The Community Roundtable

Empowering global community leaders with research-backed resources, training, and tools.

Why Extensibility Matters for an Online Community Platform

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As you know, your organization isn’t sitting still. And neither are your community members or
customers. Business goals change and evolve, as do your challenges, and success means adapting,
evolving, and growing as time goes on.

This guest post is sponsored content provided by Verint. Learn more about Verint here.


The same can be said for your online community platform, which isn’t meant to be a set-in-stone tool.
You need a solution that’s a foundation for self-service, customer success, and a better customer and
employee experience that can also expand and evolve in tandem with the growth of your organization
and the needs of the people who’ve come to rely on the community platform.

With Verint Community, we believe you need a “futureproof” community platform that’s built for the challenges and the changing environment that await you in the years to come. When we look at the community marketplace, we see plenty of basic solutions that may look nice at first but lack the ability to expand in functionality and scale. Many of these DIY platforms might be for something like a hobbyist community and rely heavily on a static set of functionalities that likely includes blogs, forums, and articles, but they aren’t very customizable for specific needs.

Then there’s the higher-level, pre-packaged solutions. These often provide a good starting point and have more capability and features but rely too heavily on a one-size-fits-all approach. When it comes to an online platform, this is a significant issue, because a community needs to be flexible to match the brand, personality, and specific customer needs that are unique to each organization. If you’re not able to customize, extend, and optimize your community – you’re not using a futureproof solution.

A futureproof community prioritizes extensibility

Verint Community is an enterprise-level online community platform in that it gives you everything you
need to get started but is also extensible in that it provides limitless customizations and integrations.
The open-API structure of Verint Community means that your organization can add features that meet
its needs and isn’t stuck with a set of pre-determined use cases and functions. This includes integrating
third-party channels, like social media and private messaging, video platforms, enterprise systems,
native mobile applications, workforce management tools, and your company’s customized applications.

Here’s a few ways that customers can futureproof their community and platform strategy by making the most of Verint Community’s extensibility through open API integrations:


Huddles: When users are engaging with private online community, they should be able to have their
conversations within the platform, rather than having to connect on another app. By using a Huddles
plug-in, Verint Community allows for one-on-one calling between users, group calls and meetings, and
special event capabilities that are perfect for influencers. The Huddles plug-in was developed by Verint
partner 4Roads and keeps the discussion within the community, which is especially valuable for
organizations using their community for online events, training sessions, personalized support, and
meeting needs all within Verint Community.

Mobile App: Verint’s partner 4Roads recently developed an easy-to-use mobile app that allows your
users to take your community with them on the go. This app is customizable to meet your branding
specifications, includes push notifications, a dynamic activity feed, and a sleek user interface.

Slack: Slack, of course, has become a must-have for many organizations who use it for project
management, team communication, or maybe just as a chat tool. By integrating Slack into your Verint
Community, your content shares are synchronized between the two applications. The Slack Integration
add-on created by Verint partner Social Edge Consulting features slash commands, allowing users to
interact with Slack by sending messages through a bot. This integration is just one of the ways in which
Verint Community can work with your existing tools, so you don’t have to abandon successful tools, but
rather bring them into the fold of your community.

Again, a futureproof community platform is one that’s adaptable, flexible, and ready for what’s to come on the horizon. At Verint, we see this extensibility as key to a successful community experience for your customers and employees, while also benefitting your bottom line.

Explore Verint Community’s features and get a demo right here.

Shopping for an online community platform?

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The first time I evaluated an online community platform was in 2011 for a large, customer-facing application. At the time there were only a handful of best-in-class providers. The good news for the community platform shopper today is there are more good options to choose from. The bad news is you’ll need to spend more time navigating and examining all the choices.

I recently went through the platform evaluation process for a client and want to share some of my experience and some key steps I recommend you keep in mind as you consider potential community platforms.

First-time shopper?

If this will be your first community the initial item on your to-do list should be to clearly define why you want a community. What are your mission, objectives, and measurement of success? Defining these points will help you identify key platform functionality and analytics required to meet your objectives and measure success. The available metrics measured varies significantly from platform to platform.

Search far and wide.

When you start looking at the available online community platform options, I would encourage you to cast a wide net to start. Look at a wide variety of platform providers and the types of clients they serve. What platforms are deployed for use cases like mine, are they successful and why? Ask your community peers about their experiences. The Community Roundtable Network members are a great resource and utilize a broad array of platforms for all types of use cases. BTW… don’t overlook platforms you may already have in place elsewhere in your organization. Depending on the size of your company, there may be an existing option that you weren’t aware of.

Don’t skimp on the requirements.

