A new Microsoft global survey shows Indian workers tend to use more social tools at work than workers in most other countries. The study, which had close to 10,000 respondents across 32 countries including India, also shows that nine in 10 Indian workers use email, followed closely by eight in 10 who use IM/video conferencing, and three quarters of the total respondents use team sites/intranets. As many as seven in 10 Indian workers felt social tools increased workplace collaboration. Companies also recognise the value of providing social tools, the survey says.
In an interaction with Business Today, Ramkumar Pichai, General Manager, Microsoft Office Division, said there was a visible split in the way employees and employers looked at enterprise social. While most employees see it as an important tool to enhance productivity, many employers were worried about security, privacy, and the kind of data being shared on these networks. "Others were worried about the productivity loss," said Pichai. Interestingly, according to the study, while social tools increased productivity the most in China at 84 per cent, India and Turkey came second with 71 per cent.
Conducted by research firm Ipsos for Microsoft, the survey found that 40 per cent of the 1,825 employees surveyed across the Asia Pacific region said there wasn't enough collaboration in their workplaces and social tools could foster better teamwork.
It found that 57 per cent of employees in the region would like to be more involved in decisions regarding new technologies and tools at their workplaces. Also, 45 per cent of employees would be willing to spend their own money on social tools to drive company efficiencies.
The study showed that the most prevalent social tools in the Indian community were also those recognised by workers as most useful and encouraged in the workplace. External and internal social networks and micro blogging are restricted by one quarter of Indian organizations. These restrictions, Pichai said, are forcing many employees to bring in social networking into the workplace through the backdoor.
"In fact, the world is moving towards social computing. And Microsoft is the only company that has the toolsets to addresses the concerns of both the employees and employers," said Pichai, underling the growing adoption of the company's enterprise social network among Indian companies. Yammer, an enterprise social network purchased by Microsoft in 2012, is now an integral part of its Office 365 offering. Yammer is used for communicating within the organisation and other sets of people such as business partners and vendors who are controlled by the IT administration.
The study also highlights that men were more likely than women to attribute higher productivity levels to social tools in a professional setting, while women were more likely to believe their company restricts the use of social tools. Men were more likely than women to say these restrictions are due to security concerns, while women were more likely to blame productivity loss.
