HiveLive’s LiveConnect Platform
Building Blocks for Customer Community and Collaboration
By Matthew D. Lees, June 26, 2008

NETTING IT OUT

HiveLive’s LiveConnect is one of the most creatively designed and original community platforms we’ve seen. A hosted system with a building-block approach, it gives both users and administrators wide-ranging flexibility to create unique spaces for collaboration and communication inside and outside your organization. In essence, it lets you and your customers design the community together.

LiveConnect’s building blocks, called “Hives,” can be configured to support conventional social applications (such as discussion boards, blogs, polls, and so on) as well as custom community applications. It is this ability for community managers, administrators, and appropriately permissioned members to customize Hives to meet their exact needs that differentiates LiveConnect from other platforms. LiveConnect users have created Hives to be media archives, idea centers, file exchanges, software marketplaces, and more.

For some, LiveConnect’s flexibility will be both a blessing and a curse. Some companies and business units find comfort with the built-in constraints of many platforms. And that’s fine. Using tool kits like LiveConnect successfully requires (1) a deep understanding of business goals, (2) proficient users who can align the information architecture with those goals, and (3) a plan that includes the essential iterative process to adapt over time. Those organizations that bring these three elements to the table may find LiveConnect to be an ideal and cost-effective solution.

In addition to its Hive construct, LiveConnect strengths are in its social networking and member management (and permissioning) system, its straightforward integration of widgets (such as YouTube videos, Google Calendars, and Flickr slideshows), and its easy-to-use thumbs-up / thumbs-down rating system.

As a new platform, though, having launched in 2007, LiveConnect is in the relatively early stages of its existence. It therefore has seen limited real-world business use, so some of its current features and capabilities are not yet optimized. In particular, LiveConnect will benefit from improvements (already in the works) to its email integration, layout control and skinning, reporting console, and help area.

Overall we see a strong future for LiveConnect, particularly if the HiveLive team can deliver on the various enhancements and new features on its product road map.

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INTRODUCTION

The Buzz on HiveLive’s LiveConnect Platform

HiveLive must have developed LiveConnect without looking over its shoulder at existing community platforms. It looks and feels different, and it is. This is largely due to HiveLive’s approach to design, which focuses on users (and the relationships among them) and information, not technology.

LiveConnect looks different because, like the Google home page, it doesn’t pack information into every square inch of real estate. And it feels different because its building-block approach to tools is more open, flexible (and, in some ways, more involved) than that of most other community platforms.

An on-demand product, LiveConnect doesn’t come, out of the box, with pre-configured discussion areas, blogs, polls, or other content and communication channels. But that doesn’t mean it can’t provide them. Instead, it provides customizable, flexible building blocks called “Hives” that administrators (or users, if they have been given the appropriate permission) can turn into just about any data structure or community application. The best part is that all this is done without programming or coding.

The flip side of this flexibility, as every Lego-wielding child knows, is that it can be tough to end up with exactly what you want. It may take a few attempts to build the submergible flying rocket car you envision in your head. Similarly, it may take a few iterations to create the Hive that does exactly what you—and your community members—want it to do. But as long as your strategy includes time to adapt and iterate, you can take advantage of LiveConnect’s openness and flexibility.

Those that are using it effectively, such as Serena Software and Rally Software, have developed custom Hives that perfectly meet their needs (in Serena Software’s case, a Mashup Exchange in which software developers can sell their own applications; see Illustration 1).

Serena Software’s Mashup Exchange

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Illustration 1.The Mashup Exchange is where Serena Software’s partners can “Build, Buy and Sell” business mashup, composite applications that integrate distinct data sets and services.

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Highlights of LiveConnect

BUILDING-BLOCK APPROACH. As mentioned above, Hives are the building blocks of the LiveConnect platform. As such, they can be configured to support just about any community activity you can think up. Want a discussion forum? Just configure a Hive to support discussions. Want a blog? Configure a Hive for blogging.

