Book Review - The Social Business Imperative
Source: Asia Insurance Review | Aug 2016
With today’s social and always-connected consumers, social business is no longer optional. While most leaders know their businesses cannot do without social media and social business, this book highlights the importance of senior management teams and boards owning and driving their company’s Social Business Strategy. “It is inadequate and unwise to shunt this responsibility to lower-level managers, entry-level positions, and interns, as is currently the case in some organisations,” Ms Shih emphasised in the book.
She also offers insights into why and how traditional organisations must reimagine their existing business processes to capture “the digital last mile” across social media, mobile messaging apps, the Internet of Everything, and the collaborative economy.
Social media has not just created yet another channel in which to do business, it has launched an entirely new way of doing business based on responsive engagement, transparency, and community – the “Social Business Imperative”.
Insurance case studies
Ms Shih also draws on her immense experience helping Fortune 500 companies operationalise digital transformation to drive measurable uplift in sales and loyalty, presenting case studies spanning multiple industries and companies.
Among the examples profiled from the insurance industry: John Hancock’s variable, fitness-based pricing for life insurance; Transamerica Life & Protection CEO leading by example; and a look at a financial adviser as a social professional in practice.
About the author
Ms Clara Shih is founder and CEO of Hearsay Social, an enterprise software company whose predictive, omnichannel marketing platform helps financial advisers engage clients across all social media while complying with industry regulations.
She has been named one of Fortune’s “Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs” and both Fortune’s and Ad Age’s “40 Under 40”. She was also named a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum and is a member of Starbucks’ board of directors.