Advisory & Services Firm Social Business Adoption 2012 is a research survey that looks at social business advisory/consulting firms in a new way. Using quantitative methods, I compared consultants according to the needs of clients who want to transform their organizations with social business. The twelve metrics measure firms’ performance in business impact, sociality and transformation areas and rank firms within firm categories and overall. Now prospective clients can compare Strategy firms, Big Four firms, Agencies, Analysts, Enterprise I.T. firms and Pureplays quantitatively. Moreover, consulting firms can use these metrics for guidance in building out their social business practices.

1. Social Business Strategy & Execution
Christopher S. Rollyson and Associates
Plan | Learn | Scale | Integrate | Manage
Entire contents © 2012-2013 by Christopher S. Rollyson
Guidance for Clients:
Selecting a Social Business Advisory Firm
Advisory & Services Firm Social
Business Adoption 2012
Executive
Briefing

2. Guidance for Clients: Selecting a Social Business Advisory Firm3/15/13
Copyrighted
material
Executive
Briefing
Overview: Guidance for Clients–Selecting a Social
Business Advisory Firm
• Research survey analyzes advisory firms in a new way:
– Firms' ability to serve clients who want to transform their
organizations with social business
– 12 metrics rank social business Practice & Leadership of
Strategy, Enterprise I.T., Analyst, Big Four, Pureplay and
Agency (MAP*) firms—against peers & overall
• Survey explicitly serves clients of advisory firms.
– Metrics educate executives about social business
competencies and practices
– Rankings enable useful comparisons of diverse firm types
• Contents of this Executive Briefing:
– Background summarizes design principles, mission, methods and definitions
– Rankings compare firms' Overall, Practice and Leadership scores
– Interpreting Results discusses firm rankings and capabilities in terms of
clients' use cases and positions in social business life cycle
– Using Results offers explicit guidance for using rankings and selecting social
business advisor(s)
2* Marketing/Advertising/PR

3. Guidance for Clients: Selecting a Social Business Advisory Firm3/15/13
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material
Executive
Briefing
Background: Research Survey Design Principles
• Social business uses social technologies for collaboration, so it
differs from social media, which focuses on marketing/promotion.
• Web-style emergent collaboration enables unprecedented productivity.
• Organizations are not designed to enable emergent collaboration, so they
must transform business processes & culture to survive, medium/long-term.
• Organizations must develop native social business skills; stakeholders
increasing prefer and support organizations that collaborate with them.
• Social business success is based on relating, which requires higher order
skills than promoting; relating enables trust, sharing and collaboration.
• Advisory firms' competencies are relevant to social business, but firms are
just perceiving the potential; they are exploring how to meet the market.
• Advisory firms will have to get more "social" to be competent and credible.
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4. Guidance for Clients: Selecting a Social Business Advisory Firm3/15/13
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material
Executive
Briefing
Background: Research Survey on Advisory Firm
Social Business
4
• Mission
– Educate clients and firms about the importance of social business
Practice in firms' ability to guide clients' social business-led transformation
– Introduce metrics for social business that distinguish it from social media
– Highlight the need for organizational change to unlock value from social business
• Method
– Designed metrics to measure firms' capabilities in advising clients on social
business-led transformation of organizations
– Created assessment workflow and use case in which a client team evaluates
advisory firms for their ability to advise on social business-led transformation
– Selected firms based on public commitment to social business as transformation
– Applied workflow and metrics to evaluate firms' main domains, linked social
presences, and related public data
– Analyzed data, and created Overall, Practice and Leadership rankings
– Interpreted rankings and wrote advisories for clients and firms
• Definitions
– Leadership rankings show firms' commitment as reflected by their public content
– Practice rankings emphasize firms' social business practices

5. Guidance for Clients: Selecting a Social Business Advisory Firm3/15/13
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material
Executive
Briefing
Rankings: Top10 Overall
Definition
• Overall combines Practice and
Leadership scores.
• Practice weighted more heavily.
• General indication of firms' all-
around investment in social
business as transformation.
• High Overall doesn't necessarily
mean best advisors to other firms.
Analysis
• Dell, Forrester & Salesforce best
practitioners and understanding of
social business transformation.
• Pureplays' strong scores due to Practice.
• Analysts' and Enterprise I.T.'s strong
scores due to Leadership.
• Top scores only reached two thirds
possible points, so room to grow.
5
Dell Forrester Salesforce Accenture IBM SideraWorks Dachis IDC Gartner Infosys SxD Possible
97
4646464851525354
62
6668
See the list of firms and categories:
http://tinyurl.com/homesbadpt13

