A new study by McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) has found that while 72 percent of companies use social technologies in some way, very few are anywhere near to achieving the full potential benefit.

It found that knowledge workers spend up to 28% of their working week reading and answering email, another 19% searching and gathering information and 14% of their time communicating and collaborating internally.

While many organisations are exploring  the use of social media for interaction with consumers, twice as much potential value lies in using social tools to enhance communications, knowledge sharing, and collaboration within and across enterprises.

MGI’s estimates suggest that by fully implementing social technologies, companies have an opportunity to raise the productivity of  knowledge workers, including managers and professionals—by 20 to 25 percent.

MGI’s report, The social economy: Unlocking value and productivity through social technologies, found that when companies use social media internally, messages become content; a searchable record of knowledge can reduce, by as much as 35 percent, the time employees spend searching for company information. Additional value can be realised through faster, more efficient, more effective collaboration, both within and between enterprises.

The amount of value individual companies can capture from social technologies varies widely by industry, as do the sources of value. Companies that have a high proportion of interaction workers can realize tremendous productivity improvements through faster internal communication and smoother collaboration.

Companies that depend very heavily on influencing consumers can derive considerable value by interacting with them in social media and by monitoring the conversations to gain a richer perspective on product requirements or brand image—for much less than what traditional research methods would cost.

To reap the full benefit of social technologies, organizations must transform their structures, processes, and cultures: they will need to become more open and nonhierarchical and to create a culture of trust.

Ultimately, the power of social technologies hinges on the full and enthusiastic participation of employees who are not afraid to share their thoughts and trust that their contributions will be respected. Creating these conditions will be far more challenging than implementing the technologies themselves.