Social sources with CRM can be useful sales tool: Ovum

"Organisations must consider the option of information discovery tools alongside traditional enterprise search solutions," Ovum advised, adding that research from social search and analytics can help users find the information that they need to remain competitive and survive in business.

Richard Edwards, Ovum principal analyst and author of the report, said: "Organisations must revisit their information management, privacy and governance policies if they are going to capitalise on the 'social Web', as these clearly have a bearing on the extent to which information pertaining to specific groups and individuals can be used."

The Ovum report added that businesses can also generate sales leads from social media to help them do their 'social calling', a term used by Nigel Edelshain, CEO of Sales 2.0, to refer to a new way to make sales call. As against the traditional 'cold calling' or warm introduction, Niegel expounds that salespeople now need to use social media and Sales 2.0 techniques to improve their chances of ensuring that those calls generate sales. He said 'social calling' is eight to 10 times more effective than cold calling.

Given these, Edwards urged salespeople to champion the use of social analytics in their organisation. CIOs, on the other hand, should be mindful of what is being said in social media, including discussion groups, about the company.

"Ovum believes that organisations must revisit their information management, privacy and governance policies if they are going to capitalise on the 'social Web', as these clearly have a bearing on the extent to which information pertaining to specific groups and individuals can be used."