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Supporting and preparing your
business for changeLatest Developments in Enterprise Social Networking - Volume 8
Published on 28 January 2016
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Introduction
Organisations are being transformed while the professional ecosystem has to adapt globally. These transformation programmes are reflected in internal directives to review the collaboration tools, to support employees and develop collaboration.
The need to change through collaboration is increasinglycoordinated by managers. The managers reach their limits when they have to question the existing system which has promoted them so far. At this point different managers make different compromises. This situation explains why usages develop locally and inconsistently rather than as a united front managed by the company. Gradually support initiatives get integrated into this local dimension. Market solutions can also offer productivity tools to support local teams.
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Links with previous volumes
Volume 8 is part of our series which looks at all the latest developments. While the market deserves to be regularly assessed, each year we choose to focus on a theme where there is an evolving trend worth looking at. The successive volumes do not replace each other, but rather complement each other.
The previous volume described the strong link between developing collaboration and internal transformation. We will not repeat this central theme, except to show with metrics to what extent managers in large businesses have understood these issues and put them into practice. We also look back at the governance methods presented in Volume 7 to highlight how important it is to identify social value and the importance of integrating this aspect when developing collaboration.
In 2012, in Volume 4, we emphasised the need to "develop social information systems" in the long term. Four years later we have found that the situation remains the same: on the one hand there is the majority of businesses, with a multitude of social applications which do not communicate with each other which means that reversibility and interoperability. The success of productivity solutions provides something of a response by creating multiple connectors with other solutions to unify the working environment. The findings made in 2012 are still relevant.
The growing interest of businesses in new productivity solutions is also perfectly in line with the development patterns of social practices found in Volume 6 in 2014: having responded to the need for cross-functionality and to make processes more fluid, collaboration solutions should encourage everyone to manage information and their various activities more effectively. It is interesting to review the complementarity of these 3 areas involved in developing social practices.
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Looking at things from an UK/US point of viewComparing the results of our research with international markets, comparing our findings with those found in other European countries in particular.
To better understand the trends observed in Paris, particularly in international organisations and interactions with their entities throughout the world, Lecko has joined forces with Agile Elephant to take a broader look at these developments within businesses. This study includes a summary of Agile Elephant's study highlighting a few key elements of digital transformation in the United Kingdom. These elements can be used to make initial comparisons and put Lecko's findings into perspective. This approach will be continued in any future joint work and in our involvement in the upcoming "Enterprise Digital Summits" in Paris and London.
Comparing our findings with the international scene
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Contents
I. Identifying social and collaborative valueA. Identifying transformation, its agents and technologiesB. Identifying those who drive initiativesC. Identifying emerging technologiesD. The development of collaborative usages in figures
II. How managers tackle the challenges of collaborationA. Survey analysisC. Understanding the challenges of digital transformationD. Application in their own environmentE. Practical applicationF. Lessons for involving managers in digital transformation
III. Looking at things from an UK/US point of viewIV. Practice leaders
A. Aim of the studyB. The approach takenC. The behavioural profiles of leadersD. Lessons learned
V. Market analysisA. Market trends B. Emerging productivityC. Lecko matricesD. Analysis of 30 solutions
P 7
P 21
P 35
P 43
P 51
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We design a unique methodological platformin order to accelerate usage development
MSL
Lecko Analitycs
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Lean on Lecko Analytics to drive change managementAccelerate usage development on your ESN platform and save resources using Lecko Analytics. This platform relies on a change management approach and enables digital transformation teams to: Easily manage a hundred online spaces Highlight improvements to the management by means of accurate indicators and a benchmark with other companies Drive change management best practices sharing using points of reference
Contact us and get familiar with Lecko Analytics!
9Lecko Analytics is designed for every social platform of the market: Bluekiwi, Chatter, Exo Platform, IBM Connections, Jamespot, Jalios, Jive Software, Knowledge Plaza, Talkspirit, Yammer
Other connectors are coming.
They lean on Lecko Analytics
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11I. Identifying social and
collaborative value
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Considered as a cultural and global concept by business, the value created by collaborative and social practices, can actually be identified in organisations:
Change is brought about by a limited number of players. The digital team mobilises the company's resources to acquire equipment, align projects with transformation strategies and adapt to collaborations. But it's those on the ground, the operational staff who will drive collaborative initiatives and shake things up.
Applications with emerging usages are selected locally: a single business solution is generally a factor in slowing down organisations and limiting those which are more mature. Packages are getting more and more fragmented and competition is developing between local and global solutions.
Involvement is better conceived locally. Governance and support also need to be identified to work with teams on the ground. They are the ones who are aware of specific local issues. They embody change and are in a position to ensure that things happen locally from adjustment to operational support.
While large companies have a natural tendency to fight against these dynamics (and to exhaust them), they can capitalise on them to adapt their internal transformation strategy.
Identifying transformation, its agents and technologies
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Identifying Digital transformation [1/4]
Choosing good governance is vital to coordinate the central digital team with the local digital teams and those driving initiatives.
Identifying where change is triggered is vital
The value offered to local entities Outsourced services: leadership training, providing statistical reports, distributing communication kits.
Expertise passed on: training to support local teams, training and the provision of tools, coordinating the sharing of practices in this regard and sharing re-usable "sources".
Leadership for transformation Define a framework of rules to be followed: governance rules and the support process are enforced.
Create a consensus based on collective shared objectives: encourage debate and convince with regards to the direction to be taken, coordinate the sharing of practices and convince people to act.
Value deliveredOrganisation of the internal transformation programme
Leadership
Delivering delegated
services
Defining a framework
of rules to be followed
Giving local teams the resources to engage and take
responsibility
Encouraging debate and persuading
others which directions to take
Managing roll out and
support activities
Providing expert support
within a set framework
Creating a consensus based on shared
collective objectives
CENTRAL PROJECT
TEAM
LOCAL PROJECT
TEAM
LOCAL PROJECT
TEAM
LOCAL PROJECT
TEAM
Passing on knowledge
and expertise
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Finding a collective which includes top managers (to sponsor), business lines (to redefine business practices), motivated employees (to forge ahead) and IT support (to provide the tools) is essential for any profound change. If change is to be extensive, there will be more people to be unified and it will be harder to create the conditions for success. The energy expended in building this digital collective is energy which is not injected into the transformation process. Getting everyone on board with regards to ESN means ignoring this reality. Managers are the most difficult to mobilise these days. They are involved at the heart of business practices.
Lecko-OpinionWay survey of 850 managers in companies with more than 5000 employees in December 2015.
of managers understand the contribution of ESN to cope with challenges related to digital transformation but find it difficult to question the system in which they have grown up.
Changing everything in one go is too ambitious
Identifying Digital transformation [2/4]
67%
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Adjusting to this new culture is vital in the first place to help all your employees to understand digital usages quickly and have any hope of changing their working practices. More surprisingly, it is also vital to make employees who watch these changes accept the fact that some of their colleagues are breaking ranks. Experience has shown that being watched encouraged those who left their comfort zone to experiment with new practices.Large companies such as Orange and Axa have set up "digital passport" type initiatives symbolising the way they initiate the discovery of a new world that is yet to be built. Digital is gradually infiltrating internal corporate universities. These programmes are not mandatory; they rely on employees' willingness to be trained. Their field of application is relatively broad. They can help employees to feel more at ease with new usages. They must be integrated in a motivating or even playful context to have a chance of succeeding. Companies find themselves in awkward situations if they promote practices involving smartphones or online tools without making sure that the whole company has access to them.It is important to be able to try out these new practices. However, everyone is connected to the practices of others and they feel the need to encourage collective change. This is why effective change is more difficult to bring about. Only some of those who have adjusted can count on initiative drivers to capitalise on the adjustments which have been made.
OrangeSix months after the launch of the operation, more than 50,000 of these passports have been issued, the number of videos viewed is more than one million and 800,000 quizzes have been taken.
source: L'Usine Digitalefind out more: http://bit.ly/1sQ81qu
AxaThe insurer has increased initiatives aimed at connecting its 150,000 employees with digital transformation. Training sessions ranging from half days to 3 full days, half-hour e-learning programmes to increase digital agility: everything has been done to ensure that this crucial subject is everyone's business. In total, 35% of staff have already participated in one or other of the sessions.source: Les Echos Businessfind out more: http://bit.ly/1jLLnP4
Global adjustment to bring about local changes
Identifying Digital transformation [3/4]
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As in the past, there is no longer any concept of owning the solution (administration and project management) which is the same for the business information system. Above all usage is local and not very "global". Added value depends on the ability to help everyone succeed. Central teams no longer have the authority to impose change, nor are they an obligatory gateway for users to access tools. In terms of digitising processes this environment is profoundly different from the one found in the past in businesses. Conventional organisational methods and approaches no longer work. However these central teams are still extremely useful: they alone can stimulate cross functional collaboration, encourage the sharing of practices and align local initiatives with a global initiative. These days, to succeed and go beyond the stage of deploying tools, they must prove themselves and their ability to help local teams to encourage new behaviour.
Digital team leadership must be won over.
Local teams who bring about change are very often operational staffs who do not have the scope for functional activities in the organization.. These change drivers have an entrepreneurial approach with all the autonomy that can be associated with this "empowerment". Their role is crucial and the transformation programme governance must recognise them and value them. The ability of an employee and even more so a manager to lead others is a sought after skill in internal transformation.
HR Departments must grasp these topics and align their own skill set repositories with the needs of digital transformation.
Recognising entrepreneurial values within businesses.
Identifying Digital transformation [4/4]
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Identifying those who drive initiatives
It all starts with oneman or one womanEvery initiative starts with one person. The more ambitious the initiative the more its value must be demonstrated to get others on board. While management sponsors the initiative, it does not manage it. It lets the driver lead the battle and it will accelerate things once the value has been demonstrated.
This is how companies let initiative taking emerge on the condition that individualised risks are controlled.
18 The role of the driver must be properly valued and recognised. The study of ESN practice leaders in businesses in the Lecko benchmark showed that they were at the heart of each initiative which generated engagement. Many organisations continue to appoint community managers, as if their role consisted of managing an existing community like an asset. In practice, they should unite employees around one proposed target usage to develop the community and bring about change. Supporting the people who bring about change to understand their roles means that everyone can leverage the right tools.
recognising drivers,a condition for change
Identifying those who drive initiatives
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Individualising the adoption of new practices (productivity)Until now, ESN have focused on developing cross-functionality, with the communities which use the practices flying the flag. These days, in an environment of information overload and management of a growing number of different players, employees want to regain their productivity. Initiatives may be individual at first, but ultimately these initiatives involve the employee's whole work cycle. It is a question of communicating and working differently with others, by moving beyond the simple framework of email or file sharing spaces.
Identifying those who drive initiatives
20 Connecting those involved and developing collaboration creates value mainly when it happens at the same time as changing business practices and processes. The tools are no longer a problem in themselves apart from those imposed by the company itself. Operational staff are in a position to find solutions which are ready to be used, to be rolled out on demand. A procurement practice that goes against the established practices of the IT Department, which generally favours cross-functional and integrated solutions, is not helpful. Motivating the core business lines to grasp these topics and implement them is difficult enough without discouraging them by slowing their momentum with tools which are imposed on them. Why do IT Departments not focus on the assumption that systems are interoperable?
Changing business practicesis at the heartof transformation
Identifying emerging technologies
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Leveraging transformation through individual productivityThe modernisation of the work place has led to the introduction of productivity tools whose social potential is there to be mined. At the outset employees adopt a service which enables them to better absorb the information overload. With this aim in mind they convince their colleagues to adopt the same practices and solutions as them. This is how social benefits emerge little by little. This approach is intended to be pragmatic in organisations where it is difficult to encourage change. It relies on the self-determination of employees.
Identifying emerging technologies
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Urbanizing social information systems is the only way to make technology work for businesses in the medium term. Otherwise, infighting to choose the tools slows down projects and eats up resources. IT must review its framework for integrating collaborative technologies, abandon the modular view (and a fortiori one single ESN module for everyone) to find a composite approach in which collaboration is intrinsically present in all applications. Technological alignment through technological uniqueness is an easy intellectual option which is expensive for companies: slowing down, being held captive, the race to the bottom. Technological uniqueness leads to a levelling down, it reduces collaboration to discussions between employees. It means collaboration cannot be implemented in a business context, because everyone requires a more specific solution. It is difficult to design new work practices and make companies adhere to them on a massive scale all at the same time. These changes can only take place little by little, i.e. locally, driven by individuals and using tools which suit their environment. Technological agility is a prerequisite for transformation.
Technological agility is essential
Identifying emerging technologies
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Social and collaborative usages continued to develop in 2015.Active users are increasingly engaged on their platform. The engagement index (corresponding to the cumulative engagement of the 1,000 most engaged users in the Lecko Charts) increased by 15% in 2015.
Companies also continue to get new employees on board their social platforms with an average increase of 15% for active users. This figure includes companies that have reached the majority of the targeted users and others who have a much larger pool to exploit. Those who are not limited by the size of their company get on average 2,500 users per year on board, the best manage to reach +10,000 users per year.
Most spaces are still used for sharing information. Between 5 and 30% are actually conversational spaces in which new usages are expressed.
+15%
The development of collaborativeusages in figures
100,00
50,000
10,000
January 2013 January 2014 January 2015
Level of engagement
Population
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II. How managers tackle the challenges of collaboration
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Survey analysis
The internal transformation process can take a long time. Some would say it is a tedious and thankless task. Adapting to the digital age, to the green revolution and bio-technologies, to the collaborative economy or to other revolutions which may emerge in the future, involves profound changes in the organisation and working practices and this is bound to have an impact on the internal culture.
To advance this transformation, it is essential it is essential to firstly set limits and not be swept along by the current. As we saw earlier, the aim is to connect people in the organisation to increase the opportunities for synergies, make intelligence mobilisable, increase agility in training or project management, innovate better, etc. It has become all the more vital that the environment changes quickly, very quickly. "Troublemakers" are now more and more able to set themselves up on the old markets which were better protected with their barriers to entry and it is the managers who make this transformation happen.
The purpose of this survey was to measure to what extent managers understand this transformation into a more collaborative business. The aim was to measure their level of understanding with regards to the challenges of digital transformation, how they apply it in their environment and what stage they are at in implementing it.
Lecko used OpinionWay to collect the opinions of a sufficiently wide and representative population. 850 managers were approached in companies with more than 5,000 employees, in all sectors of activity combined.
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Managers undeniably understand the challenges of digital transformation and feel the limits of current organisational methods. They are more hesitant when it comes to putting them into practice. They understand the new collaborative organisational approaches less.
From understanding to action
2988% of managers understand
their company's digital strategy
For 93% of managers,
For 90% of managers,
For 84% of managers,
Digital strategies relate to 57% of employees and 69% of products and services
75%
72%
72%
62%
62%
59%
use ESN every day
% of managers who agree with the following statements concerning the contribution of ESN
25% of managers
operational environments within companies are constantly evolving and require employees
to continuously move forward on these issues
ESN facilitate open discussions where everyone comes to look for information
76% of managers provide information for their colleagues
69% of managers discuss information with their peers in the company
61% share intelligence or their point of view on their
specialist subjects
58% coordinate the activities of their team and
their projects
57% discuss ideas with their team to get their point of view on a complex topic
41% discuss ideas on extracurricular themes (leisure,
sports etc.)
