Jive touts social business tool enhancements

Jive has added new features to its social business tools

Jive Software has updated its Social Business Software (SBS) designed to tackle information overload and improve workplace productivity.

The company claims that SBS 4.5 can help enterprise users better manage data, improve internal collaboration and enhance customer engagement efforts.

The Jive application is now downloadable in a cloud-based version through the Google Apps Marketplace, and the firm has officially licensed Twitter's Firehose which allows tweets to be piped directly into a Jive feed.

This should help users better tackle "information overload" when using Jive's single-pane view of relevant information and data from internal and external sources, the firm said.

Scott McMullan, Google Apps partner lead at Google Enterprise, welcomed Jive to the Apps Marketplace.

"Software vendors like Jive are helping us build a rich ecosystem of integrated apps that work seamlessly with Google Apps, allowing IT administrators to leverage the benefits of cloud computing and extend Google Apps to meet more of their business needs," he said.

"We are excited to make social business easier for the millions of Google Apps users who have embraced the cloud."

The Jive single-pane view is divided into a number of areas, including What Matters, which pulls in information from social business applications, enterprise tools and the social web.

A 'Now' section shows immediate information, such as feeds from running systems and web sites, while 'My Actions' is a summary of tasks, events and jobs to complete.

"Social business is the most important new enterprise software category in a decade," said Tony Zingale, chief executive at Jive.

"The innovation of social in the consumer space has had a ripple effect in the enterprise, forcing mass adoption of social business practices."