2013 Training Outsourcing Companies Watch List Announced by TrainingIndustry.com

Burlington, MA – May 20, 2013 – Mzinga® (http://www.mzinga.com), a leading provider of enterprise social software solutions and services serving the learning, marketing and customer experience markets, today announced it was selected as a 2013 Training Outsourcing Company to Watch by TrainingIndustry.com.

Applicants were selected to the 2013 Training Outsourcing Companies Watch List based on the following criteria:

• Innovative service offerings

• Ability to provide services on a global basis

• Unique and proven approach to Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) solutions

• Quality of client served

“The 2013 Watch List includes a select group of companies poised to capture market share in the training outsourcing space,” said Ken Taylor, Chief Operating Officer, TrainingIndustry.com. “Each of these companies provides innovative solutions to a variety of global clients, enabling them to increase their reach – and revenue – year over year.” “This year’s Training Outsourcing Watch List recognizes eight companies that have developed distinctive and proven BPO solutions,” said Doug Harward, Chief Executive Officer, TrainingIndustry.com. “Their extensive range of capabilities and impressive client lists ensure that they will be sharp competitors in the expanding training outsourcing market.”  View the 2013 Training Outsourcing Companies Watch List at TrainingIndustry.com.

About Mzinga Mzinga is a leading provider of enterprise social software solutions and services serving the learning, marketing and support markets for employees, customers and partners.  Through a combination of enterprise-class technology, strategy and online moderation services, Mzinga’s social solutions enable businesses to increase revenue and lower costs by improving brand visibility, employee performance, workplace satisfaction, and customer loyalty. Headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, Mzinga empowers millions of users at many of the world’s largest organizations in 160 countries worldwide.

To learn more about Mzinga, visit www.mzinga.com.

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Mzinga continues to exhibit leadership in Content Authoring

Burlington, MA – May 1, 2013 – Mzinga® (http://www.mzinga.com), a leading provider of enterprise social software solutions and services serving the learning, marketing and customer experience markets, today announced it was selected as a Hot Vendor in Content Authoring by Aragon Research.

 “Today’s challenges are in the creation part of the content lifecycle, especially when non-specialist end users rather than media professionals create it…Mzinga Publisher is a complete learning authoring environment that makes the process of creating a rich, interactive course a snap.…Enterprises should look at more integrated tools such as Mzinga to speed up the content development process,” said Aragon Research CEO & Lead Analyst Jim Lundy.

“We’ve had great traction in the content authoring market.  Our content development tools, Firefly and Mzinga Publisher, continue to be recognized by experts such as Aragon Research as truly exceptional,” said Andrew Hallowell, Chief Executive Officer of Mzinga. “We recognize that while the world is evolving to empower the end user and embrace social learning, the demand for truly easy to use and fully featured content authoring tools is increasing.  We’re thrilled to bring this power to our current and future clients.”

In addition to Mzinga, three other complementary vendors were named.  To download the complete report visit http://aragonresearch.com/hot-vendors-in-content-authoring-2013/.

About Mzinga
Mzinga is a leading provider of enterprise social software solutions and services serving the learning, marketing and support markets for employees, customers and partners.  Through a combination of enterprise-class technology, strategy and online moderation services, Mzinga’s social solutions enable businesses to increase revenue and lower costs by improving brand visibility, employee performance, workplace satisfaction, and customer loyalty. Headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, Mzinga empowers millions of users at many of the world’s largest organizations in 160 countries worldwide.

To learn more about Mzinga, visit www.mzinga.com.

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Of course you've heard of the coveted Aragon Research Hot Vendors report, and only the most compelling new technologies or those leveraging cloud, mobile, content or video can pass muster. This year, Alfresco, MZinga, Accellion and SpringCM, among others, have been named in the second annual report.

Content Management and Collaboration

Aragon Research, created by former Gartner analysts Jim Lundy and Mike Anderson, has named 24 companies in its Hot Vendors report. They're broken down into four groups:

• Content Management and Collaboration
• Content Authoring
• Mobile
• Real time Collaboration and Communication

Alfresco, MZinga, Accellion and SpringCM all fall into the top two categories, with MZinga in the content authoring spot. Hot Vendors in the Content Management and Collaboration segment were chosed because they tackle some or all of the themes of cloud, ease of use, integration and security.

MZinga was named a Hot Vendor due to its authoring tools, and not its more well known social marketing and social learning tools, the report found.

