CRM Cloud Computing

Qontext, a business social networking platform, announced that it has been AppExchange certified by Salesforce.com.

Although Internet has successfully brought friends and family together by many ways such as through websites like Facebook (News - Alert) and Twitter, business collaboration has so far not benefited much.

According to company sources, Qontext is trying to change this by unveiling a new world of social collaboration. This is expected to allow employees to instantly share and follow important information, increase productivity and reduce inefficiencies like duplication of efforts.

Also, Qontext will be complementing Salesforce.com (News - Alert) as a fully integrated sales productivity suite. However it will differ from Salesforce.com’s Chatter, as Qontext is platform independent. This means that companies can add social capabilities integrated across mixed applications, even non-Force.com applications like SAP, Oracle (News - Alert) or even proprietary Web applications.

In a press release, Samir Ghosh, VP of Business Development at Qontext, said, “We are flattered to be validated by a company as prestigious as Salesforce.com. We began talks with Salesforce.com months ago, long before the launch of Chatter. Ultimately, we decided to design a product that integrates with any CRM, including Salesforce.com. It's the best of all worlds for our customers, partners and for us.”

Qontext allows people to easily find documents and discussions even after a long period on the customer account page itself. It also allows people to work collaboratively on documents and important projects.

Employees will be able to keep abreast of real time feeds and they can get customized alerts when important events happen. This includes new opportunity posting and product shipment or delay.

Ghosh further explained that as CRM and other independent software vendors strive to add social features to their applications, they need to recognize that business social is used by employees and virtual teams across departments, geographies and applications.

“Qontext’s easy out-of-the-box integration with any app helps ISVs to rapidly add social features to their apps while avoiding creating ‘social silos’ that could hinder rather than help adoption,” Ghosh pointed out.

Company sources revealed that Qontext was developed by Pramati Technologies, the developers of Pramati Java Middleware and Social Twist. Qontext is available as a SaaS (News - Alert) offering with a monthly subscription.