"So many communications are electronic these days that it has become much easier to record who is talking to whom," says Stanley Wasserman, professor of sociology, psychology and statistics at Indiana University and chief scientist for Visible Path, a software company devoted to analyzing social networks. "It’s a natural thing to examine these networks and try to make sense of them."

Companies interested in trying SNA can use software that falls into two basic categories: programs that track e-mail and other kinds of electronic communication, and programs that work from data collected via employee surveys. Such surveys typically ask employees to identify their top contacts within and outside the organization, as well as details about who provides good advice and how often they communicate. Companies may come up against some resistance from employees who may not want their networks mapped, but, as Mars was able to do, this resistance can be muted by promising confidentiality on the data supplied and by offering them versions of their "personal networks."

SNA can be a useful diagnostic tool in a wide variety of industries and professions, ranging from law firms to drug companies and financial services companies. But the practice is relatively new in the corporate arena, and finding ROI can be a challenge. "We use it to find out how we are connected," says Vic Gulas, chief people and knowledge officer for environmental and construction consultancy MWH Global. "The challenge is to link actual [company] performance to SNA." Still, there may be strategic and targeted uses in which SNA can make a difference. For example, pharmaceutical companies are using it to help identify key scientists and discover how they are developing ideas for new drugs; government agencies are using the technique to pinpoint top performers who may be close to retirement in order to quickly devise methods to transfer that knowledge; and investment banks are using it to find better ways of serving clients and clinching deals. "Lost knowledge is an invisible problem, so companies don’t always see the threat," DeLong says. "SNA makes it visible."

Finding the Gaps

SNA can also make the lack of connections (or collaboration) painfully clear. Two years ago, IT executives at MWH Global looked around at their sprawling, decentralized company and knew they had to make some changes. Over the years, the Denver-based company had expanded through mergers to include 6,000 employees and 150 offices worldwide. Three separate IT organizations worked in different locations in groups dedicated to ERP, IT infrastructure and other large projects. The company decided to reorganize so that all 160 IT employees dedicated to servicing the company’s internal IT needs reported to one location. The goal was to break down the silos and get people in Europe, Asia and the Americas talking to each other to improve service and create efficiencies.