But LiveConnect doesn’t simply integrate the standard mix of point solutions—forums, blogs, wikis, etc.—which is within the reach of most community platforms. The power and potential of Hives as customizable community applications go well beyond this, as Hives can be created to suit just about any purpose, whether for communication, collaboration, or commerce. As a starting point, LiveConnect is preloaded with commonly used Hives and “Types” (see below) to support discussions, blogs, and so on, but HiveLive’s customers have created Hives that go well beyond these standard (and essential) applications. Here are a few examples:

• Announcements
• Contact lists
• Polls
• Idea centers
• Research libraries; video libraries
• Book lists
• File repositories and exchanges
• Photo galleries
• Meeting agendas; meeting minutes
• Software marketplaces

NON-HIERARCHICAL INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE. That LiveConnect is a product of the Web 2.0 world is demonstrated by its non-hierarchical information architecture. Data structures in the Web 1.0 (and earlier) worlds exemplify hierarchical constructs, with their comfortably fixed directories and well-defined taxonomies. Web 2.0, on the other hand, emphasizes flat systems, where personal and group (folksonimic) tagging reigns.

The benefit to LiveConnect’s users and administrators is that the community—and community experience—are blue sky. You can, within certain limitations, create what you want. Although this can be both a blessing and a curse, it’s the underlying information architecture that lays the groundwork for LiveConnect’s flexibility.

SOCIAL NETWORKING AND MEMBER MANAGEMENT. LiveConnect isn’t just about the information. The platform is designed to support the creation, operation, and growth of social networks among individuals, and the appropriate management of member information. Illustration 2 shows HiveLive’s people- and information-centric approach to developing the LiveConnect platform.

A People- and Information-Centric Approach

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© 2008 HiveLive

Illustration 2. HiveLive has taken a people- and information-centered approach to developing its LiveConnect platform, as opposed to one built on specific technological applications (blogs, discussion groups, etc.). Because its foundation is (1) the relationships among people (i.e., community members) and (2) the information important to them, LiveConnect is extremely flexible in how people and information can be controlled (i.e., through permissions), accessed, and created.

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In particular:

• Mousing over a member’s photograph can open up a small, floating profile page for that user, making it easy to see her profile information and to connect directly with her, if desired. (Administrators can enable or disable these pop-ups and can also select which profile attributes are visible.)

• Members have a considerable amount of control over how, whether, and with whom their profile information is shared.

• Member permissions can be set at multiple points, giving both community administrators and Group and Hive owners ample control over who has access to what within those areas.

OVERVIEW OF HIVELIVE

Company Background

Headquartered in Boulder, CO, the privately held HiveLive was founded in 2006 by brothers John Kembel and Geoff Kembel. Central to HiveLive’s mission and the development of the LiveConnect platform is the people-centered approach to both product design and corporate performance.

CEO John, with a background in both business (with stints at Intel and IBM) and academia (BS and MS in engineering and design from Stanford), is also a Consulting Associate Professor and Strategy Board Member for the new Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University.

Geoff Kembel, also with a BS in engineering from Stanford, has worked at IBM Research, Casio, and BMW. He currently serves as HiveLive’s Application Architect. Rounding out the executive team are Greg Schneider, CMO; Mike Rosol, SVP of Sales; and Ed Messman, VP Operations, Finance & Corporate Development.

In Q4 2006, HiveLive received $2.2 million in angel investments. The company launched in November 2007 and then closed a $5.6 million round of investment in February 2008, bringing its total funding to $7.8 million. This latter round was led by the Virginia-based Grotech Capital Partners.

HiveLive currently has about 20 employees, with job postings for seven more, primarily in engineering and sales.

Customers and Target Market

Launched in November 2007, HiveLive is initially targeting high-tech companies, and will follow with what it calls “consumer brands of depth,” which it considers to be companies with strong reasons for customers to connect with each other and with the company. These are typically companies with high loyalty and affinity. As such, they are a natural fit to support a customer community.

Initial high-tech customers include MarketStreet Solutions, Rally Software Development, and Serena Software.

This report continues...

 

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