McKinsey Global InstituteJuly 1, 2012
The social economy: Unlocking value and productivity through social technologies
McKinsey examined how social technologies could improve communication, knowledge sharing, and collaboration across enterprises.
What the source reports
- The report estimates that social technologies could raise productivity of interaction workers by 20 to 25 percent.
- It identifies internal communication, knowledge sharing, and collaboration as major sources of potential value.
- It notes that many organizations were using social technologies but not realizing their full potential.
Why it matters here
Chapter 1 focuses on interaction work: people using distributed knowledge to answer questions, coordinate decisions, and move work forward.
Guided Intelligence interpretation
The source is interpreted as evidence that knowledge-sharing systems can create value, while also showing why storage and communication alone do not guarantee consistent understanding.