Specifically, MZinga Publisher was singled out as a handy tool for publishing interactive learning courses. Games and assessments can be added to a course, so there is no need for a separate testing application, the report noted. Additionally, MZinga Publisher allows for multiple formats to be included like Application Simulation features from MZinga Firefly.

Aragon recommends companies research the kinds of integrated tools Mzinga builds as a way to speed up content development.

MZinga Publisher 6 debuted in April, and Aragon Research named them a Hot Vendor soon thereafter

Content Authoring

Overall, Aragon recommends enterprises check out new ways to capture and share content, even to the point of using multiple tools. Anything that makes it easy and fast to create content, like tablets for example, should be looked at.

That's why companies like Brainshark were also named in the report. It makes it easy to create multimedia presentations hosted in the cloud, the report found, and its ability to add audio to PowerPoint and Apple Keynote presentations are an added bonus.

Brainshark's SlideShark tool was also singled out as an easy way to view PowerPoint slides on iPhones and iPads. The freemium product allows paying customers the ability to groupcast PowerPoint presentations online.

Vendors in the Mobile and Real time Collaboration and Communication segments included AnyPresence in the former, and FuzeBox and iSpeech in the latter.

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Social Enterprise Intelligence provider, Mzinga has announced Mzinga Publisher 6.0, the newest version of its team-based content authoring tool for elearning.   

Everything is Mobile

Mobile has not only become a way for people to connect to each other, but is now also being used as a work tool with the Bring Your Own Device Movement (BYOD). As a result, many companies have redesigned their desktop-based platforms and products to fit this demand. This is a trend that hasn't gone unnoticed by Mzinga, but the company recognizes it hasn't embraced this technology as quickly as it should have.

As the corporate world has evolved to embrace BYOD strategies and challenged their providers to support mobile applications for business critical systems, learning content and content development tools have been slow to embrace these changes,” said Mike Merriman, Director of Strategic Services at Mzinga in a blog post.

This is something Mzinga hopes to change with Publisher 6.0.

As Publisher 6.0 has just been announced, there are only a few features that have been introduced, such as a more mobile-friendly system and a redesigned user interface.

More specifically, Publisher 6.0, will have a cleaner, more modern design, according to Merriman that aims to increase productivity, along with the mentioned mobile changes. With these new mobile capabilities, users can choose which type of device, desktop, tablet or phone, they want to start a project from. If they choose mobile, they have HTML5 support on any mobile or tablet device including iPads, Android phones, iPhones and Notes.

Additional features are expected to be announced later this month, with a full product release in May.

So, What is Mzinga  Publisher?

As a content authoring tool, Mzinga Publisher is web-based collaboration product designed for interactive e-learning. Part of the OmniSocial Content suite of products, the collection is designed to help users learn about their digital environment and improve productivity. Publisher is made up of  “behind the scenes collaboration features” that include blogs, a team presence monitor, chats, tagging capabilities and task management reports.

Other products included in the OmniSocial suite are Firefly for performance and productivity and Custom Content Development Services, an outsourcing and augmentation tool.

The Complete Mzinga Puzzle

The OmniSocial Content Products aren't the only products that Mzinga offers. They've recently introduced  the OmniSocial Engaged platform to help with customer engagement which joins OmniSocial Learning rich learning management and performance products, and OmniSocial Insure for social brand protection, social media strategies and  intelligence action.

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Mzinga Publisher is an award winning social learning content authoring tool. It is browser-based, team oriented, and easy to use.  “In this release, Mzinga publisher is better than ever. As the corporate world has evolved to embrace BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) strategies and challenged their providers to support mobile applications for business critical systems, learning content and content development tools have been slow to embrace these changes.  Mzinga Publisher 6.0 changes that,” says Mike Merriman, VP of Sales and Marketing.  

Amongst the biggest improvements in 6.0 are a modern and intuitive user interface, and new mobile support.  Publisher’s UI has been redesigned from the bottom up to make it easy to use, ultimately increasing your productivity. On the mobile front, courses can be published to HTML5 and deployed to any browser and any device.

Mzinga Publisher is offered as either client or client hosted, and will be made available to existing and new customers in May 2013.  Learn more about Mzinga Publisher at Mzinga.com.

