VMware Upgrades Socialcast Enterprise Social Networking Platform

VMware (NYSE: VMW) has issued a new release of Socialcast, its enterprise social networking platform designed to improve business communication and collaboration by connecting people, conversations and projects in one place. VMware acquired Socialcast about two years ago for an undisclosed sum.

The new version offers enhanced capabilities such as integrated project management, secure instant messaging and an improved command and control interface. Users now can tap into activity streams, messages, private chats, projects and tasks to efficiently complete assignments to drive business outcomes. For example, a new feature called Projects enables teams to track project deliverables, action items and due dates without spreadsheets, emails or status meetings.

“We continue to advance the product with new capabilities to ensure we deliver the most value to our customers,” said Tim Young, VMware End User Computing Social Enterprise vice president.

The improved functionality aims to boost employee productivity, community engagement and business performance. The driving idea behind Socialcast is to consolidate any and all activities connected to the daily work flow into a single location accessible from any device. VMware contends that traditional communication and collaboration tools such as email, spreadsheets and intranets bottle up ideas and constrain productivity. But by integrating social capabilities into business systems regularly used by workers, those bottlenecks disappear.

Dennis Agusi, Royal Philips Electronics Global Internal Communications officer, evidently agrees with VMware. “More than 44,000 Philips employees engage through Socialcast to work together, exchange ideas and knowledge, and respond to questions asked by colleagues,” he said. “The new Socialcast features allow us to work even more effectively and help us make collaboration even easier.”

Specific benefits include:

This latest version of Socialcast is available immediately as an on-premise or SaaS solution, with pricing information available at the VMware pricing page.