The Globalization of NewsGator Social Sites

Though many of our customers are based in the United States, organizations around the world are increasingly using the software localization tools offered by NewsGator Social Sites 2010 to improve their business performance. Playing a major role in this growth is André Bonvanie, general manager of our international business. André is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Q. Where are we seeing companies implement NewsGator Social Sites 2010?
Andre: In a few places you might expect, and in a few that might surprise you. Because of our robust software localization services NewsGator customers have implemented Social Sites 2010 in a dozen countries: Finland, France, Germany, Indonesia, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.

Q. Who has recently joined the NewsGator Social Sites family?
Andre. Off the top of my head, there’s adidas in Germany, BNB Paribas in France, Borusan in Turkey, Bouyges Telecom in France, the Kuwait Oil Company in Kuwait, MTN Telecom in South Africa, Nokia Siemens Networks in Finland and Germany, and an equal number of companies who are keeping their activities secret!

Q. There are three telecom companies on that list… is that a pattern?
Andre. No and yes. No in that their overarching use case is not so different from any large organization that must keep its customers happy. Enterprise social computing improves all of their operations, including sales, marketing, R&D, logistics and more. Yes in the sense that you will not find a customer with a more sophisticated mobile user base than a telecom company. Because we offer so many powerful ways to leverage SharePoint and NewsGator Social Sites via a mobile device – iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Android – Social Sites has strong appeal for a company with a focus on mobile computing.

Q. There is more than one German company on your list as well. That is surprising given their strict privacy laws. Can you explain?
A. Yes, aside from being a country that understands product quality like few others, Germany has strict data privacy laws that require company data to be managed on premises. Since we have a very powerful on-premise solution, we are a great fit for these companies. Plus, we offer many of the benefits of a hosted solution, including ease of ownership.

Q. What else is new outside the United States?
A. Our software localization services are expanding to five new languages in the next couple of months. Stay tuned!