Jeff Schick, Vice President of Social Software at IBM, explored the opportunities that organizations now have to expand their business through social software and social media strategies, with theCUBE co-hosts Dave Vellante and John Furrier, live at the IBM Information on Demand 2013 event in Las Vegas.

IBM approached the social software market back in 2007 with “the first integrated social platform for business,” Schick explained, aiming to better connect “people with people and people with information” as they were moving beyond email for information sharing.

“The inflection point is that there is not a country on the planet, an industry on the planet, that does not have key customers leveraging” social media for better traction, Schick added.

“I think we’ve done a good job with the technology we’ve created,” which has been ranked by IDC  number one social software for the past four years.  “IBM drinks its own champagne,” Schick said, thus IBM has the knowledge to help organizations recognize how they can gain business knowledge. Establishing communities with discussion forums and moving from the phone being the only point of contact saved IBM 1 million US dollars on support.

Genuine. Social.

IBM sees itself as a genuinely social business. Employees are given social media guidelines and as they use social media, are advised to describe who they are, speak within the boundaries of their job, be constructive in the interactions. “Every single employee is allowed to be the voice of IBM.”

Asked about the ease of deployment of social software form the perspective of end user, Schick said “the software needs to be so easy it does not need an instruction manual to use. What is not genetic but learned is, how do I create a vibrant community?” There is a way to approach adoption in the enterprise focused on social business patterns. In terms of user experience, Schick explained, the software needs to be simple, easy to use, and brought into the context of how people work.

John Furrier pointed out that IBM has established communities, and the needed tooling, yet the social software market and social media teams were small. What tooling would companies that don’t have the DNA of social, those who are stuck and understaffed, would they need?

Schick said “the social media and communication teams have a role in how that can help communicate that company messages,” or help the marketing team create a great campaign. “We looked at all the roles into the organization and try to asses how we can change the way they work,” focusing on expertise location, access to information etc. “You need to decompose, it’s not one size fits all.”

Over 52,000 companies are currently running IBM’s social business platform, and when it comes down to how you get started, there are various points of entry, but “it takes all legs of the stool to work in a coordinated fashion.”

“Seeing how the clients are really using it and really changing the world or changing their business is really tremendous gratification,” Schick said.

Commenting on the vibe of IoD, Schick said, “I see social business every place.” There is a lot of discussion about what social can do for you or your organization.