The evolving market for social software in the workplace comprises developers whose software products are utilized primarily to facilitate people working in teams, groups or communities. These products aren’t specialized for any single activity or company process but rather can be adapted to support various collaborative activities within an organization. Most companies, when they begin developing an information management system or an online solution, opt for the most generic approach that could be easily implemented and managed in various work settings. This is the reason why social software development companies have been formed. Such organizations bring to the table solutions that can help boost productivity in the office setting by integrating social elements into the everyday work practices of everyone in an organization.
Within this growing market include market segments that deal with areas such as employee communication, group collaboration, task management and work together planning. These solutions help businesses develop new business processes to foster increased productivity. With the right application, employees can share ideas with one another or cooperate with each other in managing tasks through online portals. They can also participate in online courses, seminars or training programs organized by the company to enhance their skills and knowledge about specific business processes.
Another market segment is that of service vendors. Their products provide solutions that help companies enhance customer service and increase customer satisfaction. They also make it easier for organizations to collaborate with customers and executives. This includes the design and development of custom portals, the provision of online dashboards, the integration of customer relationship management (CRM) systems and the implementation of social software in the workplace. Service vendors usually develop such applications as a part of a company’s enterprise resource planning or ERP program. As a result, such applications need to integrate with existing business processes and platforms to ensure that they can easily be accessed by employees, consumers and third parties.
Cloud computing and the internet have made things very easy for vendors. They can quickly and easily develop and test their applications in the cloud before making them available to the enterprise. As a result, these vendors can provide more value-added services such as social software in the workplace. Cloud vendors can build applications in the cloud, deploy them through a web browser, and integrate them with mobile devices. Such applications run on a cloud network, which is accessible by any user connected to the internet.
There are two main types of cloud-based social software. One type is desktop-based while the other type is hybrid. A desktop application requires the software installed on a personal computer, while a hybrid application requires the software to be deployed as a part of a hybrid computing device such as a smartphone or tablet. The desktop applications are fully managed by the operating system, while the hybrid apps run on their own operating system, in a separate environment. Desktop applications require fewer system resources, while hybrid apps require more memory and faster CPU speeds.
There is an increasing demand for business users to access enterprise information through their smartphones and tablets. In response to this, a number of cloud computing vendors have developed solutions for this specific need. To help buyers assess the needs of their workplace, researchers in the field have conducted studies and created vendor comparison charts, which can easily be found online.