CMA Magazine
It’s time for Social media and social commerce to step up to the plate when it comes to accountability.
I’ve seen a lot of talk about the benefits of social media often without supporting financials that make for a solid business case. What I have seen so far tends to be a typical set of flimsy metrics, that, while indicative of incremental performance, do not explain causality to the bottom line. Other cases have used the term “ROI” very loosely without regard to the rigour of GAAP financial accounting methods. In short, I felt that it was time to speak to the issue. With the help of Syncapse, TD Bank and McDonald’s, I have opened the discussion of the kind you may want to have with CFO if you’re intent on moving the social media agenda forward within your organization.
The article can be found in the Premier issue of CMA Magazine – a newly revamped version of CMA Management Magazine, geared to the Digital Age.
http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/SMAS0111/#/20
I have always been fortunate to have a long standing relationship with CMA Magazine. Back in 2003 I wrote my first article titled “What Management Accountants Should Know About Market-Driven Quality”.
Over the years, I authored 4 articles and one book of guideliness (when I partnered with Bradley T. Gale, formerly of the PIMS Institute) the recurring theme has been about financial accountability. This has always been important to me as a business manager based on my belief that if the impact of an activity cannot me measured, specifically in a ways that draws a link between money invested and return on that money invested, then it should be questioned insofar as its contribution to the performance of the enterprise. This does not suggest that everything needs to delivery hard financials re. EBITDA. What is does mean is that every activity has to have some associated set of metrics that help to explain the value of that activity and its relative contribution. Whether you use hard financials or a series of performance metrics across all functional groups, measures are required in order to gauge the return on effort.
Being a manager means being accountable for your actions.
Ted Morris – 4ScreensMedia
4ScreensMedia 