A pre-Connect 2014 teaser: Announcing Kudos Boards for IBM Connections

Well in the tradition that is Kudos and IBM Connect we love to announce new products leading up to Connect. And this year we have a doozy! We have been working away for quite a while on our latest idea to make Connections even better. What we call Kudos Boards for IBM Connections.

We love Activities in Connections. They are awesome! Working together on projects and leveraging Social Tools is a very powerful way of getting stuff done. However some Activities can get BIG! Sometimes users want to look at things in a slightly different way or organise the Activity slightly differently. Sometimes users don't need to see everything that is going on but just one part. Sometimes it would be easier if Activities was more VISUAL.

Wouldn't it be great if you could visualise an Activity...as a Board....similar to a Kanban Board, so you can drag and drop to organise Tasks and Entries. Wouldn't it be neat if you could filter the content of your Boards by Person, by Priority, by Colour code, or by any other filter you want? Imagine a visual Board where you can quickly create new sections....or Lists. One click to create an Entry or To Do......then quickly drag it to another List....or back. Wouldn't it be great if Boards could refer to other Boards. Wouldn't it be great if when you updated your Board everyone else that has that Board open has it refreshed instantly. Now wouldn't it be even better if you could take an existing Connections Activity and do all of this, and syncronize in real time every change back into the Activity. Best of both worlds!

Now take it to another level and imagine a way to visually group Boards/Activities together by category, or project type, or what ever you want! Pin your favorite Boards for quick access even. Kudos Boards does this and a whole lot more all seamlessly integrated into the IBM Connections interface. If you think that Kudos Badges was designed well then Kudos Boards will rock your socks:)

We will be announcing more on Tuesday the 21st of Jan, just before IBM Connect. Might even get a video published so you can see Boards in action. Then off course you can see it live at IBM Connect. Just look for the Kudos Ped 113 on the showroom floor. Watch this space! For now here are some screenshots and you can find out more at KudosBadges.com

Hmm. A new button in Activities. I wonder what that does?Kudos Boards - Visualize your Activity!Simple Drag and Drop of List and Cards on a Kudos BaordEasy Click and Edit of Lists and Cards. One Click to add a card!

Announcing Kudos Badges 2.1.1 - Connections 4.5, Mobile, Analytics & More!

Team Kudos have been working like bees over the last few months to bring even more features to Kudos Badges, which in January scooped an array of awards at IBM Connect in Florida, USA.

Now with the formal release of Kudos Badges 2.1.1, we've taken onboard a range of client requests and integrated a suite of improvements you are sure to enjoy too. Most importantly, 2.1.1 offers full support for IBM Connections 4.5!

Brand new formal features announced in 2.11 include Kudos Analytics, Kudos Awards, Kudos Mobile, as well as full support of the IBM Notes 9 Embedded Experiences. Read on for more details:

Connections 4.5 Support

Many of our clients around the world are already making to move to upgrade to IBM Connections 4.5, so ensuring Kudos Badges can not only support but take full advantage of the new capabilities in 4.5 has been a big priority. We love Connections 4.5 and wanted to make sure you could upgrade with the confidence that Kudos Badges is fully supported.

To start with:

A great new feature of IBM Connections and the IBM Notes/iNotes 9 Social Edition is the addition of Open Social Gadgets and support for embedded experiences. We've taken advantage of this to deliver a great user embedded experience within Connections and the Notes/iNotes clients (or anywhere that supports Open Social and embedded experiences for that matter!).

So what does this really mean for your users? Well in simple terms it means that they can interact with Kudos Badges in the context of their Notes client. This also means all Kudos Badges, Kudos Thanks and Kudos Awards are displayed in the Discover activity stream and you are able to like and comment on a Kudos related news item!

IBM Notes 9 - Embedded Experience

You can now experience Kudos in IBM Notes 9 with email notifications and an Activity stream widget.

• Watch the video...

Kudos Analytics

Kudos Analytics is the ideal light weight reporting and analytics tool for IBM Connections focused on user adoption.

Utilising data from both IBM Connections Metrics Applications and Kudos Badges, Kudos Analytics gives you the numbers you need to prove ROI, make decisions and plan your success. Looking at both Connections and Kudos, find out the answers to some key questions:

• How many people are using Connections?
• Which applications are being used most (Files, Communities etc)?
• How much is each feature in each application being used?
• How is each Community being used?

Kudos Analytics also really easy to install.

• Watch the video...

Kudos Awards

We've had some great feedback from our clients that really love Kudos Thanks. Users are telling us that Kudos Thanks in itself has created a positive culture of recognition and praise across their users, as well as making Connections a destination and driving further adoption. So we thought we could take this to a new level, and by popular demand have created Kudos Awards.

Kudos Awards allows management to acknowledge great achievements amongst their workforce, even integrate well-known workplace awards such as Employee of the Month. Users can build and customise an awards and recognition program to suit, such as certifications that have been achieved, awards for tenure or years of employment, and many other examples.

Kudos Awards integrates very nicely within IBM Connections, leveraging the Connections Profiles and Activity streams to promote users achievements.

