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May 07, 2009

NewsGator Unveils Updated Social Sites 2.7
Introduces New Innovation Management Features

This morning NewsGator announces the unveiling of Social Sites 2.7 -- the latest version of the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007-based enterprise social computing product -- with groundbreaking new functionality for enterprise social computing: innovation management.  Called Social Sites Ideas, this new solution captures, vets and advances fresh, new employee suggestions for improving business results.  This feature is ideal for product development, cost reduction programs, business process improvements, customer service enhancements, going 'green' and more.

Social Sites Ideas makes it easier than ever for employees to offer new ideas for consideration throughout an entire organization.  Colleagues can "vote up" and add detailed comments to an idea they like, invoking the wisdom of the crowd.  Employees are notified of relevant new ideas, votes and comments.  The best ideas are then promoted to management for final review and implementation.

Social Sites Ideas is the only innovation management solution fully integrated into an enterprise social computing environment.  Crucially, then, innovation is made an organic part of the social computing workflow, not a siloed application, with noteworthy actions reported in activity streams. 

As NewsGator Vice President of Products, Brian Kellner explains, “all companies have great ideas, but only the organizations that have an easy, established process for identifying, evaluating and advancing them can truly benefit from those ideas.  That’s innovation. Since all computing is becoming social, enterprise social computing and Social Sites in particular are natural platforms for innovation management. Social Sites Ideas adds the necessary structure to drive the innovation process without adding a costly new enterprise application.”

Indeed, Kevin Dehoff, Booz Allen Vice President, declared in 2007 with respect to the company’s Global 1000 Innovation study that, "with increased competition leading to thousands of new products being released every year, companies must improve their innovation processes to succeed.” Disciplined processes around ideation, project selection, product development and commercialization are indicators of success, the report found.

Using Social Sites Ideas, employees can view or search proposed innovations within individual communities or across them all, and can filter by an idea’s popularity or status. Managers can blog about the progression of ideas through the discussion and implementation phases, and user profiles include a history of ideas that the user has proposed. Organizations can create private communities, or “campaigns,” for confidential idea cultivation in closed groups. Any community can further collaborate on new ideas in dedicated wicks.

Owen Allen, Microsoft Sr. Product Manager for SharePoint ISV partners, says that "Social Sites Ideas is a good example of the type of social business application that can be built on top of Office SharePoint Server 2007 to help an enterprise enhance their competitive position.”

Other new features in Social Sites 2.7 include:

• Activity Stream Email Digest: Users can now stay connected to enterprise social networks via enterprise or mobile email through an email digest that reports colleague and community activities every 24 hours.
• New Web Parts: display a social network graph of a user’s implicit professional relationships; a list of the colleagues following a particular user; and, for administrators, user activity over the past 30 days.
• New community features: Community creators can add blog, wiki and announcement modules to communities, and site administrators can add or limit these additions.
• A simple yet powerful RSS reader: Users can easily read, mark, tag, clip, rate and initiate discussions around stories in their own feeds or in those that are centrally managed by the NewsGator Enterprise Server.

For more information about Social Sites Ideas and Social Sites 2.7, visit http://www.newsgator.com/business/socialsites/default.aspx.

Also, you can read the press release in its entirety here.

This morning NewsGator announces the unveiling of Social Sites 2.7 -- the latest version of the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007-based enterprise social computing product -- with groundbreaking new functionality for enterprise social computing: innovation management.  Called Social Sites Ideas, this new solution captures, vets and advances fresh, new employee suggestions for improving business results.  This feature is ideal for product development, cost reduction programs, business process improvements, customer service enhancements, going 'green' and more.

Social Sites Ideas makes it easier than ever for employees to offer new ideas for consideration throughout an entire organization.  Colleagues can "vote up" and add detailed comments to an idea they like, invoking the wisdom of the crowd.  Employees are notified of relevant new ideas, votes and comments.  The best ideas are then promoted to management for final review and implementation.

Social Sites Ideas is the only innovation management solution fully integrated into an enterprise social computing environment.  Crucially, then, innovation is made an organic part of the social computing workflow, not a siloed application, with noteworthy actions reported in activity streams. 

As NewsGator Vice President of Products, Brian Kellner explains, “all companies have great ideas, but only the organizations that have an easy, established process for identifying, evaluating and advancing them can truly benefit from those ideas.  That’s innovation. Since all computing is becoming social, enterprise social computing and Social Sites in particular are natural platforms for innovation management. Social Sites Ideas adds the necessary structure to drive the innovation process without adding a costly new enterprise application.”

Indeed, Kevin Dehoff, Booz Allen Vice President, declared in 2007 with respect to the company’s Global 1000 Innovation study that, "with increased competition leading to thousands of new products being released every year, companies must improve their innovation processes to succeed.” Disciplined processes around ideation, project selection, product development and commercialization are indicators of success, the report found.

