Salesforce.com (CRM) is evolving its social company platform Chatter to the next level with mobility support in a package designed to replace legacy corporate intranets. Salesforce Company Communities aims to enable businesses to deliver a custom intranet that connects employees to the content, people, and apps they need anywhere, from any device.

CJ Arlotta, Associate Editor

May 30, 2013

3 Min Read
Salesforcecom Director of Product Marketing Jim Sinai said one of the big truisms of employees today is that we all work in realtime  we want
Salesforce.com Director of Product Marketing Jim Sinai said one of the big truisms of employees today is that we all work in real-time -- we want information now.

Salesforce.com (CRM) has introduced a next generation intranet alternative that enables employees to connect with their companies in real time. Salesforce Company Communities, the next generation of Salesforce's employee social network Chatter, is designed to deliver a custom intranet that connects employees to the content, people, and apps they need anywhere, from any device. Here are the details on the company's most recent product launch.

This software as a service (SaaS) application's goal is to engage employees through a real-time intranet that is dynamic, rather than the standard intranet that bores employees with a static page that's rarely (possibly never) used.

According to the company, businesses are wasting more than $2 billion every year to maintain some intranets that were were created more than a decade ago. These pages were built for the desktop, not for today's mobile and social world, where employees need instant access to company information.

Salesforce Company Communities assists businesses with bringing their intranet to the next level, allowing them to leverage mobile and social environments. Through the solution Salesforce said that employees will be able to do the following:

  • Publish: Publish, review, update and approve content, and even target specific information to colleagues based on roles and profiles. Now the compliance department will be able to distribute the latest travel guidelines, the HR team can flag changes to employee benefits, and IT can roll out new policies—all in real-time;

  • Find and engage experts: Rich social profiles for every employee will track their influence and expertise automatically. In addition, employees will be able to collaborate directly with experts or groups through the Salesforce Chatter feed within Company Communities. Now any employee will be able to find a legal expert to answer a question, discover the best people to attend a cross functional meeting, or quickly get answers to questions, whether they be on IT troubleshooting or stock options;

  • Share and collaborate on files: Employees will be able to access, post, share and get feedback on the latest files and knowledge articles to ensure that teams are accessing the most up-to-date information. Now HR can gather feedback via polls on proposed new policies, a sales person can get advice on the best way to deliver a presentation and the facilities organization can survey employees about their latest needs; and

  • Access apps: Company Communities will provide a single, trusted place for employees to access all the apps they need to be productive, including Salesforce apps and third party apps. Employees will be able to make the most of those valuable spare minutes when they are in a taxi or in line at the airport to approve vacation requests, access annual training or certification courses, or fill out a new hire wizard.

Salesforce.com Director of Product Marketing Jim Sinai said one of the big truisms of employees today is that we all work in real-time — we want information now.

He said that the company took the Salesforce platform and some of the products being offered by the company to create a modern work experience for every employee.

"We're delivering a platform that brings together our leading mobile technology with our employee social network, Chatter, and delivering all the tools you need to create a compelling mobile, social intranet," he said.

Sinai added that partners are a "critical part of the Salesforce ecosystem" and will add the most value to this product by spending time with these companies and understanding the customized needs for each company.

Salesforce Company Communities will be generally available in the second half of 2013.

About the Author(s)

CJ Arlotta

Associate Editor, Nine Lives Media, a division of Penton Media

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