Neighborhood America

Infobox company
company_name = Neighborhood America Corporation
company_
company_type = Private
foundation = 1999
location_city = Naples, Florida
location_country = USA
slogan = Engage. Listen. Act.
key_people = Kim Patrick Kobza, President & CEO
David Bankston, EVP & CTO
Brenda Agius, CFO
Dan Miller, EVP
Jim Haughwout, VP & CIO

industry = Computer software
Enterprise social software
Customer engagement
Software as a Service
homepage = [http://www.neighborhoodamerica.com/ www.neighborhoodamerica.com]
footnotes =

Neighborhood America builds enterprise social networks (a class of enterprise social software) for the purpose of customer engagement. Co-founded in 1999 by Kim Patrick Kobza and David Bankston, Neighborhood America is a privately funded company headquartered in Naples, Florida.

The Company serves an enterprise customer base that seeks to tap into the social networks phenomenon made popular by sites like Facebook and MySpace as a way to engage consumers, but who also need the infrastructure necessary to support enterprise operations.

olutions

Neighborhood America’s ELAvate solution (released in February 2008 and winner of the 2008 Codie Awards for the industry's 'Best Social Networking Solution') is a web application, delivered through a Software as a Service model. The solution enables organizations to create a brand community, keep the dialogue focused with some level of control [http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2007/tc20070406_101803.htm?chan=search] , Holahan, Catherine, "Cleaning Messy Message Boards", BusinessWeek, April 6, 2007. Accessed February 23, 2008] manage all forms of customer engagement, and gain tacit knowledge not easily shared without the reach of the Web. The company’s solutions are backed by exceptional customer service and support [http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/web/2007/0319web1.html] , Gibbs, Mark, "Neighborhood America: Customer Touch Specialists", Network World, Mar 19, 2007. Accessed February 23, 2008 ] .

Neighborhood America’s solution provides Web 2.0 tools expected in a community building platform:
* Conversations facilitated through blogs, wikis, forums, online chat and messaging.
* Ability to manage all forms user-generated content, including mobile content, with video conversion to standard Flash Video.
* Collaboration software to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and peer-to-peer reviews with ratings and rankings (reputation system), member profiles, tagging and search.
* Contextual advertising and multiple ad revenue placements.

To service enterprise needs, the solution also offers:
* Service Oriented Architecture to allow applications to be delivered via ‘building blocks’ so that customers can deploy software modules quickly, whether market or event-driven [http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/05/17/78420_HNsoa20_1.html] , Krill, Paul, "Make Way for SOA 2.0", InfoWorld, May 17, 2006. Accessed February 23, 2008] .
* Open API, important when integrating a social network service into existing systems like Customer Relationship Management.
* Collaborative software supporting work teams, technology enabling document management, knowledge management, content management system, data security in a managed web hosting environment.

History

Neighborhood America’s foundation was built upon knowledge gained within the public sector during its first two years of operation. Early projects included public outreach for Golden Gate Park, the Stapleton Airport, and the Erie Canal. This early experience enabled management to refine the solution and ultimately prepared the company for the catastrophic events that would change our nation two years later on September 11, 2001. The nation responded to the terrorist attacks with a unified, collective voice [http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2001/09/16/poll.htm] , Benedetto, Richard and Patrick O'Driscoll, "Poll Finds a United Nation", USA Today, Sep 16, 2001. Accessed February 25, 2008] . Neighborhood America’s solution became the technology behind Imagine NY [http://www.imagineny.org] , Imagine New York Website] , one of the largest public outreach initiatives of all time [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wdv7re1ZCo] , Imagine New York Public Service Announcement] intended to unite the public and provide a forum for them to share ideas for memorializing the World Trade Center. Shortly after, Neighborhood America's technology supported public outreach for a design competition in which the Flight 93 National Memorial would be chosen.

"One of the technology's biggest benefits was being able to involve families and the public in a meaningful way, and to create a dialogue about 9-11. The web-based technology allowed us to begin this conversation with the public and determine how to best commemorate the passengers and crew of Flight 93." - Jeff Reinbold, National Park Service [http://www.govtech.com/pcio/articles/102206] , Lake, Alison, "Field of Honor", Public CIO Nov 10, 2006. Accessed February 23, 2008]

In 2004, Neighborhood America and IBM reached a business partner agreement, whereby the two companies would serve the public sector with a jointly branded product, the IBM – Neighborhood America Public Comment Service [http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/index.wss/offering/ebhs/a1002970] , IBM - Neighborhood America Public Comment Service] . Since that time, Neighborhood America solely expanded into the business and media sectors, serving a growing need among enterprises to digitally engage consumers, and manage all forms of interaction and user-generated content.

Neighborhood America expanded its platform with the acquisition of MOVO Mobile in October 2005 [http://www.dmnews.com/Neighborhood-America-Buys-Movo-Mobile/article/92890/] , Wood, Cara, "Neighborhood America Buys MOVO Mobile", DM News, Oct 4, 2006. Accessed February 23, 2008] becoming the only enterprise social network provider to enable both web and mobile social network communities in a single platform.

Awards

2008 Codie Awards Winner of 'Best Social Networking' solution [http://www.siia.net/codies/2008/winners.asp] , SIIA, 2008 Codie Award Winners] , SIIA
2007 Global Award for 'Best Use of Mobile Marketing, Cross-Media Integration' [http://mmaglobal.com/modules/article/view.article.php/a1732] , Mobile Marketing Association Announces 2007 Global Award Winners] - (Adidas, Isobar Communications, Neighborhood America) by Mobile Marketing Association [http://www.mmaglobal.com] , Mobile Marketing Association]
2007 IBM Top Star award
2007 BPT Partners [http://www.bptpartners.com/] , BPT Partners Website] Steppin' Out Award Finalist [http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2007/02/20/2348353.htm] , Sims, David "Paul Greenberg, BPT Announce Steppin' Out", TMCnet, Feb 20, 2007. Accessed February 25, 2008.]
2003 American Planning Association (APA) American Vision Award for Imagine New York [http://www.planning.org/awards/2003winners.htm] , American Planning Association, 2003 National Planning Award Winners]

External links

* [http://www.neighborhoodamerica.com Neighborhood America]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Taay4j4sMo The Neighborhood America Video Story]
* [http://www.movomobile.com MOVO Mobile - Neighborhood America's Mobile Solution Website]
* [http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail3281.html Audio Interview with David Bankston, CTO; Talking Portraits, Aug 24, 2007]
* [http://www.mrmedia.com/2007/06/david-bankston-neighborhood-america.html Audio Interview with David Bankston, CTO; Mr. Media, Jun 27, 2007]

References