Jive Brings Social, Gamification to Corporate Intranets
Just weeks after diving into the social CRM market, Jive Software today launched its new Social Intranet Solution for enterprises. The aim is to breathe new, productivity-enhancing life into desolate corporate intranets.
Describing the typical business intranet as “stale, static and siloed,” Jive says its software is the cure to outdated content management models that can't keep up with the times, let alone engage employees and partners. “Today's intranets are based on crumbling portals or stale SharePoint sites — systems built to maintain content, not engage employees,” said Jive Chief Marketing Officer John F. Rizzo in a company statement.
Information ends up squirreled away where it doesn't do any good, contends Rizzo. “The Jive Social Intranet Solution liberates the data trapped into these old systems, giving it flexibility, context and relevance,” he said.
The Jive Social Intranet Solution combines social graph analysis with collaboration tools, Microsoft Office support and “gamification” technology from Bunchball to transform intranets into internal social networks. For example, Jive says its product can make recommendations and provide filtered activity streams, pointing workers to information and company experts that can help them perform their jobs better.
The leap to a social enterprise doesn't have to be a tortuous one, according to Jive. Since it integrates with Microsoft Outlook and Office, the software allows employees to interact with familiar toolsets. Mobile support for Android, Blackberry, iPhone and iPad provides “anytime, anywhere access.”
On the back end, the company is firmly against the “rip and replace” mindset. The Jive Social Intranet Solution can “socialize data” and leverage past investments by integrating with Microsoft SharePoint and providing migration tools for old data and content. The product also offers extensibility in the form of Jive Apps Market.
Gamifying the Enterprise
When it comes to social gaming, most people think of FarmVille or Words With Friends. Although not generally considered an acceptable use of employee hours, the concept of gamification has emerged as a hot new trend for incentivizing stakeholders.
In Enteprise Apps Today‘s “Eight CRM Predictions for 2012” report, Garret Ippolito of CRMtrends.com predicted gamification would have a big impact on business processes. Viewed as a way to drive customer engagement and participation, Ippolito said, “Gamification is not a passing fad, it is here to stay.”
Citing a Gartner prediction that 70 percent of Global 2000 organizations will “gamify” at least one application by 2014, Jive is betting its software has staying power. Rather than helping people harvest virtual crops or entertaining budding wordsmiths, the combination of Jive Social Intranet and Bunchball's technology can help businesses meet goals and motivate their workforces with customized challenges, according to the two companies. This can take the form of competitions and missions that give real-time feedback and award badges and status levels.
Separately, Jive has announced a new, Bunchball-powered Jive Gamification Module for its Social Business platform.
Jive's Social Intranet Solution is available now.
Pedro Hernandez is a contributor to the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals. Previously, he served as a managing editor for the Internet.com network of IT-related websites and as the Green IT curator for GigaOM Pro. Follow him on Twitter @ecoINSITE.
Pedro Hernandez contributes to Enterprise Apps Today, and 11Press, the technology network. He was previously the managing editor of Internet.com, an IT-related website network. He has expertise in Smart Tech, CRM, and Mobile Tech, Helping Banks and Fintechs, Telcos and Automotive OEMs, and Healthcare and Identity Service Providers to Protect Mobile Apps.