73% of managers ask for information from their colleagues
managers are increasingly faced with complex situations for which they must provide new solutions and ensure that their choices will
be understood
ESN facilitate mutual support between teams
coordinating activities becomes more and more complex with the
increasing number of activities and people to be mobilised
ESN encourage the emergence of original ideas, innovative projects
For 73% of managers today, communication tools such as email are
saturated
ESN enable managers to better coordinate their team's activities and their projects
ESN give managers insight into their teams and their perception of a problem to be dealt with before making a decision
ESN are an effective lever to help improve everyone's skills
challengessolutions
implementation
source: Lecko-OpinionWay
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How much do managers understand the concept of digital transformation
at least broadly speaking and 49% say they have a clear vision
A greater understanding among supervisors of more than 50 people (57% compared to 44%)
they relate more to "clients, products and services" (69%) than "employees" (57%).
Significant difference between companies in the service sector and those in industry (73% vs 57%; 62% vs 47%)
Less than one large company in two in the industrial sector has an internal digital transformation programme.
More than half of large companies have a digital transformation programme:
89%
Understanding the challenges of digital transformation
source: Lecko-OpinionWay
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Digital transformation is externaland internalOften, it is easier to develop a new digital service rather than working to create a network for your organisation.It is quicker, more visible, but the companies of tomorrow will mainly be made up of men and women from today. There's no way of escaping this.
Where is the digital enterprise transformation when La Poste launched its connected button on the market?
In the design of a connected object or in adapting the entire value chain to provide the service?
With this button you can place packages directly in your mailbox and use it to notify the postman (a mobile application lets you give the contact details of the recipient).
To improve its customer experience, La Poste will have to expand its relationship with everyone who uses the service. These days, when you receive or return an online purchase, the customer relationship revolves around the merchant, who pays for delivery. The success of new products involves an internal transformation on several levels. The challenge for La Poste's internal transformation programme is to create the conditions for the organisation to adapt and make these new products a reality.
Understanding the challenges of digital transformation
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Do you agree with each of the following statements regarding enterprise social networks?
source: Lecko-OpinionWay
93%
90%
84%
73%
Operational environments within companies are constantly evolving and require employees to continuously improve in this regard
85% of managers consider that their environment is changing and becoming more complex. Awareness of the need to change is a prerequisite for getting teams involved in searching for and accepting new organisational methods.
Managers are increasingly faced with complex situations for which they must provide new solutions and ensure that their choices will be understood
Coordinating activities becomes increasingly complex with the increasing number of activities and people to be mobilised
Today, within your company communication tools such as email are saturated
Strongly agree Somewhat agree Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree
37%
33%
32%
30%
56%
57%
52%
43%
6%
9%
15%
22%
1%
1%
1%
5%
Understanding the challenges of digital transformation
Managers see the need to change
favourable responses
favourable responses
favourable responses
favourable responses
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Application in their own environment
74% of managers have a positive attitude towards ESN, particularly to address developments in their environment. But there is a difference of 11% between those who are aware of the challenge and those who see a solution in ESN; 87% of managers who are aware of the challenges find that ESN is a relevant response.
source: Lecko-OpinionWay
75%
72%
72%
62% 62%
59%
They facilitate open discussions where everyone comes to look for information
They facilitate mutual support between teams
They encourage the emergence of original ideas, innovative projects
They allow managers to better coordinate their team's activities and their projects
They give managers insight into teams and their perception of a problem to be dealt with before making a decision
They are an effective lever to help improve everyone's skills
Strongly agree Somewhat agree Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree No response
20%
18%
20%
17%
13%
15%
55%
54%
52%
45%
49%
44%
20%
22%
24%
32%
32%
34%
4% 1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
4%4%
3%
5%
5%
6%
Do you agree with each of the following statements regarding enterprise social networks?
favourable responses
favourable responses
favourable responses
favourable responses
favourable responses
favourable responses
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Collaboration is in 5th position out of 6 in terms of priority. It comes behind:
92%
source: Lecko-OpinionWay
of managers believe that developinga collaborative culture is important. of managers this is a priority.
For
32%
6. Social link,sense of belonging
The notion of collaboration is probably too overused and managers expect it in their day to day operations.
1. Innovation 2. Market expectations 3. Effective project management
4. Skills development 5. Collaboration
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Practical application
The typical profile of managers who use it the most is:
58% 25% of large companies have an ESN
of managers are daily users of ESN.
Only
14% have no plans
26%are considering it
2%have a project under way
35 to 40 years
manages more than 50 people
5 to 10 years length of service
Service sector
Usage by managers:
75% of 18-29 year olds coordinate their activities (58% for all ages combined)
Communication usages within teams increase as the size of the teams managed grows.
The dominant usage is sharing information.
Less than half use it for non workrelated matters (41%)
source: Lecko-OpinionWay
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While the challenges of digital transformation are well understood, they do not feel concerned:For managers, digital transformation is less concerned with the organisation and employees which they manage than with innovation, products and services.ESN are perceived as a relevant response, but they do not use them very much.
Managers still need to adjust to this new culture. Not only do they not use their ESN very much they use them primarily as a tool for sharing information, without being aware of their organisational potential. Selling them "collaboration" in an existing organisational context is futile; they need to be helped to change their organisational methods and set up a network of players which smooths the flow of discussions and maximises opportunities for synergies.
Lessons for involving managers in digital transformation
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39III. Looking at things from an UK/US point of view
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Who is Agile Elephant?
Agile Elephant is a consultancy specialising in enterprise digital transformation which was created in London in 2014. Its core business involves helping large structures and organisations to familiarise themselves with new approaches relating to collaboration, communication and new technologies.
Why "Agile"?To ensure that enterprises become agile (plural).
One slogan and one goal"Make your
business dance!"»
Why "Elephant"?To symbolise inertia: the barriers to achieving cultural change.
Analysis of social data
Definition & Implementation of Digital Strategies
Social NetworksCollaboration
Community Management
Social Media MarketingChange Management
Alan Patrick David Terrar Janet Parkinson
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AGILE ELEPHANT'S "DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION" STUDY
“A Journey Towards Digital Transformation”
8 Community Managers using ESN surveyed on
their daily use
The aim of the study was to analyse the behaviour of users with regards to collaborative culture, the success rate of implementing an ESN, the transformation of work practices and the type of usages generally deployed
Different technological solutions:Jive; SharePoint; SharePoint + Beezy; Yammer; Slack "in house" solutions, possibly complemented by tools for the general public such as Facebook and Skype.
5 case studies carried out, investigating the digital maturity of 5 major players:
A large telecom operator
A medical insurance company
A large audit and accountancy firm
A railway company
A marketing agency
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SOME KEY RESULTS FROM THE AGILE ELEPHANT STUDY
The original argument justifying the deployment of an ESN differs from one organisation to another
Collective efficiency, improving project managementEmployee engagementSharing knowledgeCommunicationCreating a culture of collaboration
As Lecko noted in its 2015 study, the main motivations for developing collaborative and social usages in organisations no longer reside solely in the search for individual and collective efficiency but also, and increasingly, in the search for agility which is necessary to ensure that organisations adapt to developments in the markets (new competitors, new business models, the "Uberisation" phenomenon). In France as in the UK, companies understand that ESN make their business adaptable and therefore sustainable.
Those involved view the projects studied as a real success, as much in terms of adoption and changing work habits as in value generated. In some organisations, ESN is now considered to be the second most crucial application in the whole Information System (after email);Some projects are "bottom-up" local initiatives, others are management initiatives, but in both cases, a sponsor was mobilised to accelerate deployment and make usage widespread beyond the inner circle;Adoption is gradual, all the respondents advanced over time with regards to the intensity and variety of usages. They also improved the efficiency of their core business over time. All the organisations are planning to deploy a wide range of usages on a larger scale, gradually, in the longer term.
Our observations with regards to the sample of UK/US organisations showed the same constants and key success factors as those observed in France: progress, with regards to the number of users as well as the intensity and variety of usages, the value of spontaneous initiatives, the importance of the sponsor at certain times during the project, recognition of the value generated by transforming practices. To the point that, without actually replacing email, the ESN competes with it, by becoming a vital daily work tool.
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USAGES OBSERVED ON ENTERPRISE SOCIAL NETWORKS
Ignoring how difficult it is to compare usages on one side of the channel and the other (different samples and different companies), and without trying to compare the figures in detail, we can see that project management and coordination, sharing good practices, intelligence and innovation, self help and support networks are the main ESN usages, with no significant difference between France and the United Kingdom. However, participatory communication and corporate news based discussion seem to be more important in the UK/US sample than in the ESN of French organisations. Cf next page.In both cases the automation or socialisation of business processes comes from local initiatives in the business lines concerned, demonstrating a high level of maturity when it comes to designing and implementing usages like this which are still in the minority in business.
FRANCE United Kingdom
(source: Lecko study 2015)
Technological and competitive intelligence
Mutual assistance network
Project management
Sharing good practices
Innovation
(source: Agile Elephant study 2015)
Key: % of usage occurring
1%
37%
35%
5%5%
19.5% 19.5%
9%
14%
14%
14%60
60
80
40
60
80
2020
20%
7%
Key:
Figures in blue = % of usage occurring
Figures in white = % of organisations implementing this usage
(> 100% because each organisation has several usages)
Project management
Knowledge management
Communication
Sharing good practices
Mutual assistance
network
Business processes
Technological and competitive intelligence
Innovation
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DEVELOPING USAGES ON THE VALUE CHAIN
Sales & Marketing
Financesupport departments
business value chain
HR
IT
Other departments
Distribution network
Creation of links internally (all processes)Project managementBetter communication
Collective efficiency, cohesion
Some usages observed
Some usages observed
Facilitate reporting
HR monitoring
Mutual assistance
Communication Legal Knowledge Management Training
Health and safety at work
Innovation projects
Engineering Distribution After-sales service
Operations LogisticsR&D & Product Development
Customer/consumer service
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47IV. Practice leaders
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The success of collaborative initiatives relies above all on those who make them happen.The aim of the study is to better understand how the people who drive initiatives become leaders and how they behave in the long term.
Aim of the study
To carry out this study, Lecko used the charts containing data from the following companies:
Air France, Air Liquide, Albea Group, Allianz, Bouygues Immobilier, Crédit Agricole SA, ENRX, Engie, Givaudan, Icade, JCDecaux, Lafarge, La Poste, L’Oréal, Louis Vuitton, Maif, Michelin, ONF, RATP, Simply Market, SNCF, Suez-Environnement, Sodexo and Solvay.
They contain exactly
151,352 active usersand 19,792 spaces
Leaders represent 10 to 20% of those on board depending on the companies.
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The approach taken
Step 1: extracting activity data and creating data visualisations
For the last 5 years Lecko has been creating an algorithm to identify users who act as a driving force within a social platform. Being a very active contributor is not enough: they must behave in a way which is balanced between the different aspects of social collaboration and act on a regular basis.
Step 2: data analysis with a view to profiling and segmentation
The purpose of this step is to consolidate vectors by types of behaviours. To do this we use Euclidean distance which in simple terms returns a value of zero when 2 vectors are identical and a value proportional to the distance between them. Vectors are divided into types using K-means clustering and the Hartigan-Wong algorithm. We used TIBCO Spotfire software to perform these calculations.
The 5,860 engagement curves of the data visualisations
active users in the Lecko charts
150k 5,860130kusers who have been active for
more than one year
users who have been Leader at least
once
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Step 3: segmentation of leaders by behavioural profileTypes of profiles obtained
A
D
G
B
E
C
F
36%
2.3%
Fluctuating engagement but high on average
33.8%
Average engagement with a period of greater investment
3%
Significant engagement with slow change
3.5%
High engagement which decreases after several months
Average fluctuating engagement
12.8%
Low engagement followed by high engagement
8.6%
Engagement over a short period
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The behavioural profiles of leaders
3 types of profiles emerge
Those who are engaged or are leaders all the time
Those who are leaders all the time
Those who give up
These figures are accurate to within 5% if the study is extended over a period of 12 to 24 months.
What is a practice leader?
A user who uses the platform's interactive functionality in a balanced and sustainable way.These players are the driving forces of collaborative spaces, they lead others.
The most long standing leaders are those who are invested in several initiatives. They are invested in so far as they are involved and not necessarily as managers in each community. These very committed users stand out currently because they are pioneers for practices which will become common in a few years.
88% of leaders are long term
12%
18%
70%
52
This shows that over the months the company can build its human capital of leaders. They have adopted new practices sustainably and they lead others with their stimulative actions, which others copy. We will incorporate this new information into our Lecko Analytics management indicators.
As a result of this study certain assumptions could be confirmed: the activity of leaders is not a one-shot thing, nor does it result from extensive training. The continued engagement shows that it is a real change in behaviour: the study over a period of 12 months shows that 88% have changed in the long term, and the study over 24 months shows the same thing. This constancy indicates that a high level of engagement is maintained over time and hand that these pioneer users manage to integrate these practices in their daily lives.
The algorithm developed by Lecko with its clients also eliminates "flash in the pan" behaviours and by isolating these leaders from other active users, long term driving forces are revealed.
Behaving like a leader is not the result of extensive training:We might have thought that the profiles of leaders emerge gradually. Not at all. 80% of them are very engaged from the 2nd or 3rd month. This rapid learning is explained by:• altruism: they do not look to the short term and and automatically think that it is good for them and their company; • openness: they have a social nature which is compatible with the new practices and they are open individuals who converse easily in these spaces.
Lessons learned
53
And it indicates several things:These profiles need to be found rather than trained. We need to be able to detect them, to reveal them.They can only be copied if the environment integrates the actions of these pioneers. Adjustment is essential preparatory work.
Counting on altruism has its limits. Companies must recognise and value their profiles. It is all the more important that they are different.To get as many employees on board as possible, companies must rely on these leaders to create successes that will encourage the promotion of new usages and mobilise their colleagues into actually putting them into practice.
54
55V. Market analysis
56
MARKET TRENDSESN HAVE CHANGED
While remaining structured around conversation and connecting people, over the years social functionality has been arranged in various ways using different structures and forming complementary approaches.
A. Feeds are organised within spaces. Various services are available: discussions, surveys, questions, ideas, documents, etc.
B. The feed consolidates all activities. Conversations have tags added, and are sometimes hierarchical.
C. Asynchronous and synchronous feeds act as one. Messages lose their type, tag, subject and title and are in flat design. Objects from external applications are introduced into the feed: client files, support tickets, tasks, documents, etc.
STRUCTURED STREAM DETAILED STREAM MONO STREAM
57
The rich social aspect comes from the intelligence extracted from the capital which is now held by vendors
Basic social functionality is provided by all vendors and generally meets the expectations of users; social as a commodity. This function which is (nearly) free, is offered by everyone to capture the value of social capital and offer other services: accumulating information about users' activities mean that over time intelligent services can be provided to find relevant information or generate appropriate connections depending on the context.
In a world where information overload is harmful to productivity, access to all these resources is under exploited. Employees will no longer be able to manage without them, business line departments will be attracted by the idea of being able to reduce the time it takes to carry out their tasks, Human Resources will become interested in finding out more about the expertise in their companies, etc. Social creates an environment of information accumulation that can be exploited gradually to provide significant added value. IBM sees this potential in Watson and Microsoft in Delve, a product which uses Office 365's social graph (Office Graph). Unfortunately the company's capital is taken prisoner by the vendors. They use it to capture their clients and make money from value added services which only they can offer.