Develop a thorough RFP based on the functionality and requirements important to you. I recommend building an Excel spreadsheet with a broad list of possible considerations. Then prioritize the requirements by must have, should have, and would be nice to have. Whether you send the RFP out to a large number of potential providers or just your short list, it’s unlikely any platform with have all the requirements in your list but the ones they don’t provide you can see if they’re on their roadmap.

Sandboxes aren’t just for kids. 

Ask the online community platform providers to provide you with a sandbox that you can explore and test. This ask is becoming more and more commonplace and is a great exercise if you have the time allotted in the evaluation process. Taking a hands-on test drive is a valuable way to see if the platform truly is a good fit.

Who will you be working with after the sale?

Make sure you meet the implementation team, not just the sales team. In most cases, the person you work with during the sales and exploration phase will not be part of the team you’re engaged with day to day once you’ve signed the contract. Make sure you’re comfortable and confident with the team that will be working closely with you during implementation.

Migrating an existing community?

If you’re migrating data from an existing community, make sure the new providers you are considering have experience migrating data from your current platform. Most providers will tell you they can migrate your data, but personally, I feel more comfortable selecting a platform and implementation team that has done it before.

Selecting the right online community platform is an important step in your community journey. As I mentioned at the top, the good news is there are a number of very good platform options to choose from. Just remember to clearly define what you need, take the time to explore and evaluate your options and ask a lot of questions, of both the platform providers and your peers. Happy shopping!

online community platform

More Resources

 

Susan Cato, ASPB

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Welcome to the latest episode in our community management podcast series, “Conversations with Community Managers.”

Join TheCR’s Jim Storer and Shannon Abram as they chat with community managers from a variety of industries about their community journey. They ask the community questions you want to know the answers to, including:

  1. What’s your best advice for someone just starting out in Community Management?
  2. What are your best practices for increasing community engagement?
  3. How would you survive the zombie apocalypse? (Ok – they might not ALL be community questions…)

Episode #49 features Susan Cato, Director, Digital Strategy and Member Services at the American Society of Plant Biologists. 

Susan works with ASPB’s community Plantae.org – their online community for plant science, creating audience-focused content and engaging experiences.

In this episode, we chat about choosing a community platform, how you know it’s time to break up with a platform that isn’t working for you,  creating interactive member experiences and more!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Don’t miss the whole series of Conversations with Community Managers featuring community professionals from GM, Sony, Mastercard and more!

available on itunes—-

Did you know you can subscribe to “Conversations with Community Managers” iTunes? You can!

Best Practices for Online Community Platform Migration

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Intrigued by TheCR Network, but want to learn more about what membership entails before joining?

Watch Hillary Boucher share a special look inside TheCR Network.  In January Hillary shared a look at the research, programming and professional development available exclusively to Network members and highlighted best practices for a community platform migration. It’s a must-see for any community professionals about to undertake a platform change.

This content has moved inside The Network.

Hillary Boucher on the Intricacies of Platform Migration

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Welcome to the latest episode in our community podcast series, “Conversations with Community Managers.”

Join TheCR’s Jim Storer and Shannon Abram as they chat with community managers from a variety of industries about

  1. What’s your best advice for someone just starting out in Community Management?Hillary Boucher, TheCR Network
  2. What are your best practices for increasing community engagement?
  3. How can you survive the zombie apocalypse? (Ok – they might not ALL be community questions…)

Episode #37 features Hillary Boucher, Director of Networks at The Community Roundtable. Join us as we chat about the intricacies of a platform migration, mentoring a community manager, and how to evolve your community superpower.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS

About Conversations with Community Managers*
To better reflect the diverse conversations our podcast covers we’ve changed the name of our long-running series to Community Conversations.
Community Conversations highlights short conversations with some of the smartest minds in the online community and social business space, exploring what they’re working on, why they do what they do, and what advice they have for you.
These episodes are a great way to begin to understand the nuances of community strategy and management.
Each episode is short (usually less than 30 minutes) and focuses on one community management professional.

Community Rules of Engagement

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By Shannon Abram, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable.TheCRNetwork_MondayLaunch_Image

Today is a very exciting day – TheCR Network moved to a new home. After years on the same platform our dedicated community team spent the last few months packing up the old Network, and spiffing up our new home. I know I’m biased, but I have to say – it’s lovely. Shiny, new and highly functional!

I wanted to share our community rules of engagement, because I think our community team did an amazing job of highlighting the behavior we encourage and explaining the behavior that is unacceptable to us. We are firm believers in both communication and modeling, and I think these rules paint a clear picture of the type of community we are trying to create, together.

I’d love to hear about community engagement guidelines you’ve shared with your members – please share!

