Enterprise social software is showing a high growth rate, according to research firms like IDC and Forrester.
The term is used to refer to social software used in enterprise contexts.
While research firms agree that it has high potential, they have slightly different versions on how big the market will be.
While Forrester in December 2011 said that the market size will touch $6.4 billion in 2016, IDC in a release this month had a more conservative estimate of $4.5 billion in the same timeframe.
No matter whom you choose to believe, demand for skills needed to integrate social software into the enterprise will be high.
As Mr Michael Fauscette, Group Vice-President for IDC’s Software Business Solutions Group, wrote: “Companies will increasingly want to integrate and even embed social software into all enterprise applications, so it is essential for vendors to provide open APIs (Application Programming Interface) and capabilities to put social software into the enterprise workflow.’’