In New York on Thursday, we hosted the first of a Socialtext event series that will be taking place all over the country, bringing together Socialtext customers and IT professionals who want to hear the benefits, challenges and experiences of implementing social software.
Held at the Silverleaf Tavern in midtown Manhattan, our main speaker was Anand Padmanabhan, CIO of NYU Stern. Anand and his team has deployed social software to nearly 10,000 faculty, students, and staff at NYU Stern, fundamentally transforming communication between those constituencies.
Anand discussed how NYU Stern approached social software adoption: Combine traditional, informational portal technologies with the easy, social tools inside Socialtext. The result: A vibrant social intranet where work gets done at NYU Stern.
Michael Idinopulos, our vice president of customer success, also spoke during the event. Michael has coined a phrase that has been very popular in both our customer base and industry followers: Social software in the flow of work. His overall point: If social software exists outside of key business processes and the systems a company has in place, it will be impossible for a company to realize its value. Organizations like NYU Stern, he emphasized, identified key areas and pain points that social software could address, which is why they’ve enjoyed great adoption and value.
We appreciated everyone who attended the New York event and the great conversations that took place. The Socialtext team is looking forward to our next one in Chicago.