6. Guidance for Clients: Selecting a Social Business Advisory Firm3/15/13
Copyrighted
material
Executive
Briefing
Rankings: Top10 Practice
Definition
• Compares completeness of firms'
social business practices/services
and their use of social technologies.
• Practice metrics:
– Practice Definition, Social Business
Life Cycle, Sociality, Point of View,
Leader Blog, Interactivity and
Personability
Analysis
• Pureplays, Enterprise I.T. & Strategy
firms score highest in Practice.
• Enterprise I.T. focus on pull-through
for legacy products/services.
• Pureplays focus on social business
advice.
• Strategy firms understand
enterprise transformation.
6
Dell Dachis Sidera SxD Forrester Salesforce Altimeter ConstRG CapG McKinsey Booz BCG AT Kearney Edelman Possible
61
252525252525
2828
3737
4040
4343
See the list of firms and categories:
http://tinyurl.com/homesbadpt13

7. Guidance for Clients: Selecting a Social Business Advisory Firm3/15/13
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material
Executive
Briefing
Rankings: Top10 Leadership
Definition
• Shows firms' understanding of and
investment in social business as
transformation.
• Leadership metrics:
– Momentum, Collaboration, Case
Study, Tools, Firm Posts, Influence
• Leadership can be false indicator for
ability to advise organizations.
Analysis
• Enterprise I.T., Analysts & Big Four
score highest in Leadership.
• Leadership scales in traditional way:
thought leadership and marketing.
• Leaders also monetize most easily:
– Enterprise I.T.: legacy pull-through
– Analysts: research products
– Big Four: risk management
7
IBM Accenture Forrester Gartner IDC Deloitte Dell Salesforce Infosys E&Y Possible
36
20
242525262627
29
32
34
See the list of firms and categories:
http://tinyurl.com/homesbadpt13

8. Guidance for Clients: Selecting a Social Business Advisory Firm3/15/13
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material
Executive
Briefing
Interpreting Results: Social Business Life Cycle
Analysis
• Each phase of the life cycle requires
different competencies.
• Advisors map to different phases of
the life cycle.
• Clients have to hire complementary
advisors in 2013; none cover it all.
• Analysts are limited to Feasibility
and minimal Strategy.
• MAP* is between Strategy & Pilot, can't
fully cover any phase of the life cycle.
• Strategy and Big Four firms can
cover Feasibility, much of Strategy
and part of Integrate, but little/none
in Pilot or Scale.
• Enterprise I.T. and Pureplays fully
cover Pilot, part of Strategy and
Scale.
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Big Four
Analysts
S o c i a l B u s i n e s s L i f e C y c l e
Feasibility Strategy Pilot Scale Integrate
Enterprise I.T.
Pureplays
Strategy MAP
* Marketing/Advertising/PR

9. Guidance for Clients: Selecting a Social Business Advisory Firm3/15/13
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material
Executive
Briefing
Interpreting Results: Client Social Business
Use Cases
• Fix the Fire Drill—an external event raises social business priority: The
business gets embarrassed, a competitor has a major social media win, or a
business deal gets affected. Leadership wants to “fix it,” so it doesn’t repeat.
Strong focus on Strategy and mentoring in Pilot.
• Upgrade Social Media—the business has been practicing social media for
1-4 years and has seen promotional results but few real business returns. It
wants to reevaluate efforts before investing further. Requires strong focus on
Strategy and mentoring in Pilot.
• Catch the Leaders—businesses with conservative cultures have avoided
social technologies; now they worry about being left behind. They want to
mitigate risks while moving aggressively to outperform leaders across the life
cycle. Strong focus on Strategy, and mentoring in Pilot and Scale.
• Herd the Cats—leaders want to use strategy across brands to provide a keel
that resonates with corporate strategy; they also want a social business
“center of excellence” to serve several brands. Requires due diligence during
Feasibility, strong focus on Strategy, and mentoring in Pilot and Scale.
• Transform the Enterprise—management wants to restructure the business,
so it evaluates social business as an enabler. Due diligence in Feasibility, strong
focus on Strategy, mentoring in Pilot and strong guidance in Scale & Integrate.
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10. Guidance for Clients: Selecting a Social Business Advisory Firm3/15/13
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Briefing
Interpreting Results: Social Business Use Cases
Analysis
• Fix Fire Drill and Upgrade Social
Media are usually more tactical and
don’t require Feasibility but do
require Strategy and Pilot.
• Catch Leaders has a controlled
sense of urgency, aims to outperform
rivals by executing better.
• Catch Leaders, Herd Cats and
Transform Enterprise are more
strategic and address more phases
of the life cycle.
• Fix Fire Drill and Upgrade Social
Media will eventually extend to
Scale and Integrate, which are out
of scope for these use cases.
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S o c i a l B u s i n e s s L i f e C y c l e
Feasibility Strategy Pilot Scale Integrate
Fix Fire Drill
Upgrade Social Media
Catch Leaders
Herd Cats
Transform Enterprise
➡ This paper has in-depth descriptions of use cases & how they work

