Regarding which types of communications ESN software should facilitate, 67 percent of respondents said instant messaging, followed by email (64 percent), video conferencing (62 percent), being able to "follow" people, documents or sites (51 percent), audio conferencing (47 percent), activity streams (34 percent), video sharing (33 percent), being able to "like" content or people (28 percent) and microblogging (26 percent).

In December, Forrester released a forecasting that ESN software will grow at a compound annual rate of 61 percent through 2016, a year in which spending for these products will reach US$6.4 billion, compared with $600 million last year. Only 12 percent of information workers have access to enterprise social collaboration software, and only 8 percent of them use it at least once a week, according to the report.

In February, Altimeter Group published a on ESN that concluded that most companies aren't implementing and using these products properly, leading to unmet goals. Missteps in planning and execution abound, and include not defining clearly the reasons for adopting ESN software and not analyzing properly usage metrics to monitor employee engagement. This in turn leads to problems, like a sharp drop in interest and usage after initial enthusiasm; strong adoption in only one department; confusion about proper use of the software, due in part to a lack of executive involvement; and lack of clarity and maturity of the organization's social business strategy and goals.

The IDG News Service