MARKET TRENDS SOCIAL AS A COMMODITY
SOCIAL CAPITAL
58
MARKET TRENDSSTRATEGIC PARTITIONING (1/2)
Companies must pay to be free
The challenge for companies is to pay for something that will make them free and agile tomorrow.
Microsoft, Jive, Google, Bluekiwi and IBM offer a satisfactory social foundation for 80% of a company's users at the outset. They differ for the remaining 20% of users and as experience in social and collaborative practices grows. These minority users do not necessarily have an impact on decisions when they are made at company level and under the influence of these powerful vendors.
The choice of solutions must also be based on these considerations. Companies must ensure that they control their social capital and make it usable by social applications look into processes in more detail.
Adopting a composite and therefore interoperable and reversible social information system architecture ensures that companies can control costs and changes to its collaborative platform which has become its work environment and its organisational platform.
SOCIAL INFORMATION SYSTEM
59
Vendors encourage the partitioning of the marketProgramming interfaces (API) are often partial, largely there to give an appearance of openness. Content can be retrieved but only sporadically depending on the solutions. In addition, the lack of proper API management and standards (documentation, technological environment, support) discourages those who want to recover the embedded social value. The applications are limited to retrieving or pushing content without having the resources to offer more. Connector certification can be interpreted by the generalists as a means of slowing down and controlling competitors. In addition, some emerging specialists have a strategy of being bought out by generalists who absorb the market and make their own offering grow.
Openness must be encouraged by the specialistsThe pure players, because of their specialisation, offer functionality at the cutting edge of the market. In the face of generalists who offer wide functionality and often untapped scope, they stay one step ahead with their potential for engagement and being adopted by users. In addition, companies are often attracted by the systems integration functionality included in generalist packages. Making their solutions interoperable is a powerful way of leveraging penetration for the specialists, who have a real interest in taking this route.
MARKET TRENDS STRATEGIC PARTITIONING (2/2)
HR DIRECTORY PROCESSES
60
MARKET TRENDSPUBLISHERS NEW PENETRATION STRATEGIES
(A) Established generalists enjoy a strong foothold in organisations (desktop suites, messaging systems). They enter and set up in companies from "the top" by attracting the IT Departments, the decision makers etc. They get involved in the issues of modernising tools.
(B) As social has become a commodity, pure players are obliged to reinvent themselves, to specialise when faced with generalists who are taking over the market. Business entities have become their new targets. The central issue: digital transformation, not just modernisation.
(C) The new players in productivity penetrate organisations by offering solutions with high added value for end users (managers, teams). Their strategy includes making their solution viral in companies, nurturing engagement on their platform, until they reach the critical mass needed to seduce the decision makers and then the IT Departments with specific business management packages which are often expensive.
(D) Tools for the general public enjoy a success that is envied by companies. Google tried it with Google+, today it is Facebook@work which is being tested in a few key accounts and which should meet the challenge of attracting users while reassuring organisations.
GENERAL PUBLIC ENTERPRISE
Players from the public realm
Facebook@work, Google
Departments (IT, HR, Comms
etc.)
Middle management Business decision makers
End users (business lines, managers, project teams)
B2B (IT Dept.)Established generalist players in office tools, message systems IBM, Microsoft
B2B (Business)Established players in collaborationJamespot, Bluekiwi
B2E (Business to Employees)Players in team productivity (SaaS tools, Plug & Play) Slack, Trello, Asana
61
Productivity is the third key element for developing collaboration in businesses
Historically, collaboration developed to meet the need for cross-functionality in silo based organisations. While these usages are not in direct competition with historical practices, they have the disadvantage of being less of a priority than process based actions. Connecting people and process based collaboration is the second path followed to develop collaboration in businesses. While the benefits are more direct, this approach requires rethinking the process and constitutes in itself taking a risk that few managers dare to take on.
Productivity itself is concerned primarily with adding value for users immediately. Users find themselves drawn to getting their colleagues on board to go further in terms of their own efficiency. It uses these key social elements to deal with information overload, the growing number of contacts and activities absorbed by everyone. It encompasses different areas: communication with others, managing your information, your tasks, etc.
DEVELOPING COLLABORATION IN BUSINESSES WITH PRODUCTIVITY AS THE KEY ELEMENT
PRODUCTIVITY
Proc
esse
s
Diversification
62
Productivity can provide benefits quickly while being less dependent on colleagues working together at the same time, at least initially. From this point of view it complements other areas: cross-functionality and processes.
These cross-functional, process and productivity based dynamics must be reconciled:Social applications which improve corporate cross-functionality need to be widely used in companies to fulfil their promise;Social applications which deal with processes target the players in the field concerned, but must also get company employees on board quickly to socialise the process;Productivity applications initially strive to win over employees one by one or in small groups. Knowing that each of them is likely to work with more and more players in the company and beyond, creating critical mass becomes key to success.
Each area has corresponding players in the market. The market players have understood how these areas complement each other. But to fulfil their promise, they are initially faced with having to get lots of users on board quickly. Creating the momentum for collective change therefore remains an invariable key element. This is all affected by the influence of governance and resources.
DEVELOPING COLLABORATION IN BUSINESSES WITH PRODUCTIVITY AS THE KEY ELEMENT
63
CROSS-FUNCTIONALITYConsolidating information on one spaceSharing experiences, improving skills, peer recognition Access to informal knowledge, identifying playersCapitalising on informal knowledge, mutual assistance, mobilisable collective intelligence
PROCESSESBetter information management
Increased efficiency
Making processes more fluid
Increasing the number of players involved
Improving processes
PRODUCTIVITYTime management
Organising team work
Working with extended processes
Capitalising on informal expertise
With
out c
ritica
l mas
sFo
r you
rsel
f
When used for the first time
Medium term
With
crit
ical m
ass
For y
ours
elf
with
in a
team
Once usage has been adopted
Long term
Coll
ectiv
e ben
efits
Benefits over time
Indiv
idual
ben
efits
Immediate benefits
1
1
1
2
2
2
3
3
3
4
4
5
4
1
1 1 2
2
52
33
3 444
64
LECKO REPOSITORY INDEX
The Lecko index, created in 2008, measures changes to each tool's functional scope for each segment on the market. Social functionality has become standard in all the tools so there is not much difference between generalists and pure players. It is their presentation and the way they create a better user experience which counts. The social potential of a solution depends on this directly.
The established players in content management and collaboration have integrated social functionality. Their challenge is to connect them harmoniously with the others without making them too "Swiss army knife" and impair the user experience. (Jalios, Microsoft, IBM, Exo)
The pure players who were generalists initially responding to the needs of cross-functionality have become specialists. Their new presentation tends to reduce or compartmentalise their solution's functional coverage in favour of effective usages:
Some in specific areas of activities: social KM, information dissemination and circulation, customer relationship management, etc. (Seemy, KP). Others become configurable to respond to most business environments and gradually support companies in their transformation. (Jive, bK, Jamespot).
New entrants are approaching the market via productivity (Asana, Slack, TalkSpirit, Evernote, etc.). Social communication tools (Slack, Hipchat, TalkSpirit) are introducing new collaborative practices within teams. They combine asynchronous and synchronous communication. The challenge for these new players is to promote their solution as a collaborative HUB by offering lots of connectors with other applications.
65
16
12
8
4
02009 2010 2011 2012
The index changes to take into account actual usages. In 2015 it increased by 3.5%.
2013 2014 2015 2016
Leckoindex
effectivenessindex
Level of actual usages for pure players
Social coverage of pure players
Level of actual usages for generalists
72%
65% 57%
56%
Social coverage of generalists
LECKO REPOSITORY INDEX
66
How to use the market study
From organisational methods and usages to the choice of solutions
The aim of ESN is to mobilise a company's collective intelligence. Organisational change is vital to produce the required value which will be expressed in the development of new usages with high added value. ESN encourage the development of certain usages depending on the way they are presented and their specialities. This means defining a strategic direction before searching for the most appropriate tool for your needs. A project like this is does not bring immediate success and the company will have to go through several levels of maturity as they gradually become connected:
The social potential of collaborative solutions is a key element to connect a company's players. It is used to develop collaborative usages. We have broken down the collaboration market into five segments representing current demand: productivity, information dissemination and circulation, knowledge management, external access, process based collaboration. Each segment brings together distinct usages that can be provided by an ESN. The leading solutions in the performance matrices for these segments will be more appropriate for socialising the areas of activity concerned.
We met with a large number of vendors to select a non-exhaustive but representative group in the social collaboration market. Each of the 30 solutions in this year's study has been analysed according to 550 functional and technical criteria.
collective intelligence
dissemination space community network
67
The social potential matrix measures the ability of solutions to bring about digital transformation by encouraging the development of new collaborative usages. There is a new assessment concept in this section: over and above their functional potential, solutions are assessed on their actual capability to cover social usages, i.e. their facilitatory capacity, connected to the user experience, ergonomics, functionality presentation, allowing employee engagement to be stimulated on the platform and leading employees naturally to socialise their practices there.
The leaders offer mature solutions, with advanced functionality and a polished user experience, allowing collaborative and social usages to be developed effectively in an organisation.The generalists provide standard and conventional social functionality. These are foundations from which to start developing new usages, without truly accelerating the transformation of practices through socialisation.The "Networking" specialists emphasise relationships and structure in a network of users, to enable employees to identify the right person at the right time, and to organise collaboration in spaces.The "Sharing" specialists favour the circulation of sensitive and dynamic information between employees in an unstructured manner, to enable them to accelerate collaboration on certain subjects (document based, business lines etc.).
X: Usages aimed at the fluid flow of information between peers (conversational functionality)Capability of solutions to support content based discussions, sharing short-lived information, files, ideas, questions and specific intelligence, as well as conversations in real time and sharing content in private.
Y: Usages aimed at connecting peers (relational functionality)Capability of solutions to provide support to manage a social directory and the digital identity of users, coordinate expert networks, create specific communities, and control your social graph.
Social potential matrix
! ?
68
With its comprehensive and mature offer Jive is still a market leader. It performs extremely well in the socialisation of business practices, has added standalone productivity tools aimed directly at employees to its package and offers three new standalone products (Chime, Circle and Daily).
2015 was "the year of Office 365" for Microsoft, with its array of new developments for each of the suite's components and integration between the latter. But Office 365 suffers from the lack of integration between these tools themselves. Yammer as a "standalone" has good social potential thanks to an optimum user experience and ranks near other solutions such as blueKiwi, which provide a wider range of use and are better aligned with business needs.
Established players (blueKiwi, Jalios, Jamespot, etc.) continue to develop and reinvent their products. Jalios has enhanced its collaborative and social functionality but the user experience is flawed. With regards to IBM, while Connections is firmly established in the landscape and the vendor is rewarding us with a new version of its product at the end of the year, all the new developments are found in Verse. IBM is losing ground in the face of its competitors. Beezy and Sitrion both take advantage of Microsoft's lack of investment in SharePoint by offering upgrades to their solutions. Beezy is an attractive alternative to transform the Microsoft foundation with a strong ergonomic dimension and Sitrion is another with an extensive functional dimension. Knowledge Plaza is still the benchmark in the field of social knowledge management.
Illustrating the challenge with regards to productivity, some new entrants (Slack, HipChat) have positioned themselves on team based collaboration. TalkSpirit has completely redesigned its solution and is the first French company to position itself on this segment.
These packages are based on a balanced social functional scope. They are suitable for the basic level of social collaboration but have limits with regards to transforming practices extensively throughout entire companies.
Some players have chosen to develop their offers based on productivity, co-production and providing business process tools, reflecting a prominent position on the conversational axis.
Social potential matrix
BA
b
A
69
Leadersnetworking
sharinggeneralists
rela
tiona
l usa
ge
conversational usage
Chatter
Convo
Clearvale
VmosoInspheris
Whaller
Slack
IBM Connections
blueKiwi
KnowledgePlaza
Sitrion+SP
Jive
LiferaytalkSpirit
Google Apps
Knowings
Wimi
Kayoo
SeeMy
Office 365+ Yammer
Podio
SharePoint 2013
HoozinYammer
Jamespot
Jalios
eXo Platform
Intra'know
Beezy
Social potential matrix
Social potential matrix
70
Solution segmentation Help with interpretation
advanced functionality of the solution
productivity Information dissemination and
circulation
knowledge management
External access
Process based collaboration
5 - Maximum functionality on the market4 - Extensive functionality
3 - Significant functionality
2 - Limited functionality
1 - Poor functionality
0 - Zero functionality
Potential usages achievable with the solution● functionality covered at the leading edge of the market● UX
71
Market segmentation matricesHelp with interpretation
The leaders have a wide range of functionality and a high adoption potential which will enable most of the usages in the segment to develop in the medium term
The "dedicated applications" type specialists have a small range of functionality but their potential for adoption is high and will focus on all the usages covered by the solution
The "toolbox" type specialists have a wide range of functionality but their potential for adoption is low and, in the short term, will only focus on specific usages
The also rans offer a basic range of functionality and a low potential for adoption as a result of functionality being incubated on the market
12
4 3
"Dedicated application"
Level of actual usage
Level of potential usage
Also rans"Incubation"
"Toolbox"
Leaders
72
This segment focuses on the ability of solutions to cover information communication usages, from its creation and organisation to its dissemination, and the conversational interactions which revolve around it. This segment is directly linked to the section of the market aimed at the social intranet. For companies with a growing interest in this segment, the challenge is to put in place a solution that will make it easier to share corporate information, while structuring it and enabling it to be discussed dynamically. Jive, eXo Platform and even Beezy illustrate this segment well.
Information dissemination and circulation
With their inherited content management systems (CMS), these real web toolboxes can be used to create editorial and traditional websites to organise and share information.
These social intranets go beyond the simple framework of static websites by increasing communication usages with sharing and conversation functionality and unified offerings.
Information can also disseminated and circulated by usages such as dynamic discussions, where content is less likely to last for a long time. Packaged conversation tools illustrate this trend.
A B C
traditional level intermediate level mature level
Leaders"informationcirculation"specialists
"informationdissemination"
specialists
Also rans(incubation)
B
A
C
73
Information dissemination and circulation matrix
ChatterConvo
ClearvaleVmoso
Inspheris
Whaller
Slack
Lum Apps+ Google Apps
IBM Connections
blueKiwi KnowledgePlaza
Sitrion+SP
Jive
Liferay
talkSpirit
Google Apps
Knowings
Kayoo
SeeMy
Igloo Office 365
Podio
SharePoint2013
Hoozin
Yammer
Jamespot Jalios
eXo Platform
Intra'know
Beezy
Leve
l of a
ctua
l usa
ge
range of usage
Information dissemination and circulation matrix
74
ProductivityThe "Productivity" segment brings together usages based on collaboration in the user's daily workflow. These usage must provide benefits with the least effort and in the short term. This segment is aimed at end users and their close collaborative circle (project teams) and more widely at IT Departments who want to build a digital workplace enabling better management of information overload. Productivity applications initially strive to win over employees one by one or in small groups. Knowing that each of them is likely to work with more and more players in the company and beyond, creating critical mass becomes key to the success of spreading the solution in an organisation. While the productivity segment has become one of the pillars of the market, it is not yet mature and no leader stands out today. Vendors adopt different and varied strategies to penetrate companies of all sizes.