Using Social Sites Ideas, employees can view or search proposed innovations within individual communities or across them all, and can filter by an idea’s popularity or status. Managers can blog about the progression of ideas through the discussion and implementation phases, and user profiles include a history of ideas that the user has proposed. Organizations can create private communities, or “campaigns,” for confidential idea cultivation in closed groups. Any community can further collaborate on new ideas in dedicated wicks.

Owen Allen, Microsoft Sr. Product Manager for SharePoint ISV partners, says that "Social Sites Ideas is a good example of the type of social business application that can be built on top of Office SharePoint Server 2007 to help an enterprise enhance their competitive position.”

Other new features in Social Sites 2.7 include:

• Activity Stream Email Digest: Users can now stay connected to enterprise social networks via enterprise or mobile email through an email digest that reports colleague and community activities every 24 hours.
• New Web Parts: display a social network graph of a user’s implicit professional relationships; a list of the colleagues following a particular user; and, for administrators, user activity over the past 30 days.
• New community features: Community creators can add blog, wiki and announcement modules to communities, and site administrators can add or limit these additions.
• A simple yet powerful RSS reader: Users can easily read, mark, tag, clip, rate and initiate discussions around stories in their own feeds or in those that are centrally managed by the NewsGator Enterprise Server.

For more information about Social Sites Ideas and Social Sites 2.7, visit http://www.newsgator.com/business/socialsites/default.aspx.

Also, you can read the press release in its entirety here.

NewsGator Unveils Updated Social Sites 2.7 Introduces New Innovation Management Features

This morning NewsGator announces the unveiling of Social Sites 2.7 -- the latest version of the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007-based enterprise social computing product -- with groundbreaking new functionality for enterprise social computing: innovation management.  Called Social Sites Ideas, this new solution captures, vets and advances fresh, new employee suggestions for improving business results.  This feature is ideal for product development, cost reduction programs, business process improvements, customer service enhancements, going 'green' and more.

Social Sites Ideas makes it easier than ever for employees to offer new ideas for consideration throughout an entire organization.  Colleagues can "vote up" and add detailed comments to an idea they like, invoking the wisdom of the crowd.  Employees are notified of relevant new ideas, votes and comments.  The best ideas are then promoted to management for final review and implementation.

Social Sites Ideas is the only innovation management solution fully integrated into an enterprise social computing environment.  Crucially, then, innovation is made an organic part of the social computing workflow, not a siloed application, with noteworthy actions reported in activity streams. 

As NewsGator Vice President of Products, Brian Kellner explains, “all companies have great ideas, but only the organizations that have an easy, established process for identifying, evaluating and advancing them can truly benefit from those ideas.  That’s innovation. Since all computing is becoming social, enterprise social computing and Social Sites in particular are natural platforms for innovation management. Social Sites Ideas adds the necessary structure to drive the innovation process without adding a costly new enterprise application.”

Indeed, Kevin Dehoff, Booz Allen Vice President, declared in 2007 with respect to the company’s Global 1000 Innovation study that, "with increased competition leading to thousands of new products being released every year, companies must improve their innovation processes to succeed.” Disciplined processes around ideation, project selection, product development and commercialization are indicators of success, the report found.

Using Social Sites Ideas, employees can view or search proposed innovations within individual communities or across them all, and can filter by an idea’s popularity or status. Managers can blog about the progression of ideas through the discussion and implementation phases, and user profiles include a history of ideas that the user has proposed. Organizations can create private communities, or “campaigns,” for confidential idea cultivation in closed groups. Any community can further collaborate on new ideas in dedicated wicks.

Owen Allen, Microsoft Sr. Product Manager for SharePoint ISV partners, says that "Social Sites Ideas is a good example of the type of social business application that can be built on top of Office SharePoint Server 2007 to help an enterprise enhance their competitive position.”

Other new features in Social Sites 2.7 include:

• Activity Stream Email Digest: Users can now stay connected to enterprise social networks via enterprise or mobile email through an email digest that reports colleague and community activities every 24 hours.
• New Web Parts: display a social network graph of a user’s implicit professional relationships; a list of the colleagues following a particular user; and, for administrators, user activity over the past 30 days.
• New community features: Community creators can add blog, wiki and announcement modules to communities, and site administrators can add or limit these additions.
• A simple yet powerful RSS reader: Users can easily read, mark, tag, clip, rate and initiate discussions around stories in their own feeds or in those that are centrally managed by the NewsGator Enterprise Server.

For more information about Social Sites Ideas and Social Sites 2.7, visit http://www.newsgator.com/business/socialsites/default.aspx.

Also, you can read the press release in its entirety here.