<p>In spite of organizations investing in social and collaboration software, the C-Suite continues to face challenges when it comes to using these systems effectively. While some success stories exist, many organizations are still struggling to get the most out of their social and collaboration deployments. In this article, I'll address the most common implementation challenges, plus several unexpected ones; provide the strategies that the C-Suite needs to mitigate them; and discuss the governance models needed to help ensure the success of your enterprise's social initiative.</p><p>Social and Collaboration Adoption vs. Existing Organizational Culture</p><p>A successful social software deployment usually implies introducing a new system into the existing culture of an organization. Understanding and effectively managing this organizational culture is critical to adoption success. More often than not, the culture's resistance can manifest itself as a change management problem. Indeed, when it comes to social and collaboration systems, there are quite a few barriers that hinder adoption.</p><p>A lot of enterprise employees, for example, don't use social collaboration tools in their personal lives. Driving user adoption among these employees can be particularly challenging. Overcoming this barrier to adoption is not only about helping users learn how to use the new tools, but changing how they perceive the new tools. These employees often think that social platforms like Facebook and Twitter are a waste of time, and have no idea about how these real-time information platforms can help them do business better. So, for employees who aren't adept with social media, having a meaningful education component as part of the tool's introduction into the organization can be even more critical than usage training.</p><p><a href="http://www.cioinsight.com/it-management/expert-voices/making-social-and-collaboration-systems-work.html/">Keep reading...</a></p>