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Helpstream, which utilizes software as a service, or SAAS, as the background of its customer service system, is deploying ActivityStream, a feature that allows users to follow others in the same manner as Twitter or a Facebook stream. Helpstream has also issued an application that integrates Helpstream communities with Salesforce.com and Oracle CRM.
ActivityStream’s features leverage Helpstream’s core function, presenting an online community through which consumers can receive information and communicate, to integrate search and interaction with outside enterprise applications.
By doing so, Helpstream joins other enterprise application creators in inserting Twitter-like functionality into their offerings. In March, Salesforce.com added Twitter to its Service Cloud, allowing small and midsize businesses and enterprises to monitor the adoption and discussion of their newest products.
For Salesforce.com, the Twitter option is listed under “Search Twitter for Service Issues.” By typing the name of a product or service into a search bar, the user can search for Twitter conversation threads, tracked within the Salesforce.com interface.
Helpstream’s offering works in a similar way, tracking conversations within its community of users and customers. Users can subscribe to other users and follow their streams of activity, as well as receive updates about their work and areas of expertise.
Helpstream is also embedding its service-community functionality into Salesforce.com and Oracle CRM on Demand; customers interact through the Helpstream community portal, while a company’s agents can interact with them and track the activity through Salesforce.com or Oracle.
“Social business is about connecting people with expertise,” Bob Warfield, executive vice president of products at Helpstream, said in a statement. “ActivityStream focuses on the true social component of connecting people in a community in a very effective way. Our new enterprise application mashup enables service agents to stay connected to customers in the community using the CRM environment.”