These packages are intended for specific productivity usages aimed at attracting small teams and end users in the first place before convincing others on a larger scale. They are packaged and offer attractive, often free solutions.
Complete and unified, these offers have managed to capitalise on co-production and automation usages (such as Google, often imitated but never equalled in online co-publication) while offering a user experience increasingly focused on individuals.
Advanced and altered foundations, these packages cover a broad spectrum and need a significant amount of administration and customisation. Modular approaches (such as the range of Jamespot applications) integrate this section of the segment.
A B C
Managing information
overload and coordination
Cross-functionality of socialised task/object based discussions
Tool 4
APPLI 1
APPLI 2
Tool 3
Tool 2
Tool 1
Leaders"dedicated appli-
cation"specialists
"toolbox"specialists
Also rans(incubation)
BA
C
75
Productivity matrix
Chatter
Convo
Clearvale
Vmoso
Inspheris
Whaller
Slack
IBM Connections+ IBM DocsblueKiwi
KnowledgePlaza Sitrion
+SP
Jive n+ Chime + Circle
Liferay
talkSpirit
Google Apps
KnowingsKayoo
SeeMy
Office 365Podio Wimi
SharePoint 2013
Hoozin
Hipchat
Yammer
Jamespot
Jalios
eXo Platform
Intra'know
Beezy
Quip
Box
Trello
HuddleBasecamp
Asana
Leve
l of a
ctua
l usa
ge
range of usage
Productivity matrix
76
Knowledge managementThe "Knowledge management" segment brings together usages for the structured production of information and searching for information. This segment is aimed on a project specific basis at individuals, teams or companies who want to capitalise on and efficiently find information. With the explosion in the amount of information which passes through companies, it is vital to combine the structure of traditional Electronic Document Management (EDM) systems with the fluidity of the new emerging productivity tools. The comprehensive classification of information has become a utopia which must be addressed. The level of production and search usages must be adapted to the information which passes through (temporary, long term, cross-functional, etc.).
Combining a feed based approach with quick search, these packages have functionality for managing individual or team content.
Knowledge Plaza, a leader in this segment, illustrates the concept of allying feeds, searches and cross-functional and dynamic classifications. The solution stands out with its capability to incorporate these feeds in structured content.
These products focus on structured document based knowledge management, using Electronic Document Management functionality.
A B CGR
OWIN
G LE
VEL O
F STR
UCTU
RING
PRODUCE INFORMATION STRUCTURE INFORMATION RETRIEVE INFORMATION
Rich publications
comments
With multi-disciplinary file structure
With tags
With streamsIndividual or team filing
Advanced search
Faceted filter
Message in a bottle
Search engine
Leaders"team structu-
ring"specialists
"Business struc-turing"
specialists
Also rans(incubation)
B
A
C
77
Knowledge management matrix
Chatter
Convo
Clearvale
Vmoso
Inspheris
Whaller
Slack
IBM Connections+ IBM Docs
blueKiwi
KnowledgePlaza
Sitrion+SP
Jive
Liferay
talkSpirit
Google Apps
Knowings
Kayoo
SeeMy
Podio
Wimi
SharePoint 2013
Hoozin
Yammer
Jamespot
Jalios
eXo Platform
Intra'know
Beezy
Office 365+SP
Leve
l of a
ctua
l usa
ge
range of usage
Knowledge managementmatrix
78
External accessThis segment covers usages enabling businesses to interact with their external ecosystems. These usage stimulates interactions between companies using the same platform, interact with external platforms and structure different networks to develop collaboration with extended enterprises (integrating employees, partners, and clients). Players in the social collaboration market are not yet really positioned on this segment, which is still dominated by the Social CRM leaders Dimelo and Lithium. Watch this space though, because companies are gradually maturing with regards to their needs in terms of open collaborative and social platforms. Collaborating with extended enterprises is a major challenge, which vendors must address functionally. The development of the "Salesforce Community Cloud" is a step in this direction.
These packages are generally available in public clouds and enable users to switch from one platform to another. Once they have a sufficient monopoly, vendors seek to interconnect companies with their solutions.
Key players in the social collaboration market, these vendors offer solutions for creating and managing networks including those outside the organisation, without being specialists in this segment.
Leaders such as Dimelo and Lithium are Social-CRM through and through, which means they stand out significantly from collaborative players who are less mature in this segment.
A B C
Social CRM
open cloud
dimelo / lithium
expandedenterprise
platform
EMPLOYEES
PARTNERS
ENTERPRISE
Leaders"native access"
specialists
"structured access"
specialists
Also rans(incubation)
B
C
A
79
External access matrix
Chatter
Clearvale
Vmoso
Inspheris
Whaller
Slack
IBM Connections
blueKiwi
Knowledge Plaza
Sitrion+SP
Jive
Dimelo
Lithium
Liferay
talkSpirit
Google Apps
Knowings
Kayoo
SeeMy
Office 365+ Yammer +SP
Podio
Wimi
SharePoint 2013
Hoozin
Yammer
Jamespot
Jalios
eXo PlatformIntra'know
Beezy
Lum Apps+ Google Apps
Leve
l of a
ctua
l usa
ge
range of usage
External access matrix
80
Process based collaborationThis segment is aimed at usages intended for company business lines (sales, HR, support, etc.). Because of their specific nature and their large number, these usage are mainly dealt with by dedicated applications. These days, lots of collaborative solution vendors are positioned on this segment to attract IT Departments and reach business teams more directly. The main challenge is to bring the social into business lines to create process based added value. This segment is a genuine lever for engaging users who find it difficult to explore generalist platforms and find the appeal for their day to day activities. Vendors try to penetrate companies in an immature market where standards and references do not yet exist.
These packages aim to offer an basic level of interaction with a company's existing business applications using connectors with other specialised usage solutions.
Specialising in one or several business lines, these packages have a modular approach and a strong integration strategy with the leaders in the ecosystem. There are also business applications which talk to each other such as Salesforce (with Chatter) or SAP (with Jam).
Some players provide toolboxes which can be used to customise and build objects or processes, to reproduce them on a platform where they will be socialised.
A B C
business object and process buildersBusiness modulesBusiness object connectors
Business app
Business app
Business app
Leaders"interoperability"
specialists
"business tool-box"
specialists
Also rans(incubation)
C
B
A
81
Process based collaboration matrix
Salesforce +Chatter
Chatter
Convo
Clearvale
Vmoso
Inspheris
Whaller
Slack
IBM Connections
blueKiwi
Knowledge Plaza
Sitrion+SP
Jive
SAP+JAM
Liferay
talkSpiritGoogle Apps
Kayoo
SeeMy
Office 365+
Podio
Wimi
SharePoint 2013
Hoozin
Yammer
Jamespot
Jalios
eXo Platform
Intra'know
Beezy
Lum Apps+ Lum Docs
Leve
l of a
ctua
l usa
ge
range of usage
Process based collaboration matrix
82
beezyA few words about the solution
Vendor strategy
New in 2015
Solution positioning Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics 53/100
User experience
The vendor markets Beezy, an add-on to the Microsoft SharePoint Online tools for Office 365 (SaaS) and SharePoint 2013 (on-premise). Without altering the SharePoint platform, Beezy adds a packaged collaborative and social layer which significantly improves the user experience. There is an uncluttered community approach based on the interactions between users. Team sites are transformed into team communities with task management and facilitated events. Community sites are transformed into mutual assistance, intelligence or innovation communities. And MySite transforms into advanced profiles which can be configured by the user.
Beezy is positioned as a competitor of Yammer, Sitrion and even Jive. The vendor has shifted towards cloud and offers an enterprise social network upper layer available in Office 365 and SharePoint 2013 On-Premise. Where Microsoft has taken the decision to transfer the social aspect of SharePoint intranets to Yammer, Beezy adopts the opposite strategy with a turnkey social intranet platform based on SharePoint. This add-on helps to avoid the cumbersome configurations and developments necessary to socialise native SharePoint. As the SharePoint base is not altered, IT Departments will still find configuration very flexible when it comes to supporting business processes or complex usages. The vendor has an impressive client list (including Vodafone) and Beezy was voted the Best Office 365 Collaboration Solution at the European SharePoint Conference 2015.
The vendor expanded and improved its key functionality in 2015, namely: blogs, wikis, tasks, ideation, user profiles and community moderation.
The user experience offered by Beezy significantly exceeds that of a native SharePoint. It would be difficult for technical teams to achieve this level starting "from zero" on the Microsoft foundation. The look and feel is attractive, navigation is intuitive and functionality is ergonomic. Beezy is also available on mobiles with a minimalist application based on quick consultation and contribution.
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
Information dissemina-tion and circulation
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
Knowledgemanagement
External access
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
social potential
productivity
83
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
conn
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Conv
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beezy
84
bluekiwiA few words about the solution
Vendor strategy
New in 2015
Solution positioning Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics 56/100
User experience
BlueKiwi is an established French player and pioneer which has been on the market for ten years now. The platform has matured to provide support for community based needs (internal and external) such as sharing information and collaboration. It encourages people to connect and have conversations within organisations and responds to basic communication intranet usages. Ready to use and available in SaaS mode only, collaboration revolves around conversations based on different content types (messages, documents, ideas, surveys etc.) and is organised in structured spaces which means information structuring and knowledge organisation usages can be covered.
The vendor is currently refocussing its attention on its content based conversation and interaction functionality. BlueKiwi's aim is to become a genuine channel for social collaboration, to be the pivot between structured communication and the organisation of hard information. BlueKiwi is an established generalist aiming to support a wide range of usages. It is focused on repositioning itself in relation to other players such as Microsoft and the mobile experience. The year was marked by the increasingly advanced development of connectors with Outlook (displaying profile information and conversations from email notifications), Office Online (sharing files from OneDrive or SharePoint with people or spaces through conversations) and SharePoint (multiple retrieval from feeds). This will create added value in information management cycles where users navigate between lots of different tools. Connecting blueKiwi with advanced collaborative application ecosystems could be one of the proposed usages associated with the "zero mail" policy announced by T. Breton following the takeover by Atos in 2012.
Capitalising on the wealth of experience at Atos the platform's look and feel has been slightly redesigned on the left side of the interface, the search filter has been modified (the nerve centre), the "draft" function has been rolled out for all conversation types. With regards to administration, community facilitators can lock content and mark it as official. The back office now comes with more comprehensive event logs (creating accounts, changing spaces etc.). We've already mentioned the Office connectors and, like other vendors, it's looking at integrating a social graph
Users navigate via content based global conversation feeds and community based organisation ("spaces"). The user experience can be optimised with widgets, by customising spaces (in terms of organisation and functionality), and manipulating "smart lists". It takes time to get used to the tool's approach and fully exploit its potential. All the web functionality is available on mobile devices without having to be adapted to mobile usages.
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
Information dissemina-tion and circulation
85
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
External access
social potential
conn
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Conv
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productivity
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bluekiwi
Knowledgemanagement
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
86
chatterA few words about the solution
Vendor strategy
New in 2015
Solution positioning Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics 43/100
User experience
Available in cloud based SaaS mode from Salesforce, the platform aims to introduce collaborative and social aspects to customer relationship management processes in companies using the vendor's CRM solution. Chatter can however be rolled out independently. The social network is then presented as a simplified platform revolving around "groups". The option to give external users (called "clients") access to certain communities could be interesting for companies which work with service providers. Chatter is productivity oriented, it can be used to set up business objects and it offers a range of document based functionality: versioning, multiple cross functional positioning, permission management.
These days, using Chatter makes real sense in a Salesforce ecosystem, to encourage social collaboration based on client related business objects. The fact that Chatter is available at no additional charge in a Salesforce package has helped it to find its way into lots of businesses. Today, Salesforce is aiming even higher: the "Chatter" brand is going to be discontinued and the application's functionality will be incorporated into all the vendor's applications, to form part of the new Salesforce Community Cloud. Salesforce has ambitions to be much more than a supplier of tools for CRM usages, to gradually secure a choice position as a player in the collaboration market, in the broadest sense of the term, for all populations: internal employees, sales forces, partner and of course, client networks.
No significant developments this year with regards to Chatter's scope. As explained above, Salesforce's roadmap is ambitious, with the development of the Community Cloud, which will support an organisation's complete collaborative chain. This cloud will incorporate Chatter's ergonomically redesigned functionality, along with other Salesforce products (CRM, marketing, etc.).
Tab based navigation makes the platform easy to adopt by users. While the mobile application has a modern and attractive design, the web version lags behind market standards. Administration is less accessible because of all the combined functionality from the Salesforce suite. Integration with Salesforce works from the front office with discussion threads at the centre of CRM applications.
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
Information dissemina-tion and circulation
87
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
External access
social potential
conn
ectin
g pe
ople
Conv
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tion
productivity
cont
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anag
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chatter
Knowledgemanagement
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
88
ClearvaleA few words about the solution
Vendor strategy
New in 2015
Solution positioning Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics 37/100
User experience
Clearvale from BroadVision is a collaborative solution with conventional functionality. It was only slightly updated in 2015 as the vendor invested heavily in a new solution called Vmoso. Clearvale offers a generalist enterprise social network solution with specific spaces for sharing documents and multimedia files, conversation threads, enhanced user profiles and conversational elements (blogs, microblogs, wikis, forums, polls). Clearvale's unique feature is multi-network management. Managers can administer internal networks for their employees, external networks for clients and partners and any other networks to suit specific needs (a support network for example). Users can easily switch and navigate between one collaborative environment and another and the central interface means they can incorporate content from different networks.
BroadVision supplies collaboration and communication solutions. BroadVision's strategy is to support all methods of collaboration (apart from desktop) for companies of all sizes. For collaboration and communication in businesses there are four fundamentally different solutions: Quicksilver to create technical documentation, BroadVision 9 to unify e-business and collaboration, Vmoso the leading mobile platform for individual and collective productivity, and Clearvale the enterprise social network platform. The vendor has clients in Japan (NTT and Softbank). In France Clearvale has worked with SDE Consulting, CNEH and CIGREF.
As the vendor has been focusing its efforts on Vmoso, there were very few changes for Clearvale this year. However, BroadVision says it will continue to reflect client requests in Clearvale's roadmap, without going back to a "made to measure" approach.
Clearvale's ergonomics are dated and need to be completely redesigned to meet today's standards. The tool's approach is still simple to adopt and you quickly forget about its slightly "old school" layout.
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
Information dissemina-tion and circulation
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
External access
social potential
productivity
89
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
conn
ectin
g pe
ople
Conv
ersa
tion
cont
ent a
nd pa
ge m
anag
emen
tco
mmun
icate
& co
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Clearvale
Knowledgemanagement
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
90
convoA few words about the solution
Vendor strategy
New in 2015
Solution positioning Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics 66/100
User experience
Convo is an American collaborative solution created in 2011 which focuses on the creation of project spaces and document based collaboration. The platform has a significant conversational dimension specifically aimed at individual and collective user productivity. As for the relationship aspect (mutual assistance and expert networks etc.) this is much less developed. The tool enables users to build a real work environment separated into projects or subjects. The solution's main advantage is that it offers a document viewer with an integrated annotation system and instant messaging. Users can comment on documents in real time (PowerPoint for example), with each comment being visibly linked to a selected section or annotated on the fly and incorporated in a shared side feed. This functionality is also available in the vendor's mobile applications. Convo can also be integrated with external document management solutions (DropBox, GDrive, Box).