11. Guidance for Clients: Selecting a Social Business Advisory Firm3/15/13
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Executive
Briefing
Using Results: Social Business Use Cases & Firms
Analysis
• Select the use case that best fits
your situation.
• Doing strategy is more macro in
Feasibility, more micro in Strategy.
• Strategy recommends pilots, so
Analyst, Strategy & Big Four firms
have limited ability in social
business strategy.
• Practice ratings vital in Pilot & Scale.
11
Fix Fire Drill
Upgrade Social Media
Catch Leaders
Herd Cats
Transform Enterprise
Big Four
Analysts
S o c i a l B u s i n e s s L i f e C y c l e
Feasibility Strategy Pilot Scale Integrate
Enterprise I.T.
Pureplays
Strategy MAP

12. Guidance for Clients: Selecting a Social Business Advisory Firm3/15/13
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Executive
Briefing
Using Results: Guidance for Clients [General]
12* Marketing/Advertising/PR
• The Social Business Life Cycle is the best reference point for
knowing what kind of advisor you need.
• When you intend to do Pilot and Scale, consider advisors with the
highest Practice rankings: Dell, Dachis, SxD and Sidera.
• The context of the Strategy phase varies with the use case:
– In Fix Fire Drill and Upgrade Social Media, it is focused on specific brand or
business unit goals, and Pureplays should be strong contenders.
– Catch Leaders and Transform Enterprise demand more comprehensive analysis,
so look at IBM, McKinsey, Accenture, Booz, AT Kearney or Deloitte.
• Remove Analysts from consideration if you are doing Strategy or after.
– Forrester would be a strong choice for independent Feasibility work.
• Remove MAP agencies from consideration for most social business initiatives.
– Other than Edelman, they show little awareness of social business transformation.
– They have low Practice rankings; they do social media, not social business.
• Analysts and MAP could be relevant to any use case but would require
complementary advisors.
• Teams are most relevant to your results, so allow for exceptions to rankings.
– However, teams generally reflect their firms and categories.

13. Guidance for Clients: Selecting a Social Business Advisory Firm3/15/13
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Using Results: Guidance for Clients [Practice]
13* Marketing/Advertising/PR
Use Practice metrics to study IBM, Accenture, McKinsey, AT Kearney,
Dell, Deloitte & Dachis; compare their social business services.
• Accenture has the best description of its social business services.
• IBM has many presences & thought leadership on social business transformation.
• Dell leads in integrating forums and client/customer voice into its website.
• Deloitte has a nice mix of social business services and thought leadership,
but it drops the ball in relating; this is the rule for firms, not the exception.
• Dachis has an active blog with relevant topics and discussions.
• AT Kearney features little social business content and no services, but leading
partners show that they understand social business transformation, and they
are approachable yet credible.
• McKinsey has invested in social business thought leadership for years, and its
“The Social Economy” is best in class. Read it. Thoroughly. Note the
transformation argument, rationale and call to action.
• The Social Network Roadmap addresses the entire social business life cycle.
• Learn from firms' weaknesses. Most lose points because they don't address
the Social Business Life Cycle, services are scattershot, and they have
minimal leaders relating online and thus no credibility. Most cling to firmspeak,
which shows that the firm doesn't understand the new environment.

14. Guidance for Clients: Selecting a Social Business Advisory Firm3/15/13
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Executive
Briefing
Using Results: Guidance for Clients [Leadership]
14* Marketing/Advertising/PR
Use Leadership metrics to start your short list of firms committed
to the idea of social business transformation of organizations.
• Most firms start talking before they have much competency; however, if they
aren't even publishing blog posts, papers, services frameworks and other
tools, they aren't in the game; let them learn with someone else.
• Social business is about interacting online to communicate your community,
priorities and beliefs. Therefore, firms that talk about social business and don't
show they "walk the walk" through their partners' and principals' interactions
will be very limited in their ability to help you.
• Make sure to recognize the distinction between talking about social business
(Leadership) and doing it (Practice). All firms have smart people who understand
certain concepts; however, successful social business is based on action and
understanding the many nuances of sociality. What can a firm tell you about
"creating relationship" if its people can't show they do it themselves?
➡Read detailed advice for advisory firm types in category reports (over)

15. Guidance for Clients: Selecting a Social Business Advisory Firm3/15/13
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Using Results: Action Steps
• Get reports on the research survey home page:
– http://tinyurl.com/homesbadpt13
– Executive summary expands this briefing
– Category reports (Strategy, Big Four, Analyst, Agency,
Enterprise I.T., Pureplay) offer more detailed
interpretation and guidance
– More on survey design: http://tinyurl.com/prevsbadpt13
• Order individual firm analyses or research surveys:
– I advise firms and organizations on maturing their
social business practices
Related thought leadership
• The Social Channel shows how social business is
driving global social, political and economic change:
– http://socialchannel.biz
• Learn from social business videos and case studies:
– http://www.socialbusinessservices.biz/resources/
Contact
• http://rollyson.net
• http://about.me/csrollyson
• iphone - chris@rollyson.net
• iphone +1.312.925.1549
• skype/IM - csrollyson