AskMe Corporation announced the immediate availability of AskMe Enterprise 6.7--- the newest release of the company's award-winning enterprise software that connects employees with business problems to other employees who have the expertise and knowledge to help solve those problems.

AskMe Enterprise 6.7 incorporates best practices garnered from Fortune 500 customers like Ford, Honeywell and Boeing into a new set of capabilities that enable rapid solution deployment and user adoption.

CIO of INTEC Engineering Fran Steele said, "During our extensive relationship with AskMe, we've been impressed with both the sophistication of AskMe's technology and the technical competence, support and professionalism of the AskMe organization. The depth, breadth and maturity of AskMe's solution has provided a solid foundation for INTEC to dramatically and quickly increase knowledge sharing around the globe." Steele continued, "The favorable ROI INTEC has realized from AskMe Enterprise encouraged us to make further investments with AskMe Enterprise 6.7."

AskMe Enterprise Version 6.7

AskMe has been consistently recognized and awarded for the maturity and comprehensiveness of its technology.

The new capabilities in AskMe Enterprise 6.7 are the result of direct feedback from AskMe's marquee customers and move beyond the basic functionality found in other EKN systems to include features that rapidly transition users through each phase of the deployment lifecycle.

According to Mike Gotta, Senior Vice President, Meta Group, "Companies should prioritize solutions that not only establish the basic framework for expertise automation, but also provide a second tier of functionality that addresses the basic cultural adoption challenges companies face during the deployment lifecycle. Solution-focused capabilities and supporting services can effectively minimize these obstacles and dramatically increase the level of value gained by business and IT groups."

The following is a detailed explanation of each phase of deployment and the highlighted features found in AskMe Enterprise 6.7:

• Launch ---- When launching a new EKN it is paramount that the system delivers immediate value to users. To augment existing capabilities in AskMe Enterprise that pre-populate and collate sources of articulated knowledge from common information sources such as IBM Lotus Domino, Documentum, and Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server, AskMe Enterprise 6.7 offers enhanced federated search capabilities and seamless, out-of-the box integration with Microsoft Index Server. This capability allows AskMe Enterprise to instantly tap into common file shares for use in search results and automatic profile creation in any enterprise that uses a Microsoft Windows file system.
• Ramp --- During the 'ramp' phase of EKN deployment, success is dependent on the system's ability to continuously deliver value as usage matures. Through its "dynamic taxonomies," AskMe Enterprise 6.7 automatically provides a flattened view of multi-level branches in a company's taxonomy, which simplifies the process of finding experts and information throughout multiple stages of deployment while maintaining the explicit structure necessary to categorize the content.
• Usage --- Historical analysis of EKN usage shows that first-time participation typically results in realized value and future use for users. To encourage first-time participation, AskMe Enterprise 6.7 provides an "open answer" feature that allows any user within the system? at their own personal discretion, to provide answers to questions without formally opting in to the EKN or being assigned as an expert.
• Adoption --- Once employees have started using an EKN it is important to help them adopt the system into their daily work. AskMe Enterprise 6.7 now provides the ability to deliver 'listener summary emails' to employees. This feature automatically distributes a daily email to users that provides them with a synopsis of information and activity specific to their topics of interest.
• Leverage --- The 'leverage' phase of the deployment lifecycle is focused on helping companies maximize the business value delivered from AskMe Enterprise. To effectively assess the value of the knowledge exchanges that occur in the system, AskMe Enterprise 6.7 provides a powerful ROI engine. With this feature, users have the ability to document the value of Q&As in terms of money saved, time saved or money earned precisely when the exchange occurs. Furthermore, the system also includes an analytics engine that enables system administrators and management to create reports from the data users enter to provide critical analysis of user activity. This serves as a powerful indicator of where knowledge gaps exist within the organization, and helps to validate where adjustments, improvements or changes can be made to improve business processes and overall organizational performance.
• Maintenance --- Managing the lifecycle of employee-to-employee conversations, knowledge exchanges, documents, approvals, and obsolescence are important to effectively maintaining an EKN over the long-term. To effectively maintain information within the system AskMe Enterprise 6.7 offers the ability for users to provide comments within knowledge exchanges and articles, allowing the community to "self-police" itself. It also lowers the total cost of ownership for system administrators and management.