We've Gone Mobile

Now you can 'give Thanks' and keep up with your Leaderboards while on the road! Kudos Badges Mobile can now integrate seemlessly with the new Connections Mobile app from IBM.

Kudos Badges Mobile provides seamless integration between IBM Connections Mobile app and Kudos Badges, without users having to install or regularly check-in with a separate app. We've also leveraged the authentication via the Connections App so users don't need to logon again - How neat is that!?

• Watch the video...

Find out more

To discover how simple it is to implement Kudos Badges into your workplace, or to learn more about how Kudos accelerates performance and productivity in your workplace, check our Youtube Channel or the website at www.kudosbadges.com. We're also available on twitter: @KudosBadges

Kudos Badges Webinar with e-office from The Netherlands

One of our great Kudos Badges partners, e-office from The Netherlands has an upcoming Webinar where they will be discussing how they leverage Kudos Badges to drive user adoption within IBM Connecitons. The host Mark Bouma has been working with a number of our clients implementing Kudos Badges so his experience is sure to be worthwhile.

Here are the details:

Webinar site
http://www.e-office.com/eog/nl/website2011.nsf/index/e-officewebinarwednesday#.UW6yyEoSBzc

The info for the webinar
8 th of May - demo Kudos Badges for IBM Connections
by Mark Bouma - 12.00 uur (CET)
free webinar

e-office uses Kudos Badges in IBM Connections to stimulate the adoption process within organisations.
Kudos Badges adds game mechanics to the IBM Connections-platform which encourages employees to work with this collaboration platform and enables them to be more effective with the social functionalities.
In this webinar Mark Bouma gives you a demo of Kudos Badges. You see the different parts of Kudos and you learn to configure Badges yourself, based on your organisation's key values and goals.

The registration for the Kudos Badges webinar is here.

Kudos Badges is coming to IBM Partnerworld in Las Vegas

Well it seems like we only just got home from IBM Connect and we are heading back to America again on Sunday for the IBM Partnerworld conference. Kudos Badges and ISW has been selected as a finalist for a Beacon Award which is very exciting, and we normally attend the event anyway to network with our Partners and IBMers.

However if you are going to be at Partnerworld and would like to see a first hand demonstration of Kudos Badges for IBM Connections, let me know and I am sure we can find a time. We are actively growing our network of partners around the globe and are keen to work with the best Connections partners out there. If you want to meet just ping me on twitter @adambrownaus or you can email me on abrown@isw.net.au

KUDOS BADGES WINS - Innovation in Social Business Application Development

Wow!! I am absolutely stoked that ISW and Kudos Badges has just received notification that we WON the IBM Collaboration Solutions Award for Innovation in Social Business Application Development!

Now the IBM Connect conference will be an celebration for Team Kudos and our awesome clients. I have to say I am so proud to be part of the team that created Kudos Badges. Andrew Welch, Jay Agrawal, John Bilson, Scott Headlam, Scott Leis, Meg Woolley, and everyone else involved have truly created an outstanding solution for IBM Connections that our clients all around the world have taken up with passion.

Kudos Badges was built from the ground up for IBM Connections and as such we have taken advantage of all the great capabilities the Connections platform offers. iWidgets, OpenSocial, Activity Streams, Embedded Experiences, Mobile, etc have all added to our ability to deliver an exceptional user experience and add real value to users of Connections.

Since launching Kudos Badges this time last year we have grown our user base to hundreds of thousands of users around the world with clients now in the UK, Finland, Switzerland, USA, Australia, South Africa, India, Germany, The Netherlands, Mexico, and a few that I am sure I have forgotten. We have some awesome partners that have taken to Kudos Badges and now offer it as a default part of every IBM Connections implementation they perform.

So THANK YOU IBM for your support and this recognition. It really does mean a lot for this Australian company to be recognised on the world stage along side our peers.

Award Info:

This award will be presented to a Business Partner who provides the best solution for creating an Exceptional Customer Experience or a Smarter Workforce through the use of IBM Collaboration Solutions (ICS) application development tools. The offering must leverage new technology innovations such as the Social Business Toolkit, XPages Extension Library, Web Experience Factory builders, or Mobile Controls. Submissions for this award should be solutions that leverage these new technologies to address a specific business need by:

• Enabling interactions with customers or employees through online social networks (on-premise, cloud, or public social network sites)
• Enhancing situational awareness through analysis of social data, or
• Supporting contextual collaboration by integrating social capabilities into existing or new business applications leveraging OpenSocial gadgets and creating an embedded experience

Selection Criteria: Special consideration will be given to developers new to Social Business application development with solutions that:

• Leverage multiple IBM Collaboration Solutions development tools and products (e.g., IBM Connections, IBM Lotus Notes and Domino - especially Domino Designer, XWork Server and XPages, or the IBM Web Experience - especially IBM Web Experience Factory, and IBM Worklight entitlements to Web Experience).
• Support multiple types of devices, including rich client, web, mobile, smartphone or tablet
• Are deployed in a production environment, and are public references.

Also a big congratulations to all the other winners and finalist. IBM Collaboration Solutions has a truly impressive list of organisations building solutions around the ICS solutions! Keep innovating!