The vast majority of organizations that have implemented social media tools on their intranet (intranet 2.0 tools) have done so at little or no cost (or simply activated bundled tools that came with SharePoint or another CMS or portal solution). There are dozens of free license, open source solutions that can be downloaded for free, but there's always a cost (or opportunity cost) to implement this software.
47% of organizations of all sizes spend between no dollars and $10,000 on intranet 2.0 tools (source: Intranet 2.0 Global Study (525 organizations of all sizes from across the globe). And while many organizations spend zero dollars in acquiring their social media tools, the cost can be significant. Costs of note include brown dollars (internal costs such as employee hours), implementation and customization costs, and opportunity costs.
Read the full column “The social intranet …. for free?“
ALSO READ:
The Social Intranet white paper
Q&A on the Oce intranet w screenshots & technology details (requires free registration on Communexions.com)