South West businesses must develop a mature social media policy or risk hurting their ‘bottom line’, according to KPMG, as inadequate responses to online activity contribute to service disruption and low levels of customer satisfaction.
The professional services firm’s survey of more than 1,000 executives across the country found that the South West is well behind the national average when it comes to using social media commercially, with almost a quarter of businesses (24 percent) in the region not yet active, compared to the 14 percent national average.
The region’s private sector is more open to use of social media by employees than the national average, with 75 percent compared to 74 percent comfortable with social media tools being accessed. Yet 38 percent said they provide no training to staff when it comes to using social media.
One in four businesses in the region (25 percent) have experienced a social media related security issue, from the leaking of information, to malware attacks and reputational concerns due to complaints. Despite this, the survey findings suggest security is not a key concern to the 18 percent of South West businesses, which don’t believe that passwords should be changed regularly.
Andy Allman, Principal Information Protection Advisor at KPMG Bristol, said: “Organisations across the private sector are usually the first to put measures in place protecting intellectual property and reputation. It seems, however, that the cautious approach to social media that many of us would expect has, so far, failed to materialise in the workplace.
“With the threat of data loss and litigation, as well as a duty of care obligation to manage information securely, South West businesses must take a more mature approach to managing their social media policy by providing more robust security measures, stronger usage guidelines and training.”
Allman added: “It is a mistake for any organisation to think that social networks will only have a short-term impact. There are already far too many examples of businesses being forced to back-track or apologise because they either took too long to react or refused to put safeguards in place. It’s not just about monitoring online chatter; it is about creating clarity on who can represent the brand across social networks and establishing parameters for their engagement.”