The vendor is positioned in the individual and collective productivity segment. It sets itself apart by offering usages specifically for team collaboration (document annotation linked to conversation feeds, integrations with personal SaaS document management tools).Convo is penetrating the market initially with a package for small teams to subscribe for free (limited to 3 groups and 5 integrations) to increase their productivity on shared projects. The vendor then opens its offer up to organisations with a paying version (€8.50/month/user), suited to business structures (AD, SSO, support, centralised administration, analytics and reporting). The vendor targets companies of all sizes, and relies on the viral nature of its product to expand within them. The vendor does not publicise its client list.These days the vendor's strategy is focused on integration with web based productivity tools.
The Convo teams understand that the capability to integrate with web based productivity components is a major challenge for any productivity solution. With this in mind Convo had more than 400 integrations at the end of 2015. These integrations are a powerful vehicle for Convo to attract more and more project teams.
Convo has completely revised its interface and the result meets all expectations with a user experience which conforms with current productivity standards (push notifications, flat design, dedicated mobile applications, etc.). With regards to navigation, tabs give increased flexibility for users who can move quickly from one topic to another (groups, @mentions, favourites). Content is accessed exclusively through a central news feed or by searching which it makes it impossible to develop capitalisation usages in the long term. The tool is still focused on processing "hot" information.
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
Information dissemina-tion and circulation
91
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
External access
social potential
conn
ectin
g pe
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Conv
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tion
productivity
cont
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anag
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tco
mmun
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& co
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convo
Knowledgemanagement
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
92
EXO platformA few words about the solution
Vendor strategy
New in 2015
Solution positioning Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics 40/100
User experience
EXo is a French company created in 2003. EXo Platform, is an open source solution with a growing community of integrators (30 partners to date). Originally positioned as a portal integrating Java widgets (JSR168), the product has been given collaborative and CMS functionality over the years. It has had social functionality since version 4, which came out three years ago. This was added to the foundation so the tool could respond to social intranet needs. The tool has all the basic functionality and the DNA of its customisable CMS portal make it stand out from the competition.
The vendor is positioned on the social intranet segment. The platform is a seamless package combining CMS (its foundation), collaborative and social functionality. EXo offers On-Premise (75%) and SaaS (25% higher this year) solutions. The platform is fully customisable in its on-premise version which is recommended for large companies (integration service with authorised partners, development environment, etc.). The SaaS product, delivered via eXo cloud, is aimed at project teams or small businesses who don't want to get involved in hosting and maintenance but want to quickly roll out a turnkey platform. EXo Platform attract all types of businesses, mainly in Europe (50% of the vendor's market) and more particularly in the public sector, thanks to its open source model.
Each version focuses on a new improvement. In 2014 new features focused on the addition of "real-time" functionality with chat and push notifications (V4.1). 2015 was devoted to user engagement. Developments focused on improving the overall user experience by correcting bugs, redefining profiles and adding document preview (V4.2). In 2016 the vendor plans to integrate a project dimension with an advanced task management module (V4.3).
The tool has advanced functionality, and like the majority of CMS on the market, it becomes increasingly complex when it comes to managing it. It stands out because of its packaged collaborative foundation which remains simple and intuitive. Improvements made to the user experience in 2015 have been successful. Navigation is more fluid with streamlined news feeds and faster access.
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
Information dissemina-tion and circulation
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
External access
social potential
productivity
93
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
conn
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g pe
ople
Conv
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EXO platform
Knowledgemanagement
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
94
google apps for workA few words about the solution
Vendor strategy
New in 2015
Solution positioning Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics 67/100
User experience
Google markets a suite of SaaS desktop / collaboration / productivity applications, distributed either free of charge to individuals, or as a business package with additional administration functionality (but a similar functional scope). The main components offered in the Google Apps suite are mail, calendar, contacts, Drive (personal document manager, and co-publication of documents), Sites (customisable web pages ), Google + (enterprise social network + communities) and Hangout (instant chat), etc.
Google is one of the only vendors to offer a desktop and collaborative solution and is therefore the main competitor to Microsoft Office 365 and the IBM suite. Google has been a pioneer in many areas of productivity and has had a big influence on the ecosystem: co-publication in real time, personal document management, smart messaging, functionalities which have been copied but never equalled or surpassed by competitors. However, Google's product has fundamental flaws when it comes to the social scope and supporting large companies. The Google+ social network, designed for the general public and a competitor of Facebook, is not suitable for business needs in terms of its usages and administration (internal / external separation issues, few moderation elements, almost non-existent API and no reversibility). The vendor is increasingly trying to turn its product into a suite of dedicated applications. In line with this, Google+ is not and will not be at the centre of the offer. As can be seen when Hangout was separated from Google + in 2015.
Most of the new features relate to the user experience: The design of Google Apps is constantly changing (particularly Google+ which has been redesigned again in an attempt to get it adopted by users in the public sphere). After YouTube, it was Hangout's turn to become independent. The application is now available without a Google+ account.With regards to productivity and collaboration: voice input and a new functionality which enables you to scroll quickly through the changes made to a document, one by one. Inbox, Google's smart messaging system is officially available for organisations. It should be noted however that Inbox is still less integrated than Gmail to the rest of the applications in the suite, particularly Gdrive.
The interface has been designed for the general public and is therefore very easy to use. The ergonomic limits are reached when you want to customise the platform to use it for communication. The ergonomics of the Google Sites administration is not very impressive compared to add-ons such as LumSites.However, each component in the collaborative suite has its own mobile application which is at the cutting edge of the market.
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
Information dissemina-tion and circulation
95
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
External access
social potential
conn
ectin
g pe
ople
Conv
ersa
tion
productivity
cont
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nd pa
ge m
anag
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tco
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& co
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google apps for work
Knowledgemanagement
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
96
hoozinA few words about the solution
New in 2015
Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics 64/100
User experience
Hoozin is a young collaborative intranet solution created in 2012 and developed and marketed by Prexens. The platform is built on a Microsoft SharePoint foundation hosted in the cloud or on company servers. Unlike Sitrion, which comes as an upper layer of a SharePoint solution without altering it (web parts and modules), Hoozin dramatically changes SharePoint to create a separate product. The editorial and customisation capabilities of SharePoint are considerably reduced to offer a completely new user experience. Hoozin follows the community approach with regards to productivity, discussion and enterprise social network usages. SharePoint can still be accessed by the Hoozin teams who can therefore offer advanced integration services.
The vendor positions its solution as an alternative to SharePoint to support collaborative intranet usages. Companies can use it to avoid time consuming and expensive advanced configuration and specific development work on SharePoint, which often does not meet the expectations of end users. This however means that the CMS capabilities of SharePoint and therefore its editorial potential are lost. Hoozin successfully attracts pragmatic small and medium sized companies who are looking for turnkey solutions. The vendor has a few French clients (Lyreco, BFM, Deloitte, CMA CGM and RMC) and is starting to develop internationally, particularly in England and Canada, with the opening of a new R&D office. The vendor claims that demand for social networks is falling and is therefore directing its strategy towards team collaboration and focusing its roadmap on improving its range of modular applications (tasks, document libraries, surveys, blogs, calendars, FAQs, etc.).
Hoozin has increased its range of applications with Survey (for surveys), Data list, To do to manage personal task lists and an organisational chart to create a dynamic directory from an Active Directory. These applications can be activated or deactivated for each community to respond to defined use cases. The vendor is also planning to set up an App Store so that users can buy Hoozin business applications directly online. On the editorial side, Hoozin is increasing its CMS capabilities by adding multiple languages and a page management and creation module.
The Hoozin user experience is no longer anything like that of native SharePoint. Users navigate intuitively from a single banner at the top from which you can publish, search, access user and community directories and notifications. A contextualised side navigation bar on the active page is also available. The look and feel of the solution is attractive.
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity
Vendor strategy
Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
Solution positioning
Information dissemina-tion and circulation
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
External access
social potential
productivity
97
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
conn
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Conv
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hoozin
Knowledgemanagement
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
98
ibm connectionSA few words about the solution
Vendor strategy
New in 2015
Solution positioning Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics 46/100
User experience
IBM is historically one of the major players in social collaboration, with the IBM Connections platform among others. Originally designed to incorporate content and information from other applications in the IBM ecosystem, the platform supports needs such as intranet portals, sharing business information and document based collaboration. This translates into a "community" dimension to which content based collaborative usages (documents, wikis, blogs) can be grafted, along with a user-centric dimension (profiles, MyPage, data feeds and suggestion engines based on activities). As with SharePoint (Microsoft), IBM Connections has advanced functionality which requires a lot of work in terms of integration and configuration, depending on the expected target. Available in SaaS or On-Premise modes, the products are organised in packages, with several levels for activating satellite modules which are grafted into IBM Connections (Docs, Filenet, Sametime etc.).
Since 2014, IBM Connections has developed at a slower pace than previously. IBM is now concentrating on its "Digital Experience" philosophy, which reflects its desire to offer a coherent and complete response to an expressed need by exploiting all its collaborative functionality (Websphere for portals and content management, Filenet for documents, Connections for ESN etc.). IBM is no longer looking to promote each component individually, but to affirm its position as a generalist. Which makes it harder to understand the package.Is the Digital Experience (and IBM connections) really at the centre of IBM's strategy? With the arrival of Verse (a platform aimed at reinventing email usage), the aim is to provide a central place for collaboration, revolving around users, by putting the search function and easy access to information at the forefront. In addition to managing emails, the application uses IBM's social graph and can be used to identify the network of employees closest to the user and feed back suggested content. Verse is also the entry point to the IBM ecosystem, integrating with other components (including IBM Connections), in the interests of transparency for users. IBM is positioning itself clearly on the productivity segment and making day to day collaborative task management more fluid.
The year was especially eventful with regards to Verse. Version 5.5 of IBM Connections arrived at the end of the year, with the following major developments: enhanced document based functionality (preview, locking for co-publication, synchronisation with an existing directory), customised communities (structure and topic naming), improved experience regardless of the device used. The enhanced Office connectors should also be noted.
The platform's advanced functionality and its extensive potential (modules can be activated or not, depending on the package chosen and the amount of integration / configuration work you put in) affect the overall ergonomics and make navigation complex. The mobile experience is one of the most developed on the market.
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
Information dissemina-tion and circulation
99
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
External access
social potential
conn
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g pe
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Conv
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productivity
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ibm connectionS
Knowledgemanagement
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
100
inspherisA few words about the solution
Vendor strategy
New in 2015
Solution positioning Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics 60/100
User experience
Inspheris is a French company, which has published collaborative and social solutions since 2006. The vendor is also an integrator and offers custom collaborative intranet packages. Its basic core package, Lively (formerly Bounce In), is a customisable portal to which corporate communication, news feeds and web parts can be added. The vendor's integration services consist of contextualising the core platform to suit the usages and needs of businesses and provide them with a turnkey collaborative intranet. The modules available can be chosen "à la carte" from a catalogue of conventional functionality (notifications, content types, corporate directory, community directory) and specific developments are possible, such as link integration. The vendor prefers SaaS distribution but also authorises On-Premise.
The vendor is positioned on the social intranet segment, as the tool follows an editorial approach applied to specific communities.The platform is mainly aimed at small and medium sized companies. The vendor gained new clients in 2015 including Canal +, the Leclerc Group's travel agency and Maison des Examens (national education). Inspheris has retained its strategy of standing out from its competitors with its "à la carte" packages which can deliver contextualised and turnkey platforms, all in a relatively short period of time.
While the technological foundation has not changed, the move from Bounce In to Lively has been a success with regards to the user experience, which has improved dramatically. The changes relate to information organisation, design and, in greater depth, to content types and rights management.
The strength of Lively's user experience comes from its minimalist interface. It has all the basic functionality and nothing superfluous (community directory, company directory). Content publication and navigation can be done anywhere on the tool, from the banner at the top like conventional intranets. The solution will be comfortably at home in organisations which would like a smooth transition to collaboration, without going as far as very advanced usages.
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
Information dissemina-tion and circulation
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
External access
social potential
productivity
101
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
conn
ectin
g pe
ople
Conv
ersa
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cont
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mmun
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& co
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inspheris
Knowledgemanagement
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
102
Intra'knowA few words about the solution
Vendor strategy
Solution positioning Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics 35/100
User experience
Intra'know is a small company from Brittany which was created when ooPartners (Intra'know vendor) merged with Spring (change organisation and management consultancy). The Intra'know solution is presented as a modular collaborative portal. The core portal is based on basic elements which include a staff photo gallery, an advanced directory, a customisable homepage, a forum, instant messaging, task manager and shared calendars. It can all be improved with activatable modules to support business activity (CRM, e-learning, project management, etc.). Intra'know is however nowhere near the usages provided by enterprise social networks. There is no community approach, no subscription for users and you can only comment on documents.
The solution is available in SaaS mode and On Premise. The vendor is targeting small SMEs with between 20 and 200 staff. The Intra'know modules are designed to support the business needs of small entities. They come as a replacement or in addition to dedicated business tools, often too complex and not suited to the needs of small or medium sized organisations. For all that Intra'know does not exclude the business entities of large companies which can configure the platform to meet specific needs.The vendor has clients in distribution, transport, research, the pharmaceutical industry, industry and training, etc. with an average number of users of around 60 employees.
The user experience is good overall but gets worse or improves depending on the number of modules activated. It takes time and training is required to grasp the tool's full potential. Users and administrators alike navigate a packaged portal with limited customisation. Only the home page "dashboard" is natively customisable by the user with a widgets system for content delivery. That said, the tool's modular approach means the platform can easily be contextualised for different business profiles. Users can then only access the business tools which concern them.With regards to mobility, the lack of native mobile applications is regrettable. Intra'know is available in responsive design limited to tablets and mobile sites (for consultation usages)
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
Information dissemina-tion and circulation
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
External access
social potential
productivity
103
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
conn
ectin
g pe
ople
Conv
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tion
cont
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anag
emen
tco
mmun
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& co
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Intra'know
Knowledgemanagement
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
104
jaliosA few words about the solution
Vendor strategy
New in 2015
Solution positioning Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics 34/100
User experience
Jalios produces generalist content management solutions and Jalios Digital Platform is its core product. It is a long standing competitor of Sharepoint, which can manage collaborative and document based spaces and social networks (which Sharepoint does not natively support). The suite of solutions can be used by trained administrators to create fully customisable communication environments (layout, workflows, etc.). The collaborative modules mean that basic collaboration functionality can be added, which is pre-packaged to facilitate usage and has advanced customisation functionality.
This year, in the interests of clarification, Jalios reorganised its long standing jCMS offer into three new packages: Jalios Digital Platform, Jalios Document System and Jalios Web Factory. While jCMS related mainly to CMS, the new versions reveal the product's true potential divided into three main types of usages. The packages are available On-Demand and On-Premise, just like the old jCMS. The vendor is influential on the market and positioned as a generalist, a competitor of Microsoft and IBM within the content management and collaborative scope. Jalios offers an alternative to these two players by being less "restrictive" and "closed". To penetrate organisations using Microsoft or IBM and support communication and collaboration in a complementary manner, Jalios is focusing its efforts on developing native connectors for these vendors' office tools. Jalios is also moving towards business process tools to meet the growing needs of teams. This can be seen in its roadmap, which focuses on task management, mobile access, forms for online procedures, e-learning, external EDM integration, electronic signatures, gamification and analytics.
