Improve Internal Communication in the Enterprise

Allison Howen — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 18:30:00 GMT

With the busiest season of the year right around the corner, internal communication will be crucial to making sure that all employees are on the same page.

Leveraging email as a communication tool can be effective, but it can also prove to be too slow in today’s fast-paced world of real-time interactions. For example, if a company receives customer complaints via Twitter about a website feature that is not functioning properly, it is of utmost importance that the social media manager can quickly locate and speak with the right people to not only fix the problem, but to also collaborate on response strategies.

This is why enterprise social networks have been gaining steam within the business world. In fact, aside from enabling colleagues to quickly communicate with each other, these platforms also make it easier for employees to collaborate on projects and better manage their workflows. If you're interested in implementing an enterprise social networks into your business strategy, start by checking out the list below:

Yammer

This enterprise social network, which was acquired by Microsoft earlier this year, is currently one of the most popular internal communication tools on the Web. The service was launched in 2008 and only allows users with a valid company email to participate with its service. The Yammer platform allows users to segment employees by creating specific groups (such as sales, marketing or IT), as well as participate with internal conversations while on the go with the Yammer mobile application for Android, iOS, Blackberry and Windows Phone devices.

Jive

Jive is a popular business collaboration software that helps to improve productivity among teams by providing a plethora of tools, including blogs, analytics, wikis, videos and more, to help each member better complete and analyze his or her work. Plus, businesses can use Jive to collaborate on their own work internally, as well as with customers thanks to a customer service solution that helps them manage cases and even provide personal recommendations and answer questions based on the issues of their customers.

Telligent

The enterprise collaboration and community software from Telligent Systems offers businesses white label solutions that can be used to create online communities and social networks that they can use to improve communication and, as a result, efficiency and production. It was designed to support internal communities and private business-to-business or networking communities, meaning enterprises can use the system to encourage employee communication, work with other businesses or connect with customers.

Salesforce Chatter

Salesforce is known for having its hands in many different enterprise collaboration systems, which includes Chatter, a real-time collaboration platform. Enterprise employees can use Chatter to stay in touch with one another to update their teams on progress or issues regarding a projects and connect with experts who can help them better manage their projects as they’re working on them. Chatter works by offering a real-time news stream that lets users follow their coworkers and data via updates about their project or the status of their customers. They can even create groups and profiles, where they can post messages to one another as they collaborate.

Socialcast

This platform provides businesses with an internal social network that allows employees to collaborate on ideas, documents and projects. Socialcast can also integrate with existing business systems, such as SharePoint, Salesforce and Outlook. Additionally, this platform comes with an analytics dashboard, which includes conversational intelligence metrics and trending topic insights. It is also important to note that Socialcast enables its users to participate in conversations while on the go via the company’s Android, iOS and Blackberry applications.

HootSuite Adds Yammer to App Directory

Allison Howen — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 20:05:00 GMT

HootSuite is constantly adding applications to its ever-expanding App Directory, but this newest integration grabbed our attention because it features one of the most popular private enterprise social networks – Yammer.

The new app enables social media managers to conveniently monitor and reply to Yammer conversations without leaving the HootSuite dashboard. Once Yammer is accessed within HootSuite, users have the ability to view and engage with conversations from Yammer’s main feed, inbox and groups, as well as post updates, add attachments and search for content across Yammer networks.

This app should prove to be very useful, especially for teams who may need to collaborate quickly to answer customer questions from other social networks, such as Facebook or Twitter.

“The integration of Yammer demonstrates the increasing role of social collaboration in business. As companies grow, employees become increasingly decentralized from one another and rely on multiple tools like Yammer to work through and complete projects.” says Ryan Holmes, CEO of HootSuite. “Use of social media continues to grow beyond marketing. We see departments including customer service, human resources, sales, public relations and research and development teams are looking to HootSuite for solutions to tackle collaboration problems.”

'Net Features : enterprise social network

Improve Internal Communication in the Enterprise

HootSuite Adds Yammer to App Directory