Tools for collaboration and social networking allow employees to work together to create the innovation you need and want in your business. This includes having “workplaces” for teams; using team calendars, discussion forums, blogs and wikis enabling teams to discuss and share information and giving your employees a sense of community, even across locations. By providing secured access to centralized or distributed content libraries, employees can share project documents and files easily and quickly. Version control and check-out features allow quick access to the latest documents while assuring integrity of the documents that involve multiple users reviewing and editing content. Collaborative capabilities can be integrated into customer’s portal environments by leveraging technologies such as Microsoft SharePoint, Lotus Connections and Lotus Quickr in combination with Portal products from IBM, Microsoft or custom in-house developed solutions.

UNiFi – A Community Portal Solution
Most organizations have a corporate website, which would contain information that targets multiple audiences – investors, customers, general public, jobseekers, etc. The content may not change frequently, could remain static and would largely be the company’s voice.

Need for a Community Portal
A community portal solution would contribute significantly towards bringing employees, customers, dealers, franchisees, agents, vendors or other stakeholders, closer to the company. The portal would need to provide news and information that is relevant and is of interest to the community, apart from providing interactive content that engages the community. The company may also use this platform to keep in touch with the community, share achievements and initiatives, and provide updates and announcements.
To ensure that all members of the community are kept informed of the activities and exchanges on the portal, e-mailers and e-newsletters would need to be triggered to the members’ e-mail addresses. Notifications and updates would also need to be sent to their mobile phones, for encouraging activity among the community.
The print medium continues to be powerful. A monthly printed bulletin that uses the content from the community portal, may be sent to all the members of the community. This would be read by the member, his/her family and friends, and contribute towards cementing a sense of identity with the company.

Introducing UNiFi
Unifi is a community portal solution aimed at bringing a community of interest closer to the company. For example, the portal could be aimed at employees, specific customers, dealer network, vendors, industrial users, etc. Unifi encompasses the following:

Benefits of UNiFi
The community portal and associated activities would provide the following benefits: