.com/ End
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