Social networking has proved to be one of the most successful ways of building communities and connecting people. It works so well in fact, that businesses are starting to integrate this technology into their organisation to change the way employees interact with each other.

'The Hub' is a private (professional) social network that sits at the heart of your organisation. It empowers employees to collaborate and communicate in real time, with no geographical restrictions and 24/7 access via any internet connection.  

The Hub is the missing piece of the jigsaw that unites employees towards increased productivity and ultimately increased profits!

Employee Profiles - no more static staff directories!

All employees have their own profile page displaying key information such as contact details, division, team, expertise, qualifications and more. The profile pages can be customised to suit your organisation and can display whatever information you like.

The powerful search function means you can find contacts and expertise fast. Use filters to find staff with particular skills and more.

Additional tools such as instant messaging, live chat and even video chat mean you can interact with your contacts in real time.

Activity Wall - live feeds 24/7

At the centre of The Hub is the Facebook style activity wall where live interactions take place between your employees. Here you can find the latest submissions from staff including their status updates, latest news, discussions, uploaded files (i.e. documents, images, videos) and even live feeds from Twitter, Facebook and other sources.

The activity wall is a great place to get a feel for whats happening across your organisation - see what teams are working on, success stories and more. As with all areas of The Hub, the activity wall access levels can be restricted, so that only those added to your contacts can view postings.

Groups - ideal for meetings, project teams etc.

With The Hub, you can set up unlimited discussion groups. These are superb for improving collaboration between individuals and teams, and can even reduce the number of face-to-face meetings for some organisations. There is less requirement for note taking, as all discussions (and associated files) are stored, and can be retrieved at any time. This type of collaboration can lead to faster, more improved decision making.

Discussion groups can give less vocal employees a voice (sometimes the best ideas can come from these employees). Some business owners are already reporting marked reductions in face-to-face meetings and emails as a direct result of having their own private professional social network!

Blogs - a great way of communicating

In the main part of the hub, users can create individual or team Blogs. You can also create Group Blogs (that sit within the Groups module) these are only viewable by group members and are not displayed with the general Blogs, so ideal for boardroom etc. The Blog component can be renamed to whatever you like. Its a superb way for communicating with the rest of the organisation. Great for disseminating successful project work, campaigns etc. and great for publishing PR material. Blogs are also ideal for sharing knowledge and expertise. The Blog component lets you upload a wide range of file types including Excel spreadsheets, pdf and word documents etc.

Events Management 

The Event management component (like the rest of The Hub) is web-based, making it easier than ever to organize and manage events throughout your business. Send invites with RSVP, set limits on attendance and even see who has confirmed using the 'View all' feature. Manage all types of events from team meetings and the office party, through to organisation-wide events like conferences or even a product launch. There are lots of features such as a directions map and a calendar that provides a quick overview of upcoming events (and of course, its integrated with the main activity wall and other Hub components, making it easier for members to discuss, collaborate and even share photos and other files relating to the event). 

Forums - a great way to collaborate 

Forums are so popular and used by a wide variety of organisations, yet relatively few businesses use them internally. A forum is an excellent tool for capturing organisation-wide knowledge and can be invaluable to both business owners and their employees. They can provide a great deal of insight into your business and to the issues faced by staff. Its a great place to find and provide support, to share knowledge and even collaborate on solutions. This can save so much time: if the question has been asked before, then more often than not, the solution will be there - why re-invent the wheel? A Forum is one of many tools within The Hub that can increase collaboration across the organisation.

Instant Chat & Video Chat 

The Facebook style chat bar makes it easier than ever to communicate with other employees that you have added to your contacts list. This tool also provides live video chat functionality and chat rooms - there are pre-set rooms, but you can create ad-hoc private rooms for those one off meetings with specific members. There are so many more ways to communicate and collaborate with The Hub

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