Introducing MindLink: New Enterprise Social Collaboration Platform Fosters Secure Team-Based Communication Among Knowledge Workers, Improves Business Productivity

ENTERPRISE 2.0 CONFERENCE - BOSTON, June 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

MindLink Being Unveiled During Enterprise 2.0 Conference; New Product Helps Eliminate Email Overload

Today at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference, Formicary Collaboration Group (http://www.fcg.im, Booth #220) introduced MindLink.  MindLink is an enterprise social collaboration platform that fosters secure, streamlined, team-based communication and collaboration through a company's existing Microsoft environment and unified communications solution.  MindLink specializes in social collaboration: multi-layered discussions between groups of people within an organization vs. social networking, which connects people on the individual, peer-to-peer level.

"Business success today depends on teams of individuals working towards collective goals," said Daanish Khan, Vice President, Strategy and Marketing, Formicary Collaboration Group (FCG). "But traditional email and social networking technology tools have fallen short in the enterprise in delivering business value because they're not ideal for interactive, team-based collaboration.  MindLink, on the other hand, was built from the ground up to support efficient communication among groups. It's so effective in the enterprise that it frequently becomes the preferred mode of communications for groups working on common activities and goal."

With MindLink, knowledge workers within an organization can build engaged team- and interest-based communities that offer:

• Open and transparent real-time and asynchronous communication and collaboration among  groups
• Efficient sharing of information by content experts throughout employee networks
• Access to contextual information from line-of-business applications to drive dynamic discussions.

"Traditional businesses are very 'siloed' - they contain vast amounts of intellectual capital that is never accessed by the organization," explains Eileen Brown, CEO of social business consultancy Amastra and author of "Working The Crowd: Social Media Marketing for Business." "In contrast, the social business democratizes data by breaking down the information hierarchies and ensuring that knowledge stays alive, and a true organizational asset. MindLink brings together all the collaboration features, making them intuitive to use and accessible to everyone who needs them throughout the organization."

What Sets MindLink Apart

Data shows enterprises are increasingly intrigued with the idea of social collaboration tools to drive business productivity.  But concerns around security, adoption and compliance are holding many back from implementing.  

MindLink is unique because it's built on Microsoft Lync, Microsoft's unified communications platform, making it fast and easy to implement into an organization and integrate into employees' daily workflow and processes, supporting high user adoption.  And because MindLink is available as either an on-premise or private cloud solution, it alleviates enterprise data security concerns.  

The result is far more powerful and efficient group collaboration than traditional email and social networking tools enable, making for more productive and efficient teams.

Key MindLink Features and Benefits    

• Live Team-based Content/Communication Streams:  Delivers live communication and information from internal systems (document management, project management, CRM) or external sources (news feeds, public social networks) into focus, team-based content and communications streams.
• Customization:  MindLink's LiveStream shows all message updates in a single view.  MindLink enables employees to subscribe to content that's most relevant to them, eliminating the problem of information overload commonly associated with traditional email. Users can create conversation streams based on their individual projects, teams and interests, change the order of streams, or remove them from view completely, while still getting all updates in their LiveStream.
• Central Access to Conversation Tools:  MindLink provides users with a central place to access team conversations and individual instant messaging.
• Status Updates:  MindLink enables employees to effortlessly keep their colleagues in the know about their whereabouts and availability at all times, reducing the number of missed calls and needless emails.
• Search and Storage:  All MindLink conversation history is securely stored. Users can quickly search and retrieve relevant information from MindLink whenever it is needed.
• Universal, Anywhere, Anytime Access:  MindLink is available whenever and wherever a user may need it.    It works on all major browsers and platforms - PC, Mac, iPad, Linux.

The MindLink Platform Consists of:  

• MindLink Anywhere:  Browser based access to topic-based information and communication streams, with features including custom notifications, instant messaging, activity feed and co-worker connections.  MindLink lets users focus on what's important - and filter out what isn't, letting them consume information based on their priorities.  
• MindLink Mobile:  When users are on the go, they want to restrict the amount of information coming their way.  MindLink allows users to filter out the noise by selecting a subset of streams to appear on their smart phone. Further granularity allows more restricted information in the Mobile LiveStream. Configure custom notifications based on specific streams or contacts.
• MindLink for SharePoint:  For organizations already using Microsoft SharePoint for team based project and document management, MindLink for SharePoint lets users introduce communication streams within their community sites. Individual streams can be exposed as SharePoint webparts for specific user communities.
• MindLink for Outlook:  Microsoft Outlook is the default communication environment for most knowledge workers. MindLink allows topic based streams to live alongside individual emails by exposing MindLink in Outlook, enabling fast adoption without taking users out of their comfort zone.
• MindLink Connectors and API: Existing connectors, for example RSS, deliver content to the appropriate communication streams. MindLink's simple RESTful API makes it easy to develop new connectors helping drive dynamic discussions

Organizations without large IT departments or existing Microsoft infrastructure can still take advantage of MindLink's power through FCG's first US hosted service provider, Saratoga Springs, NY-based Thoughtbus.  Already, Thoughtbus customers are preparing to implement MindLink throughout their organizations.  

"We're always pursuing the promise of social software and its related power to empower collaboration," said Alberto Molina, President of SureTech.com. "To have MindLink's social platform integrated with Thoughtbus' powerful collaboration service for our email, SharePoint, mobile and Lync helps us streamline our business process for local and remote staff as well as for customer contacts and subcontracted teams."

FCG Secures $1.5MM in Capital Infusion, Announces US Expansion Plans

MindLink also shared news of more than $1.5 million in growth capital the company secured in April and announced the company has hired a West Coast sales manager in the US.

"FCG plans to use this capital infusion to expand our presence in North America and aggressively market MindLink to US organizations, where we're already seeing strong demand for our solution," commented Khan.  

Pricing and Availability

MindLink is available immediately on a per-user subscription basis.  

About Formicary Collaboration Group

Formicary Collaboration Group (FCG) is a provider of team-based social collaboration solutions. FCG's software leverages existing knowledge and communication assets to enable users to consume and share information and ideas, delivered through a next generation user experience providing best of breed Enterprise 2.0 and social features, and accessible on any device for today's increasingly mobile workforce. The management team has more than 10 years' experience working with medium to large sized businesses, facilitating better collaboration for both internal and external users.
FCG is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and RIM Alliance Member. FCG solutions are fully compatible with Microsoft Lync Group Chat 2010 and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2.