07/29/2008

Leverage Software announced the addition of a community recommendation engine to its Web 2.0 social networking platform.

ebizQ received the following:

"Social networks enhance communication across organizations and this new feature set helps to spark those connections even more," said Mike Walsh, CEO and founder of Leverage Software. "Our primary goal is to help companies build rich conversations with their customers, partners, and employees -- so they may learn from them, share new ideas and gain feedback, and unlock all those great ideas that are distributed both inside and outside of an organization. This release helps to encourage those conversations."

The Leverage Community Platform includes an integrated suite of connection and collaboration tools including group forums, blogs, opinion polls, file-sharing, real-time online chats, and a social wiki, and is designed to support the unique needs of large enterprises. The platform is offered through an on-demand software-as-a-service model, enabling organizations to quickly deploy social networking capabilities in their organization without requiring IT involvement. Version 6.2 is available immediately to all existing Leverage Software customers.

"Our customers are leaders in their industry," Walsh continued. "We want to provide each of them with the tools that allow them to best tap into the rich source of knowledge that they already have: the creativity of their employees, partners, and customers." Leverage Software's customer base includes such innovative companies as Ingram Micro, Salesforce.com, Microsoft, Charles Schwab, Alcatel-Lucent, and many others.

In addition to the recommendation engine, the latest Leverage Community Platform release also provides greater customization capabilities to community managers and offers an improved user experience for all community members.