Business gets more sociable

Jive has released Social Business Software (SBS) 4.0, which the company calls its largest, most ambitious release since it introduced its integrated SBS platform for enterprises.

Jive SBS 4.0 enables organizations to extend SBS across every level of an enterprise to literally transform how people work, partner and address the marketplace. The enhancements and new capabilities in Jive SBS 4.0 reflect the increasing transparency between users' work and social networking habits and amplify the strategic advantages inherent in bringing those worlds together.

Highlights include:

iPhone and BlackBerry support—a new module allows users to create content and participate in active discussions from the iPhone and/or BlackBerry, or any mobile or desktop device with access to e-mail.

Jive Bridging Module—allows users to let employees capture relevant conversations taking place in their public communities, share them internally, collect and consolidate responses and go back out across the firewall to post a response.

Microsoft Office Connector—enables Jive SBS 4.0 users to work on any Microsoft Office document, spreadsheet or presentation in Jive or on their desktop. When users create and save Office content on their desktop, it is automatically published to Jive where the content is rendered for viewing and commenting directly from the browser. Additionally, users can view and reply to comments made in the browser directly from the plug-in in Microsoft Office.

Analytics—the module provides a powerful set of tools for community managers to quickly quantify and characterize the growth and success of their communities.

Foundational improvements—added enhancements to the core Jive SBS functionality that address evolving enterprisewide SBS usability, scalability, security and privacy requirements.