October 23, 2008 : New On-Demand Application from Appirio Lets You Know When Friends Do Business with Your Company
SAN MATEO, Calif. – October 23, 2008 – Appirio (www.appirio.com) today announced a Facebook application that allows businesspeople to use their social network to get their job done. Appirio's new product, MyFriends@Work, connects the sophisticated CRM capabilities of salesforce.com with the viral social networking capabilities enabled through Facebook Platform, giving users a powerful business tool to deepen customer relationships and assist with sales and marketing efforts. MyFriends@Work is a free application from Appirio available on Facebook (http://apps.facebook.com/myfriendsatwork/) or through www.appirio.com/facebook.
Facebook is the internet's leading social utility. Connecting Facebook's 110 million users with an enterprise's core business applications can help both organizations and individuals capture the power of social networking to contribute to the business' bottom line. MyFriends@Work alerts employees when their Facebook friends do business with their company, enabling them to act on this knowledge to aid sales, nurture leads and impact the customer experience. Here are a few of the ways MyFriends@Work can be used today:
Sales: An old friend on Facebook becomes a lead for a different department in your organization. If you knew, you could help facilitate an introduction and deepen that connection.
Marketing: A college classmate signs up for an event your company sponsors. If you knew, you could reconnect with them or offer information that could make the event a better experience.
Support: An ex-colleague files an angry support request with your company. If you knew, you might be able to help escalate the incident or smooth the waters for a better resolution.
"Appirio wants to help organizations of all sizes use social networks in every area of their business to more effectively promote their brand, generate new business and even find new employees," said Ryan Nichols, vice president of product management at Appirio. "Introducing the 110 million users on Facebook to MyFriends@Work and giving employees an easy way to connect with friends who are doing business with their company, is a great first step in this larger vision."
Serena Software, an Appirio customer and one of the first enterprises to embrace Facebook as a way to improve collaboration and communication internally and with customers, had this to say: "Our ability to reach out and create communities has helped Serena lead a revolution in on-demand application development and Facebook has greatly contributed to this," said Rene Bonvanie, senior vice president of worldwide marketing, partner programs and online services at Serena. "Appirio's connection of Facebook to SaaS business applications will allow more companies to use social networks and measure how they can impact their business."
Product Features
MyFriends@Work is a Facebook application that is able to connect with Salesforce.com to:
Match your Facebook friends with contacts and leads in Salesforce.com
Send an alert in Facebook or via email when one of your friends becomes a lead, a member in a marketing campaign, or files a support request
Allow users to follow up on that alert by making an introduction, sending a thank-you note, or making a recommendation
Useful Links and Resources:
More information on MyFriends@Work
Demo of the application
Appirio's Facebook page – become a fan and get regular updates
About Appirio
Appirio (www.appirio.com) provides products and services that help enterprises accelerate their adoption of on-demand. Appirio has a proven track record of delivering business value to customers by implementing mission-critical Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions based on platforms such as Salesforce and Google Apps, and developing innovative applications that connect and extend today's leading on-demand platforms. Appirio was founded in 2006, is the fastest growing partner of salesforce.com and Google, and is backed by Sequoia Capital.
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