In 2015 the biggest news is jCMS being divided into three new packages. With regards to functionality, the solution now has one-to-one webchat, the document viewer has been redesigned, connectors with Skype and Outlook have been developed and secure public links can now be shared externally. JGuide has arrived; based on sharing expertise, the application can be used to create guides with steps illustrated on the fly with photos, videos, comments and questions. The vendor is working on version 3 of JDrive (integration with the Office suite, offline synchronisation with the workstation, and an iOS application).
The user experience is built on the solution's editorial functionality and this is what leads to it being adopted. Despite its native packaged foundation, the solution needs an integration service to be usable in a business environment. Training in platform administration is also required to learn how to properly use the back office, which is extensive but complex in terms of adoption.
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity Information dissemination and circulation
Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
External access
social potential
productivity
105
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
conn
ectin
g pe
ople
Conv
ersa
tion
cont
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anag
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mmun
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& co
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jalios
Knowledgemanagement
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
106
JamespotA few words about the solution
Vendor strategy
New in 2015
Solution positioning Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics 43/100
User experience
Jamespot is a French vendor. The eponymous solution is a social network which is extremely configurable to suit the business environment. The tool's native format conforms with conventional intranet and collaboration usages. Applications, developed by Jamespot, can then be activated on the fly to respond to specific needs. Administration functionality can also be used to customise the tool extensively (you can create new content types, workflows, arrange groups and pages, etc.). Jamespot reproduces business processes in its platform and gives them a cross-functional and social dimension.
Jamespot was one of the first to create social networks specifically for business processes. This strategy has enabled the vendor to create a substantial catalogue of business applications and very quickly configure its platform to suit specific business environments. The vendor positions its platform as a complete and alternative productivity solution to other existing solutions in organisations, and this is a key factor in penetrating companies. As evidenced in 2015 when Renault increased its usage and Dacia and the CD78 became new clients. Nevertheless, Jamespot faces growing competition from newcomers and established players who are increasingly integrating business productivity solutions. Jamespot will use this finding as a starting point to fine tune its 2016 strategy. The vendor has ambitions to open up to the ecosystem and make its solution interoperable. Jamespot will soon be available on Office 365 from the Microsoft Store.
Jamespot increased its catalogue of applications in 2015 and improved its user experience with a more modern design (flat design) and a more dynamic display. Users can now refer to elements of the tool in their publications with an auto-complete feature (@ for contacts, # for tags, ! for content). The Smart Process, Smart Pages (external dimension) and Shortcut applications have been added to the range of Jamespot applications. The new more ergonomic administration panel sits between Jamespot's advanced administration and the end user's platform.
The ergonomics change depending on its configuration. The native interface is quite uncluttered, but it quickly becomes more complex when business applications are activated. It needs to be customised to streamline the usages provided by the solution. This year has also seen an improvement in the overall user experience with a more modern design and a more dynamic display.
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
Information dissemina-tion and circulation
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
External access
social potential
productivity
107
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
conn
ectin
g pe
ople
Conv
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mmun
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& co
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Jamespot
Knowledgemanagement
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
108
jiveA few words about the solution
Vendor strategy
New in 2015
Solution positioning Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics 57/100
User experience
Jive is a American company created in 2001. Its main product, Jive-n, is a generalist top of range enterprise social network available in SaaS and on premise modes. The solution works on the basis of pre-packaged collaborative templates providing tools for different types of usages (innovation, project and intelligence communities etc.). Jive also offers numerous connectors to connect its solution to information system components and other players in the market (Sharepoint, Office, Outlook, Google Docs, Gmail, Google Drive, Box).
Jive has built its offer on a collaborative foundation to position itself on the social intranet segment. The vendor rivals the leaders in this segment with a top of the range turnkey package. These days, the vendor is looking to stand out by focusing on three levers. The first relates to the productivity segment with three new standalone specialised apps - Circle (a dynamic organisational chart to connect people), Chime (instant messaging for synchronous collaboration) and Daily (data feeds for corporate communication) available as a package. The second is aimed at supporting business processes to bring teams closer together (business page templates). And the third concerns community managers and employees who will now have access to adoption metrics and a complete gamification system. Jive is expanding its range of usages based around its mother solution to form an extensive, generalist package which surpasses the social intranet.
The Jive solution was functionally and ergonomically improved in 2015. The platform was given new tiles (modules) and new business pages. The support page (pre-configured page to build a support service block by block) is the first example of this. The vendor is planning to adapt this to several models (for HR and IT needs, etc.). Gamification has also been stepped up with the addition of challenges, cross-functional rewards, a profiling approach and a management console for configuration and statistics. The vendor is developing new analytics for community managers who will be able to get more involved in interactions between users on a community level. Three new standalone mobile applications (Jive Circle, Chime and Daily) have also been released.
The tool's overall ergonomics are good but its advanced functionality will affect its adoption. The platform is intended for mature users.Jive has developed three specialised and ergonomic applications, Jive Circle (dynamic organisational chart synchronised with Jive-n), Jive Chime (instant messaging) and Jive Daily (corporate communication feed). Designed for mobile use initially, users will find it a real boon for productivity. However as a prerequisite they must have the package in which they are incorporated.
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
Information dissemina-tion and circulation
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
External access
social potential
productivity
109
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
conn
ectin
g pe
ople
Conv
ersa
tion
cont
ent a
nd pa
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anag
emen
tco
mmun
icate
& co
ordin
ate
jive
Knowledgemanagement
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
110
kayooA few words about the solution
Vendor strategy
New in 2015
Solution positioning Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics 37/100
User experience
Kayoo is a young French enterprise social network solution incubated and rolled out by Business & Decision in 2012. Available in SaaS mode, the solution is presented as a basic packaged social platform, but has functions which make it stand out. End users can organise and edit their data feeds from reference feeds. Users can subscribe to a given or imposed corporate feed (marketing information, HR, comms), and add it their own custom items which they can then sort as they wish using the application's filters. Kayoo stands out because of its positioning supporting business processes, ranging from customer relationship management to recruitment processes.
The vendor aims to gradually join the business process tools segment (by integrating a status system to categorise publications and by taking advantage of the existing integrations offered by Business & Decision (reporting tools, decision making tools, content management, etc.). Today Kayoo is still a basic solution for starting out in community based cross-functional collaboration.Kayoo is aimed at small and medium sized companies and other organisations such as associations, schools and universities. The vendor started working with its first clients (other than B&D) in 2014 and by 2015 it had several clients including PSA from the DS brand (250 people), Information Builders, Zadig & Voltaire, Splendens Factory and Ionis Education Group. The vendor has found it difficult to find its place in the market.
It has improved its solution with standard but essential functionality which addresses current productivity challenges: push notifications, being able to pin publications, division into sub-networks, archiving publications, community categorisation system, anonymous publication, etc.
The user experience suffers as a result compared to current standards. Certain ergonomic standards are not met (clickable buttons only in text, the size of the fonts and spacing is not uniform, etc.). Navigation is however up to standard (single, horizontal top banner, communities and projects in a side block and central news feed) and information is still accessible. Several well designed shortcuts have also been set up (new window for private messages/emails, posts can be marked as read/unread by clicking on them, etc.).
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
Information dissemina-tion and circulation
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
External access
social potential
productivity
111
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
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kayoo
Knowledgemanagement
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
112
KnowingsA few words about the solution
Vendor strategy
New in 2015
Solution positioning Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics 42/100
User experience
Knowings is a collaborative solution positioned in knowledge management which has been supporting businesses in this segment for the last fifteen years or so. Over time, the initial scope has been extended to include electronic content and document management, and it now has social and conversational functionality. Knowings can be used to respond to business needs by creating communities within which knowledge is organised, based on advanced metadata management and tree structure functionality. The platform does not neglect users, with enhanced profiles and a directory, as well as the microblogging tool ("Wings"), which can be used to share hot content between users and via spaces. Knowings can be deployed in its cloud version or on your infrastructure.
The vendor offers one of the most mature and complete solutions on the market to support knowledge management usages. To expand its potential, major work is being carried out on the foundation to cover electronic document management usages. Knowings is aimed both at organisations which would like to develop internal knowledge intranets, and those which would like to collaborate with their partner or client ecosystems (extended enterprises). In fact, the vendor is focusing its work on making its application programming interfaces open (reading and writing APIs), as well as interconnecting with other identity and access management systems and business applications. Developments in Single sign-on and standards such as SAML 2 make Knowings a platform that can be used as a portal to access information relating to business applications, ERP and CRM. Knowings has used its experience acquired over the years to develop a product which can bring social collaboration into accounting processes, a population of choice for the vendor.
In addition to developing the API, the vendor has made a few improvements to the interface (slide show carousel, new icons), developed functionality based on media content management (videos and images in Wings) and improved its activities timeline. A new version is planned for mid 2016, with a completely redesigned interface and navigation principles, while maintaining the current functional scope.
We'll have to wait a few months to find out about the new version of Knowings, with its extensively redesigned interfaces and navigation. For the time being, the platform is still complex to use, because of its advanced functions and the types of usages, which require advanced classification functionality. As a result of the responsive design on the mobile section, a native application based on EDM is available.
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
Information dissemina-tion and circulation
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
External access
social potential
productivity
113
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
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Conv
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Knowings
Knowledgemanagement
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
114
Knowledge PlazaA few words about the solution
Vendor strategy
New in 2015
Solution positioning Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics 61/100
User experience
Knowledge Plaza, which was created in 2008, is a knowledge management platform with a social and collaborative approach. This approach is based on balancing conversation feeds with an ordered knowledge repository. Knowledge Plaza has abandoned standard EDM tools with conventional tree structures and introduced a tagging system which can be finely tuned. Like all enterprise social networks, Knowledge Plaza has a community approach with news feeds. Certain types of content (status, files, links, contacts, events) can be quickly sent within communities, while others (such as collections) can be used to aggregate and capitalise on information. A finely tuned tagging system helps users and administrators to classify content as instances arise in the cross-functional search engine and faceted filter (like e-commerce). The solution is very intuitive and enjoyable to use in this respect. However it is less suitable for conventional collaboration such as co-producing information or coordinating activities.
Knowledge Plaza is positioned in the social KM segment and the product stands out because of the tool's approach. The vendor aims to support all types of collaborative projects where capitalising on knowledge is a major component. The vendor is aiming at companies of all sizes and has an impressive client list (Bouygues, PMU, Lafarge). In an effort to increase the flexibility between knowledge feeds and knowledge repositories Knowledge Plaza is moving towards real time discussion functionality. This can be seen in a new chat system and the removal of certain types of overly restrictive content. The vendor's challenge is to maintain the balance it has held for 8 years between discussion feeds and structured knowledge repositories.
This year the vendor is focusing on improving the platform functionality. The top bar for searches, contributions and notifications has been redesigned. Quick search now extends to spaces, as well as tags, content and profiles. Contributions are now centralised and a push notification centre is available directly from the top bar. The Knowledge Plaza teams have also added a public activities feed which can be set as the tool's home page and a superimposed chat module enabling existing content and attachments to be shared.
The tool is simple compared to "conventional" knowledge management platforms. It respects the community approach of enterprise social networking with news feeds which incorporate information suited to the user's subscriptions and rights. Navigation is standard for a packaged tool and it has all the basics without any advanced configuration (for which you have to contact the Knowledge Plaza teams).
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
Information dissemina-tion and circulation
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
External access
social potential
productivity
115
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
conn
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Conv
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Knowledge Plaza
Knowledgemanagement
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
116
liferayA few words about the solution
Vendor strategy
New in 2015
Solution positioning Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics 49/100
User experience
Liferay, which was founded in 2004, is an established player on the CMS (content management system) market. The open source solution is presented as a real toolbox which can be used to build any type of platform (web sites, communication intranet, collaborative platforms, EDM, etc.). The social aspect is not very well covered in Liferay version 6.2. You have to subscribe to social add-ons (such as Liferay Social Office) to make the platform an enterprise social network (advanced profile management, microblogging, conversation based communities).
Because of its long standing position on the CMS market Liferay is aimed at the traditional communication and collaboration segment. The vendor is in direct competition with vendors such as Jalios (Jalios Digital Platform), Microsoft (SharePoint) and eXo (Exo platform, open source solution).The solution is customisable and requires qualified internal or external resources to develop and manage the platform. Liferay targets businesses of all sizes with the human and financial resources to benefit from a certain level of customisation. The vendor's penetration strategy is based on maintaining a very mature and driven community of developers to upgrade versions of the tool, along with a network of specialist Liferay integrators and distributors.
The Liferay community has been working on version 7 of the platform for the last two years, the last version 6.2 dates back to December 2013. Originally scheduled for the second half of 2015, Liferay 7 is currently in the alpha phase and will probably be released in 2016. On the agenda: the technical architecture of the publication back office and the platform's look will be redesigned, a new form builder, workflows, content geolocation, integrations, etc. This important new version will mainly focus on content management and publication functionality. Relatively few additions to the social aspect are to be expected, so it will still be necessary to use the Liferay social add-on ecosystem.
The user experience for Liferay 6.2 is good overall and should be even better with version 7. With regards to design, the look and feel is attractive with an uncluttered interface. With regards to operation, content is stored, managed and published from the back-office, which is extremely advanced in term of possibilities and can be configured in great detail. The front office is editable using a system of drag and drop web parts on pages which are editable on the fly. The platform makes it easy to create pages in responsive design and has a development framework for mobile pages and content.
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
Information dissemina-tion and circulation
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
External access
social potential
productivity
117
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
conn
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Conv
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liferay
Knowledgemanagement
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
118
lumapps google apps for work
A few words about the solution
Vendor strategy
Solution positioning Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics 67/100
User experience
Lumapps is a French vendor, which provides applications for the Google Apps for Work suite. The vendor offers two SaaS applications which can be closely integrated with the Google suite, namely LumSites and LumWork. LumSites can be used alongside and independently of Google Sites to create and manage social intranets very easily. The tool is based on tree structure approach to customisable pages, together with a community approach similar to Google+. Numerous widgets (gadgets) are available to create links to Google Apps (Feedback from Gmail, Gdrive, Gagenda, Corporate directory, etc.). LumWork can be used to create advanced workflows to support business processes and comes as an upper layer for Gdrive with additional functionality, such as being able to create shared document based tree structures in businesses. The suite of add-ons has connectors with most of the components in the Google suite but not with Google+ and Google Sites.
The vendor markets its solution as an upper layer for the Google Apps for Work suite. It improves Google Apps by adding functionality which covers new usages. The solution also fills in some gaps for Google Apps such as separation from the public realm (Google+, Gsite and Gdrive). The aim of Lumapps is to provide a solution which meets the organisational and business needs of medium and large sized companies, whereas Google remains closer to the end user. With this in mind, Lumapps offers restricted company directories, administrator rights on four levels, shared document tree structures, restricted communities, etc.The vendor has an impressive client list in France (Norauto, Veolia, Manpower), and is the only one to date to offer a complete intranet upper layer for Google Apps.
The interface is simple with material design and ergonomically it's on the same level as Google (or even better than Google Sites). Administration on LumSites is intuitive and does not require advanced training. LumWork, despite good ergonomics, is still complex to handle and requires specific training especially for the workflow section. The lack of native mobile applications is regrettable, but the vendor has announced they will be released soon and the two applications have responsive design.
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
Information dissemina-tion and circulation
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
External access
social potential
productivity
119
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
conn
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Conv
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lumapps google apps for work
Knowledgemanagement
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
120
office 365A few words about the solution
Vendor strategy
New in 2015
Solution positioning Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics 45/100
User experience
With the advent of SaaS, Microsoft centralised all its collaborative products to create Office 365 (not to be confused with the automation suite). This is the vendor's flagship product, which has been available in cloud only since 2013. Among the pillars supporting this integrated evolving package, we find applications which respond to a wide range of collaborative usages: Yammer for ESN, Outlook for email, Skype for Business (formerly Lync) for instant messaging, OneDrive for document sharing, SharePoint Online for site organisation, Office Online for desktop tools etc. All these applications are accessible from the Office 365 portal, which is where users enter the ecosystem and move from one application to another.
Microsoft has a clear embedded growth strategy: ensure that a maximum number of companies use Office 365 and a maximum number of employees use a maximum number of tools in the package. Microsoft penetrates organisations with Office 365 via one main point of entry, email (via Exchange / Outlook). Yammer of course is the bonus product, which comes "free" with the suite. In the past, before it became an integrated offer, Office 365 was a group of applications developed independently: since 2013, work has focused on developing gateways between components and establishing a unified experience, enabling a Digital Workplace to be set up. With the launch of Office Store (third party application ecosystem to expand the Office 365 universe), Microsoft aims to give users the means to create their own "à la carte" collaborative tool ecosystem, which can be used to improve the package's readability. Integrating Office Graph (giving access to users' social and collaborative activities), which remains to be tested, is in line with the "Office as a Platform" strategy and will lead to an ever larger ecosystem of external applications which will use and reinject user data to optimise collaboration. With the arrival of Office 365 Planner, the takeover of Wunderlist and Sunrise (task management) and the release of SendGrid (sharing instant messages, like WhatsApp), Microsoft is positioning itself clearly in the productivity segment.
Three essential elements stand out in an eventful 2015: integrating Office Graph (Delve shows how to exploit its full potential), launching Office Groups (an upper layer which can be used to build communities of people and filter them into Outlook, Delve, Planner, Yammer, Skype etc.) and the Next Gen portals (such as OneDrive, Office Video etc.), built on the SharePoint Online foundation. They will showcase Microsoft's potential and restore its image. Work on productivity (with Planner) should also be noted and the fact that Lync became Skype for Business (using the same engine as the former).
Users enter the Office 365 ecosystem from their web browsers via the portal, and move from one component to another using the navigation banner at the top. While the graphic layout forms a coherent whole, the components still have a very marked identity individually, as much in the philosophy as in the layout. The mobile experience means moving from one application to another depending on usage, which still leads to some confusion.
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
Information dissemina-tion and circulation
121
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
External access
social potential
conn
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g pe
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Conv
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productivity
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office 365
Knowledgemanagement
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
122
podioA few words about the solution
Vendor strategy
Solution positioning Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics 56/100
User experienceNew in 2015
Podio is a Danish solution which was created in 2009 and acquired by Citrix in 2012. Podio is a collaborative application available in SaaS mode. Collaboration is based on business usages and organised around work spaces to which applications with content which is customisable by users can be grafted. The interface can be used to create new business objects and dashboards. Like many platforms focused on productivity and business, Podio has an app store which means you can build your own customised and enhanced digital workplace. This degree of openness and customisation means businesses of all sizes can design their own collaborative packages.
Podio is positioned in the productivity and business process tool segments. While its collaborative base has standard functionality, the solution stands out because of its apps based approach to building business content and its capacity for integration with the web productivity solution ecosystem. Podio penetrates the market initially with an option for small teams to subscribe to a free plan. Three plans (Basic, Plus and Premium) ranging from €8.50 to €21/month/user are then available to access a higher level of functionality (user management, unlimited external users, contact synchronisation, task management, automated workflows, etc.). A made to measure package is also available for larger organisations. This means companies of all sizes can be targeted, and the vendor relies on the viral nature of its package to expand within them. Podio is not very active on the French market but has an impressive international client list (Volvo, NFL, Sony, Time Warner Cable, Sotheby's).
The platform's collaborative foundation is conventional: a navigation banner at the top to access your contacts, calendar, tasks, notifications, your account and the search function; a side panel on the left to access spaces; a side panel on the right to access chat; It only takes a few clicks in the front office to create new business objects and this comes with contextual assistance. The mobile and web interfaces meet current standards (flat design). Inevitably, the news feeds become increasingly complex as the number of business objects increases. It's a question of striking the right balance between the number of business objects and the platform's readability.
In June 2015 Podio added two new packages which are better suited to users' needs: Podio Plus and Podio Premium. Podio sends out regular communications about its frequent updates (2 per month on average). In 2015 updates involved advanced workflows, archiving project spaces, improving the search function and reviewing the interface (notifications centre, badges).
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
Information dissemina-tion and circulation
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
External access
social potential
productivity
123
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
conn
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ople
Conv
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podio
Knowledgemanagement
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
124
seemyA few words about the solution
Vendor strategy
New in 2015
Solution positioning Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics 48/100
User experience
SeeMy is an established French social enterprise network which was redesigned early in 2015 to respond to different types of usages. The vendor has kept its core traditional functions to which it has added a web page management tool. This tool can be used to manage the layout and graphics of customisable pages. Widgets available by subscribing to the three new SeeMy offers are available to adapt the tool depending on the usages required (Social Intranet, Social KM and Social Innovation). The collaborative and social foundation is still packaged around proposed simple usages (microblogging, content sharing, co-publishing documents etc.). The platform is available in SaaS (favoured mode) and On-Premise mode.
Launched in 2007, this small solution developed in flash attracted several French companies (GDF Suez, L'Oréal, RATP) riding on the wave of generalist ESN before fading in recent years with an interface which increasingly failed to meet current ergonomic standards (flat design, real-time). The vendor claims that the functional scope is less and less important with regards to usages. SeeMy completely redesigned its tool at the beginning of 2015. There are multiple issues at stake: offering a user experience which suits today's taste and abandoning the generalist position to offer divided subjects which meet defined usages. SeeMy markets a collaborative foundation which can be improved with three packaged offers based on the social intranet, social innovation and social KM. This repositioning means SeeMy can move away from its front-end position with the big leaders in collaboration and target small and medium sized organisations more specifically. However, the tool still has relatively few elements which make it stand out from its competitors (such as Jive or Knowledge Plaza) in each of these segments.
The big news for 2015 lies in SeeMy being redesigned and divided up. The vendor has worked hard to standardise the interfaces of its modules to offer a seamless extendible product. SeeMy intends to carry on simplifying its offer and move increasingly towards ideation, (on the agenda: Innovation challenge, gamification, idea based workflows, etc.)The vendor plans to improve its package in terms of innovation by working on concrete use cases for business lines.
The tool's redesign was also crucial from an ergonomic point of view particularly as it no longer uses flash. Unifying the offer in packaged modules means that SeeMy can adapt to different client environments while maintaining a high-quality user experience. Despite a lack of mobile applications, the modules can be used by administrators to create responsive design pages easily.
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
Information dissemina-tion and circulation
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
External access
social potential
productivity
125
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
conn
ectin
g pe
ople
Conv
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tion
cont
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tco
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seemy
Knowledgemanagement
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
126
sharepointA few words about the solution
Vendor strategy
New in 2015
Solution positioning Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics 25/100
User experience
Microsoft's established collaborative tool SharePoint has an extensive "Swiss army knife" type functional potential, ranging from content and web page management to electronic document management. SharePoint is a real toolbox which can be used to construct corporate intranet type sites, communities and document repositories for teams (entities, projects, business lines) with associated processes, while providing a basic level of social and conversational functions (via Newsfeed). Users need to be experienced to take full advantage of this advanced functionality and the potential of these services. SharePoint can be deployed in cloud mode (alone or within Office 365) and in On-Premise mode. SharePoint's extensive ecosystem includes specialist core integrators and vendors offering social add-ons to improve the user experience (such as Beezy or Sitrion).
Numerous businesses have built their intranet or document based portals using SharePoint On-Premise technology, which over the years has taken pride of place alongside Microsoft's other desktop tools. These businesses have even tried to socialise SharePoint as they developed enterprise social network platforms and usages. Until it bought Yammer Microsoft was focusing its development work on expanding the social and conversational functionality of SharePoint. Since then, SharePoint's scope has been refocused on its historical objectives, namely supporting content and document management. SharePoint is now presented by Microsoft as a foundation which can be used to build portals and not as an application as such. By developing finished products which exploit this foundation, such as the NextGen portals like OneDrive for Business, Office 365 Videos and Office 365 Sway, Microsoft is reasserting the potential of SharePoint and mitigating the concern over complexity which users have had for the last fifteen years. Even though Microsoft is directing its clients towards the cloud with Office 365, SharePoint has a future, mainly in its On-Premise or Hybrid mode, in so far as it can resolve security and autonomy needs with regards to company data management.
This year, Microsoft focused its efforts on illustrating the capabilities of SharePoint, showing how it can be used via the NextGen portals. As with Office, the 2016 vintage will see improvements in terms of administration functions (multiple authentication for users, finely tuned permission management), mobility (document access and management) and the development of gateways with Yammer and Delve in the Office 365 ecosystem.
As this is a toolbox, the user experience varies depending on the effort put into integration and configuration. The navigation principles still revolve around content. The platform can easily be enhanced with information from other components from the Microsoft ecosystem (Yammer, Office 365 Video etc.). The mobile experience is based on personal "folders".
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
Information dissemina-tion and circulation
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
External access
social potential
productivity
127
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
conn
ectin
g pe
ople
Conv
ersa
tion
cont
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sharepoint
Knowledgemanagement
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
128
SITRIONA few words about the solution
Vendor strategy
New in 2015
Solution positioning Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics 24/100
User experience
Sitrion markets Social Sites, an add-on (on-premise only) to the SharePoint 2010 and 2013 tools from Microsoft. The solution is marketed as an addition to the social scope and it has a community approach with microblogging feeds to SharePoint sites. It also covers certain usages not covered by the Microsoft tool: innovation (management of ideas and their life cycle), communication (content highlighting available without having to develop functionality), mutual assistance (smart questions system which lists questions already asked on specific topics for users), and more recently analytics (dynamic dashboard system called "engagement scorecard").
Sitrion is comfortably positioned since Microsoft abandoned its strategy to provide on-premise social tools. In effect, Yammer and Office 365 are SaaS solutions and the native version of SharePoint no longer covers enterprise social network usages. Sitrion's dissemination strategy is to offer an alternative to specific developments and advanced configuration on SharePoint, which are often expensive, take time to set up and are quickly obsolete compared to constantly evolving SaaS solutions. Social Sites attracts companies with a restrictive information system involving controlled in house hosting who are already using SharePoint. Sitrion has a good French client list including Bouygues Telecom and Airbus. While the future of Social Sites is assured for Sharepoint 2016, it remains uncertain in the longer term given Microsoft's cloud oriented strategy. This has led Sitrion to position itself on the mobile hub market with ONE aimed at supporting custom business processes for mobile use. Initially at the cutting edge of the market, ONE now has competition from Microsoft PowerApps (since the end of 2015). While Microsoft confirms and encourages the trend for custom mobile solutions in business, Sitrion's investments should nevertheless match Microsoft's deployment power.
There is not much to report this year for Social Sites because of Sitrion's investments in ONE. The vendor has however improved its Engagement Scorecard, is preparing to adapt to SharePoint 2016, and integrating an expertise module based on tags which are often used by users to make automatic suggestions. More generally, the vendor has improved the tool's user experience by correcting certain bugs.
Sitrion adds packaged functionality as an upper layer in Sharepoint and the platform as a whole remains very configurable and customisable. The ergonomics of the Sitrion components are acceptable but the layout needs to be improved to offer a high-quality user experience and generate engagement on the platform.
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
Information dissemina-tion and circulation
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
External access
social potential
productivity
129
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
conn
ectin
g pe
ople
Conv
ersa
tion
cont
ent a
nd pa
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anag
emen
tco
mmun
icate
& co
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SITRION
Knowledgemanagement
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
130
slackA few words about the solution
Vendor strategy
New in 2015
Solution position Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics 79/100
User experience
This young solution launched in February 2014 initially invaded the startups in Silicon Valley and then spread to teams and small businesses around the world. Today it claims to have more than 2 million active daily users. Slack is a turnkey chat room for businesses with public or private conversation channels. Employees can use it to send short messages, files, links or Snippets (for sharing code). The solution was originally intended for developers but it has become more widespread and now has a diverse audience. It still has a very "development" based philosophy, particularly with the Snippets or bots (where actions can be triggered in feeds from typed words) and its capability to incorporate data feeds from other applications. These plug and play integrations come with lots of communication, support, development, productivity, document management, project management and analytics web tools.
Slack is positioned in the collective productivity segment. The solution is aimed at small businesses or teams who want to collaborate around shared subjects by exchanging messages and documents. The subjects are fed through feeds generated from integrations. This is one of the main reasons for adopting Slack, ie it becomes a central platform for the cloud applications that are used on a daily basis. For large groups this can sometimes adversely affect their digital strategy which aims to provide an often limited and rigid unified experience. Slack's economic model also runs counter to standard SaaS models, which are generally regressive. The vendor promotes a free package with planned obsolescence defined by a limited number of integrations and messages in search engines. This rises to €7.50/user/month for unlimited usage and access to business administration functionality, then €14/U/M to €30/U/M to get real time support, information system integration (AD, SSO, exports) and management functionality for a large number of users. These rates are very high when you consider that an SaaS social network for a large company costs €3/U/M on average these days.
Slack regularly issues updates across the board. The tool has evolved significantly since its creation. The range of integrable applications grows by the day and you can now build your own integrations. With regards to the roadmap, the vendor is working on administration modules to suit large companies, such as shared directories to unite teams, native mode analytics and reporting.
While Slack is a minimalist and intuitive packaged solution, it requires a conscious effort in terms of adoption and thinking collectively about usage conventions to get any real benefit. With regards to interfaces, users access the conversation channels and private messages from a menu on the left side. The activities feed is in the centre and the column on the right side is used to access the channel's practical elements (description, highlighted content, members, files, notification settings).
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
Information dissemina-tion and circulation
131
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
External access
social potential
conn
ectin
g pe
ople
Conv
ersa
tion
productivity
cont
ent a
nd pa
ge m
anag
emen
tco
mmun
icate
& co
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ate
slack
Knowledgemanagement
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
132
talkspiritA few words about the solution
Vendor strategy
New in 2015
Solution positioning Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics86/100
User experience
Talkspirit is a French vendor which started out in 2004 under the Blogspirit name. Since then it has been developing a platform to facilitate collaboration internally and with their environment. This year Talkspirit got a makeover and repositioned itself in the productivity segment. The vendor has used its enterprise social networking experience to create a conversation based productivity platform to support daily collaboration in the end user environment.