TheCR Network Rules of Engagement

Every community has a culture and we feel pretty strongly about the things we encourage and the things we discourage – and they all stem from our core values:

Supportive. Fun. Respectful. Trustworthy. Transparent. Challenging.

Things we encourage and support . . .

Sharing. We want to know what you are working on, thinking about, reading or discussing. Seriously – if it’s about your work and it’s on your mind, it’s interesting to us!

Questions. We don’t think that there is any community question that is too obvious to ask. Often the simplest question is the most profound. Questions are triggers for others to share what they know – which they might not realize they know. If there is something you are curious about, pondering, don’t understand or what to hear from a peer – ask!

Ideas. Ideas are great things. Sometimes they spark intense conversations and actions. Sometime they fall flat. You never know until you share them. Go for it!

Support. Life in general and the work our members do specifically is hard. Community leaders often bear the brunt of people’s emotions, inconsistent policies and organizational mistakes. That can leave you exhausted. Additionally, because community management is an emerging discipline there is a high need to learn and we are all fumbling in certain areas. We are here to support you and we encourage you to support each other. So let someone know you appreciate them, their ideas or perspectives. That peer validation means the world to people.

Challenges. We grow and learn and do our best when people challenge us to do so – in supportive ways. That may mean sharing a difference of opinion or experience. That may mean encouraging someone to do better because they can. That may be disagreeing – respectfully – with their ideas.  You can do this in a supportive, comfortable way by prefacing an opinion with ‘In my experience…’ or ‘…  has worked well for me’ or ‘I feel like…’ which leaves room for others to have different points of view.

Participation, input and feedback. Don’t see that great blog post about strategy that you’re looking for? Think the community needs more case studies? Well don’t just stare… make it happen! While we may be the hosts of this party we are by no means the sole arbiters of what gets discussed and presented. If you feel strongly about something . . . do something about it.

Things we will discourage . . .

Attacks. We have a low tolerance for attacking or singling out people by name for criticism (whether community members or not). We’ll give you two strikes for this type of thing and then, goodbye. While we encourage challenging each other, that is best done from a supportive vs critical position.

Pitches. There can be a fine line between helping someone answer a question and pitching them on a solution, but we can all tell an obvious pitch when we see one. Don’t do it. This is a place about exploring, finding information, and understanding options.

Violating Trust. This is a private community and as such, the members have an expectation of privacy. The content and discussions within the community are intended to be kept within the community. If you would like to use someone’s case study or comments, please ask first. The Community Roundtable does summarize and anonymize the content of roundtable calls and may use that for market research products (which help support the community). If you have questions or concerns about this, please contact us directly.

Naming Names. We are here to discuss challenges and how to overcome them. To describe the challenge, it is not necessary to call out individuals involved by name. It’s bad form and typically people have valid reasons for their positions, even if it makes your job harder – so don’t expose all the identifying details, others can help you solve the problem without knowing all the gory details.

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Interested in learning more about TheCR Network? Join our community manager Hillary Boucher for a free webinar where she’ll share a behind the scenes look at the Network, and gives advice about best practices for member leadership programs.

 

A Peek Inside

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We’ve been working hard to get the technology, content, and business operations in place over the past few weeks and we are making a lot of progress. We have the community up, we are categorizing and combining content sources, and we are reaching out to a number of potential members to review our plans and gather feedback.

Thank you to those of you who have been generous with your time and thoughts – we definitely appreciate it and some areas that we think are good synergies for our original concept have been identified. One of which is to work on standards for things like metrics, processes, and policies. There are potential members who are working on tools and standards already and having access to a bigger group of qualified peers to help is a win-win for them as well as The Community Roundtable.

We’ve also talked to a number of potential partners who see The Community Roundtable as a nice complimentary service to what they already offer and because we are committed to protecting the identity of members, see us a trusted partner which they feel comfortable recommending to their customers. We endeavor to be fair and balanced with sponsors while also being mindful of offering members a safe place to discuss a wide variety of issues and that trust is critical to us – and we are honored that we have it – both from potential members and sponsors.

As we build out our infrastructure we are also mindful of not spending too much on capital ahead of potential success. We are therefore using Ning as our initial community platform. This allows us to maintain some degree of vendor neutrality while offering us a low cost test bed that is stable, reliable, and easy to use. It will have limitations as our community and content grows but it allows us to get up quickly and adapt as customers show us what is most interesting to them.

Take a look at our content models and some screen shots:

The Community Roundtable

View more presentations from rhappe.

We are excited to see things take shape and are interested in your feedback, questions, and suggestions. If you are interested in chatting, please get in touch with us – rachel@community-roundtable.com/@rhappe or jim@community-roundtable.com/@jimstorer

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