Cambridge software developers have created a ‘Facebook’ for business.

Isis Software believes its new Enterprise Social Network – branded Nimbused – will trigger a major cultural shift in the way people within an organisation interact.

Nimbused allows everyone within a company, regardless of job title, to share work-related or social information in total security.

It might be a business improvement idea from an employee or a ‘Come to a Barbecue’ post for work colleagues.

CEO Richard Kirkby believes Nimbused will boost team spirit and drive innovation down through the workforce, trampling perceived ‘them and us’ barriers between bosses and staff.

While the concept of Enterprise Social Networking (ESN) has started to take off in the US with adoption by Fortune 500 companies, a perceived lack of privacy has held it back in the UK.

Isis Software stores data in its secure, UK based server farm – rather than in the US and is on the data protection register with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

CEO Richard Kirkby said: “Forward-thinking companies understand the potential benefits of social media, embracing systems that project information in a new and powerful way, like Twitter.

“But the risks of using public-facing open systems that allow collaboration and interaction have, until now, been regarded as too great. We have resolved that issue.

“We believe the concept of ESN is far more powerful than a company intranet. Most people understand social media and the way it works and are comfortable with this form of communication. It isn’t formal or stuffy.

“Now companies can harness the power of Enterprise Social Networking. Nimbused is not designed for really small, micro businesses with just a handful of people – more for companies that have decent sized workforces, where maintaining good dialogue across a sizeable headcount is more difficult.”

He said Nimbused performed a number of important functions:-

• It can help staff perform their job better. ‘I’m working on X but I cannot solve Y. Can anyone help?’ The person who may have the solution may not be involved in a group within the business working on the problem; this engages them. Also, more reserved people will not always come to the fore in a group brainstorming session but will respond through an ESN approach.
• Nimbused can harvest collective knowledge – stimulating new ideas in a business; driving the responsibility for innovation down to the humblest employee – someone with good ideas but who because of their position would never dream of approaching hierarchy for fear of appearing forward or stupid. It eradicates the ‘intimidation’ factor.
• It can help staff understand colleagues’ roles.
• It reminds management that its people are human, have lives outside and will contribute more given an open culture.
• It can break down barriers between work colleagues who may never have met – ‘holding a barbecue this Sunday. Would you like to come along?’

Fellow Isis Software director Craig Hillsdon said: “We recognised that IT managers and CEOs would not embrace ESN while data and information was seen to be open to users outside the organisation.

“Nimbused keeps all data within the company so removes the risk of staff sharing information with people outside the business. With Nimbused, a user in one company cannot see any users in another so cannot view their information, their files, their media and so on."

Hillsdon added “Nimbused differs from many existing social media sites; while it echoes many of the features of systems like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, its features and user interface have been designed to take the corporate objective into account.”

For example, a user sharing a document and asking for feedback could receive 30 comments, suggestions and improvements, without requiring an all-staff email – an increasingly devalued means of communication and one that loses the group collaborative aspect.

Other Nimbused features include:
• Microblogging (similar to ‘what are you thinking’ in Facebook, but instead prompting ‘share something with colleagues’
• Task management – assign and receive tasks from colleagues
• Discussions – Prompt a discussion, invite contacts to contribute – or join a discussion started by one of your contacts. Public discussion entries are shown to the whole company in a similar page to a forum.
• Groups - A medium for users to connect and share information only pertaining to the group
• RSS feeds - keep in touch with colleagues and developments within the company without even having to log in
• Instant Messaging - A real-time private message session with one or more colleagues
• Pages – create content webpages to share with colleagues.
• Events – gather potential participants to collaborate around the event

Register for Nimbused – free - at www.nimbused.com

• Photograph shows: Isis Software CEO, Richard Kirkby