Talkspirit is now aimed at SMEs or the business entities of large companies and directly targets teams. The new platform is a packaged SaaS product, specialising in limited functionality in a move towards more simple usages such as rapid document based discussions and external interaction: "The less you develop functionality the more you leave users free to develop their own usages". Talkspirit has now moved away from the social intranet towards an approach where the user environment is central. In addition, its survey system lets clients and users choose future integrations for the tool with an ecosystem of productivity solutions at the cutting edge of the market (GoogleDrive, BaseCamp, Evernote, etc.)Talkspirit will not replace business tools but now targets use cases resulting from connectors such as marketing for example (aggregation and construction with integrations for social media publishing tools, CRM etc.) and even external integration
2015 was the year when Talkspirit stopped focusing on functionality. This is not a release but a new product that will encourage clients to migrate. 80% of the functionality will not be included (administration, gaming, ideation, questions). Innovation is focused on two segments; communication and productivity. The platform offers conventional asynchronous messaging and a chat system to communicate with all the circles in your ecosystem. The inner circle and the outer circle (both account holders and non account holders) are integrated in the platform.With regards to productivity, Talkspirit's efforts are focused on user engagement (ergonomics, simple and direct usages) and customer relations (integrating channels of communication on social media and with email).
This redesign means Talkspirit can now offer a remarkable user experience. There is no technical legacy and the vendor has used all means available to meet current ergonomic standards (flat design, interface layout). Chat is on the right, access to private and group news feeds on the left, notifications and administration items in the banner and feeds in the centre. However, while the platform configuration is simple and fast the possibilities for customisation are limited to the choice of integrations and predefined layouts.
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity Information dissemina-tion and circulation
Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
133
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
External access
social potential
conn
ectin
g pe
ople
Conv
ersa
tion
productivity
cont
ent a
nd pa
ge m
anag
emen
tco
mmun
icate
& co
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talkspirit
Knowledgemanagement
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
134
vmosoA few words about the solution
Vendor strategy
New in 2015
Solution positioning Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics 30/100
User experience
Broadvision launched Vmoso in February 2015. In contrast with the long standing Clearvale which is positioned in the social intranet sector, Vmoso is an individual and collective productivity application. Broadvision has put conversation at the centre of this new product and added a community approach with tasks and functionalities which support business processes (workflows, status). Vmoso also combines conversation with email for external integration. The tool can synchronise an email conversation with a chat which means that everyone involved in a project including external parties can be integrated. Vmoso is available in SaaS mode.
Vmoso was initially designed for mobile usage which means that feeds can be consulted, contacts can be found and information can be shared or notifications can be sent quickly from a smartphone. Subscription is free and you only start paying to add additional functionality which is necessary for business access. The vendor is in the process of launching in France and only has a few clients at the moment.Vmoso is positioned in the productivity segment and builds on existing levers to put itself ahead of the market, namely mobile usage, external integration and a set of team and business process tools. In its roadmap Vmoso is planning to make its solution interoperable through its APIs.
The solution is less than a year old so it is still very new itself. With regards to the roadmap, the vendor is well aware of current issues regarding the interconnectivity of solutions on the market and its developments are focused on Vmoso's integration capability with other SaaS products.
Like most of the packaged turnkey tools Vmoso is user-centric and not very customisable. Broadvision was shifting towards mobile usage when it developed Vmoso for smartphones initially. The ergonomics are good but the advanced version quickly becomes complex and not very intuitive. The web version is far from meeting current ergonomic web standards. It takes time to get used to the tool.
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
Information dissemina-tion and circulation
135
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
External access
social potential
conn
ectin
g pe
ople
Conv
ersa
tion
productivity
cont
ent a
nd pa
ge m
anag
emen
tco
mmun
icate
& co
ordin
ate
vmoso
Knowledgemanagement
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
136
whallerA few words about the solution
Vendor strategy
New in 2015
Solution positioning Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics 64/100
User experience
Whaller is a small company which was incubated by Bolloré. The platform, which is the result of several years of R&D was launched in February 2014 and takes the name of the vendor. Whaller is a social network generalist distributed on a Public Cloud (packaged product hosted on shared servers). The core functionality is minimalist: Microblogging within groups (called spheres) with conventional content types (events, files, ideas, announcements, tasks, positions, rewards). The solution's specific functionality is based on the "sphere" approach. The spheres are attached to profiles or organisations with controlled access (external / internal / joint). They make sure that information can be restricted. The vendor goes further with its premium packages which have a mini CMS and a manageable gamification module linked to an online store. The platform is flawed because of its lack of integration with company information systems and ecosystems (desktop tools, collaborative and document based platforms). Whaller's simplicity and production make it a good social network generalist and should convince users who are often disappointed by the cumbersome nature and complexity of some competitors.
The vendor targets organisations, associations and schools of all sizes to cover their usages relating to "hot" communication (informal and corporate) and more recently engagement. Whaller already has an impressive client list to its credit, thanks in part to being developed by Bolloré. The ESN covers the needs of Club Autolib' for example (its biggest success) to support rewards processes associated with user engagement. The vendor's main ambition is to become the ESN generalist which unifies organisations, by providing them with a private turnkey network. To do this, Whaller penetrates the market with a free basic offer which includes the solution's minimalist functionality. You then have to pay to use the advanced functionality such as CMS and the online store. This upgradable Freemium approach has become more conventional these days and is used by more and more vendors.
Whaller has consolidated the strategic directions taken in 2014. The vendor has split its packaged offers into free (basic turnkey platform), premium (integration with CMS) and premium + (integration with online store specifically for gaming functionality). Gamification and CMS have a bigger role in the tool with a system of customisable badges, potential integration with an online store and the development of new widgets (RSS feed, Dropbox Folder, iFrame for CMS).
The main navigation bar is at the top (notifications, spheres, organisations, profiles, search). Each sphere has a central news feed with a CMS section in a side column. The fact that there is no back office makes the administration very accessible, but not centralised. The tool's look and feel and ergonomics are very well designed which is one of the solution's strong points.
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
Information dissemina-tion and circulation
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
External access
social potential
productivity
137
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
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Conv
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Knowledgemanagement
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
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wimiA few words about the solution
Vendor strategy
New in 2015
Solution positioning Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics 69/100
User experience
The Wimi productivity tool was created in France in 2010. The solution's foundations are based on the idea that team work should be an extension of individual productivity. Wimi claims to respond to all the needs which enable a team to work together. Wimi is a collaborative solution based on the creation of specific spaces for project management and co-publication. This functionality is also available in the vendor's mobile applications. With separate navigation for each project, the tool enables users to build a real work environment and work together on multiple content at the same time. Wimi has a fairly powerful interoperability component and content can be retrieved from external platforms (DropBox, GDrive, Box, Outlook and Evernote). A Wimi Drive is also available to individually manage teams and documents.
Wimi is positioned in the productivity segment and combines independent services (document sharing, task management, calendar, etc.). The solution is aimed at small and medium sized companies or project teams in large companies. The vendor claims to have more than 30,000 accounts open at present on the platform and has an impressive client list including Total, Alcatel-Lucent and Voyages SNCF.Wimi puts users and teams at the centre of its offer. Its aim is to support collaborative discussions based on producing the latter. The solution's development is based on current trends, particularly interoperability with web standards. The vendor has a policy of wide controlled access and is already announcing new connectors (OneDrive, Gmail, Quickbooks, Bitcasa, Harvest).The solution will have to jostle for position to assert its potential on the flourishing individual and collective productivity solutions market.
The vendor is focussing on a new tasks module, with well designed ergonomics. An Outlook connector is now available for bilateral synchronisation with its mailbox (for retrieving attachments and links). Gmail and OneDrive are also in the vendor's sights.
The tool offers a remarkable user experience. It is intuitive and meets current ergonomic standards (flat design, interface which meets web standards). The native application is available on Android and iOS smartphones and tablets.
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
Information dissemina-tion and circulation
139
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
External access
socialpotential
conn
ectin
g pe
ople
Conv
ersa
tion
productivity
cont
ent a
nd pa
ge m
anag
emen
tco
mmun
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& co
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wimi
Knowledgemanagement
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
140
yammerA few words about the solution
Vendor strategy
New in 2015
Solution positioning Mobility Dedicated App
Ergonomics 75/100
User experience
Simple to use, cutting edge ergonomics in line with web standards, potential to spread virally within organisations - these are the main components which have helped Microsoft's ESN platform (cloud only) to be adopted by so many businesses throughout the world. With its philosophy and interface it is often seen as the equivalent of Twitter and Facebook for business. Even without interface customisation Yammer supports usages such as information sharing, mutual assistance, intelligence sharing and networking. And it still manages to deal with processes effectively. The platform revolves around both communities ("groups") and users (everyone has a profile and an activity thread) while enabling information to be distributed throughout entire companies ("All Company" space). Even though Yammer can be rolled out and used independently, the platform is often used with the Office Suite 365, with which Yammer is increasingly integrated.
Yammer is still focused on the main ESN functions, namely conversation and connecting people. Since 2012 (when the platform was bought by Microsoft), the vendor's strategy has been to focus not on expanding the platform's functional scope, but on integrating it with all the Office 365 applications, to expand potential usages to include productivity and co-construction, without leaving the Yammer environment. This is one of the vendor's flagship products and it is a key factor in penetrating organisations when Office 365 is deployed. Once the showcase of the collaborative suite, Yammer is now at the same level as the other Office 365 applications (Outlook, OneDrive, Delve etc.), with a view to being a "Digital Workplace" generalist. Integrating Yammer within Office 365 has created some overlaps with regards to functionality and raised questions about the future of the platform: will the Yammer profile disappear and be replaced by Delve? Will Yammer groups be managed via Office Groups in the future? All these questions about releasing Yammer's conversational and relational functionality for other Office 365 applications are unresolved for the time being.
In keeping with previous years, 2015 was marked by significant advances in the development of gateways with Office 365 applications. It's been a long time coming but Office files (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) can now be co-published in Yammer, thanks to the integration with Office Web Apps. It is also possible to interact on Yammer via the Delve application (comment on and share content). Significant advances have been made with regards to managing external users: they can be added to one-off conversations and become members of groups which accept external users, even on the internal network.
The sleek interface recalls that of general public platforms, where users navigate within groups or in profiles, in a feed based approach. The objective: intuitive functionality and no hesitation for the user. The mobile experience is simpler, focused as it is on consulting and sharing short content and not on more advanced document based collaborative usages.
web
Responsive
Web App
Productivity Knowledge mana-gement
External access Process based collaboration
Information dissemina-tion and circulation
141
Support sales processesSupport R&D processes - innovation
Support logistics processesSupport HR processes
Support product management processes (PLM)Support finance/accounting processes
Support the decision-making processesSupport customer relationship management (CRM)
Support the support processes (ticket systems)Support administrative processes
Market presenceCompetitiveness (price)Strategic visionVendor sustainabilityInvestment in FranceInformation systems integrationOffer a hosted serviceIntegration with content management toolsThe tool facilitates developmentThe tool meets interoperability standards
Highlight certain contentPublish rich contentTargeted communicationCoordinated communicationCreate communication spacesSet up approval systemsOrganise surveys and pollsBring communication to lifeConfigure alerts and notificationsEncourage user engagement
Help users adopt the toolCustomise platform layoutCustomise content layout
Customise home pagesCustomise news feeds
Meet accessibility standardsBe accessible in all browsers
Offer multiple asset interfacesOffer a personal dashboard
Tool ergonomics
Content based discussionsShare short content (microblogging)
Share filesShare results of market intelligence
Facilitate mutual assistance (questions and answers)Facilitate innovation (ideation)
Create conversation spacesReal time conversationsShare content privately
Share from mobiles
Facilitate partner/client sign upTalk to partners/clientsDifferentiate between internal and external usersCoordinate a support communityOrganise competitionsDiscuss the organisation's productsMonitor client activitySend newslettersCoordinate social media pagesManage your platform's online visibility
Manage your digital identityConsult a social directory
Coordinate networks of expertsBuild a professional network
Talk to your professional networkCreate specific communities
Highlight usersManage a personal communication space
Coordinate several user networksManage your social graph
File contentStructure filing systemsManage metadata repositoriesFile knowledge with tagsManage content versionsSearch for contentHelp users to file informationManage content usage rightsArchive contentManage large volumes of data
Publish web pagesManage web page templatesManage content blocksPublish content typesManage multiple languagesFacilitate the creation of mobile sitesManage rights to pages and contentOrganise content life cycleEnable creation of structured sitesMake certain content public
Co-publish content (wiki)Co-publish documents
Create project spacesManage projects
Create and assign tasksManage my personal tasks
Manage email, calendar and contactsOrganise my personal content
Access my documents on mobilesIntegration with office tools
Process based collaboration
information dissemination
and circulation
External access
socialpotential
conn
ectin
g pe
ople
Conv
ersa
tion
productivity
cont
ent a
nd pa
ge m
anag
emen
tco
mmun
icate
& co
ordin
ate
yammer
Knowledgemanagement
cross-functional criteria
ergonomics & customisation
142
Companies taking part in the Benchmark and/or in the Lecko Charts
Air FranceAir LiquideAllianzBouygues ImmobilierCrédit Agricole SAGDF Suez (Engie)GivaudanJCDecauxIcadeMaifMichelinLafargeLa PosteLouis VuittonL’OréalOffice National des ForêtsRATPSimply MarketSNCFSodexoSolvaySuez Environnement
Opinionway with whom we conducted the manager survey
Agile Elephant for its UK/US viewpoint
Natacha Heurtault (Early-Com) for press relations
The vendors
Beezy, Bluekiwi, Broadvision, Convo, Exo Platform, Google, Hoozin, IBM, Inspheris, Jalios, Jamespot, Jive, Kayoo, Knowings,
Knowledge Plaza, Liferay, Lumapps, Microsoft, Podio, Salesforces, Seemy, Sitrion, Slack, Talkspirit, Vmoso, Whaller, Wimi, Intra'know
acknowledgements
143
Simon Legroux,Director of Solutions
@simonlegroux
And the whole Lecko team for its timely contribution, event organisation and online promotion.
Arnaud RayroleCEO
@arayrole
Guillaume GouraudAnalyst
@GGouraud
Noémie Veloso-JouanArtistic Director
@noemiejouan
Bastien Le LannHead of Analysis and Creation @BastienLeLann
Authors
144
MICRO SOCIAL LEARNINGYou'll love helping your colleaguesmove forward!https://msl.lecko.fr/
http://sena.lecko.fr/
SENAGet people's attention and assess practices with this serious game
THE RIGHT TOOLS HELP EVERYONE TO SUCCEED
145http://referentiel.lecko.fr/
http://rseanalytics.lecko.fr/
THE REPOSITORYMake the right technological choices based on market analysis
Lecko ANALYTICSManage the development of social and collaborative practices
146
We advise and equip those who bring about change in the context of the digital transformation.
Lecko is a pioneer in this field in France, as can be seen in Volume 8.We invest 20% of our resources in research to develop support methodologies and tools in the field of digital transformation. Our work is published regularly (http://referentiel.lecko.fr/publications/) and featured by our peers and in the press (Http://lecko.fr/presse/). Lecko also develops software solutions to support the use of its Lecko Analytics methodologies (http://RSEanalytics.lecko.fr) and micro social learning (http://msl.lecko.fr).
In this respect Lecko is privileged to work with these large organisations: Air France, Bouygues, BNP Paribas, Bourbon, CMA CGM, Crédit Agricole SA, Groupama, Groupe Seb, Kering, La Poste, Maif, Michelin, RATP, SNCF, Sodexo and Technip
About Lecko
This material is the result of our work studying the latest developments and usages in businesses.
By making our expertise available to help those driving change to advance their initiatives we help organisations to adapt to the challenges of digital transformation.
This publication is provided in accordance with the Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 France License which can be viewed online at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/fr/ or obtained by post from Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California 94105, USA.
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