2012 brought in scores of real case studies of companies of all sizes implementing social business technologies and reporting benefits. Conceptual models abounded and debates around the use of social tools at work built to a crescendo.

To follow up on all that, McKinsey released a report quantifying the industry-wide benefits of social technologies in business. This should be an eye opener for those who have considered social technologies yet, and a validation for those already down this path.

1) Based on an in-depth analysis of 4 key sectors representing 20% of global sales, McKinsey found that social technologies could potentially contribute $900 billion to $1.3 trillion in annual value across the four sectors. The potential benefit across is even greater when extrapolated to other industries.

2) 2/3 of this potential value lies in improving collaboration and communication within and across enterprises. This is the exact area we address with HyperOffice Social.

3) The average knowledge worker spends an estimated 28% of the workweek managing e-mail and nearly 20% searching information or finding colleagues to help with specific tasks. Using social media can cut down this time spent searching for information and people by 35%.

4) Companies have an opportunity to raise the productivity high-skill knowledge workers by 20 to 25%.

Are you reaping these benefits yet?