About Mzinga
Mzinga is a leading provider of enterprise social software solutions and services serving the learning, marketing and support markets for employees, customers and partners. Through a combination of enterprise-class technology, strategy and online moderation services, Mzinga’s social solutions enable businesses to increase revenue and lower costs by improving brand visibility, employee performance, workplace satisfaction, and customer loyalty. Headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, Mzinga empowers millions of users at many of the world’s largest organizations in 160 countries worldwide.

To learn more about Mzinga, visit www.mzinga.com.

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Burlington, MA – February 19, 2013 - Mzinga® (http://www.mzinga.com), a leading provider of enterprise social software solutions and services serving the learning, marketing and support markets for employees, customers and partners, announced that Convey Health Solutions, a leading specialty healthcare Business Process Outsourcing firm, has selected Mzinga’s OmniSocial® Learning to power its internal employee collaboration, training and communication initiatives, and expand into a community for customer experience and support.

Convey Health Solutions is in a period of tremendous growth as the company continues to meet the demand for Medicare and Medical Products enrollment, engagement, service and administration support, as well as increased needs for client wellness and quality program support. To meet the requirements of Convey Health’s leadership to cultivate greater employee productivity, learning and development, Convey Health sought a fully-integrated, social learning solution to increase communication between and within departments, enable better teamwork and collaboration, deliver informal and formal learning through enhanced coursework and training, and expand beyond an employee-based solution to an external community for customer support initiatives. As a result, Convey Health Solutions chose Mzinga OmniSocial Learning to power the “Convey Health Solutions Pulse.”

“Our entire organization is excited about the launch of the ‘Convey Health Solutions Pulse,’ said Jeff Bishop, Chief Operating Officer of Convey Health Solutions. “In a very short time, The Pulse has already positively impacted the way our team communicates and how we develop and train our employees. Longer term, it will improve the way we collaborate, engage customers and provide even broader employee development opportunities.”

Mzinga OmniSocial provides a rich, unified solution that gives businesses the opportunity to raise brand visibility, employee productivity and customer satisfaction through more comprehensive employee, customer, brand, and partner experiences. With a broad range of social and formal learning technologies as well as community solutions, OmniSocial Learning allows users to interact and share ideas, which helps employees perform better.

“Convey Health Solutions is focused on delivering high quality and compliant services to their healthcare clients. They needed a solution that would start with support for employee communication, development and learning with potential to expand in a second phase for customer experience and support,” said Annie Garner, VP of Services at Mzinga. “Working with Mzinga, Convey Health was able to not only implement an employee collaboration program but can now use the same platform to collaborate with clients -- creating a pervasive community.”

About Convey Health Solutions

Convey Health Solutions is committed to providing clients with healthcare-specific, compliant member support solutions utilizing technology, engagement and analytics.

They create better business results and better healthcare consumer experiences on behalf of their business customers and partners (some of the nation’s leading health insurance companies, pharmacy benefit management firms, pharmacies and more). Their healthcare-focused teams in all locations support hundreds of thousands of Americans in making important decisions related to health insurance coverage, medical products as well as wellness and chronic condition management. Learn more at www.ConveyHealthSolutions.com.

About Mzinga
Mzinga is a leading provider of enterprise social software solutions and services serving the learning, marketing and support markets for employees, customers and partners. Through a combination of enterprise-class technology, strategy and online moderation services, Mzinga’s social solutions enable businesses to increase revenue and lower costs by improving brand visibility, employee performance, workplace satisfaction, and customer loyalty. Headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, Mzinga empowers millions of users at many of the world’s largest organizations in 160 countries worldwide.

To learn more about Mzinga, visit www.mzinga.com.

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Burlington, MA – January 29, 2013 – Mzinga® (http://www.mzinga.com), a leading provider of enterprise social software solutions and services serving the learning, marketing and support markets for employees, customers and partners, announced it was selected as a top Authoring Tool Company by TrainingIndustry.com.

“This year’s crop of applicants far exceeded our expectations for our second annual Authoring Tools list,” said Ken Taylor, Chief Operating Officer, TrainingIndustry.com. “We selected a strong group of companies whose tools provide a great combination of capabilities and features that allow for both rapid and high quality course development.”

Selection to this year's Top 20 Authoring Tools Companies was based on: leadership and innovation, features and capabilities of the Authoring Tools, company size and growth potential, company focus on the authoring platforms, strength and number of clients/users, and geographic reach.

“These 20 companies are great examples of companies focused on providing our industry with one of the key tools in the development of great content,” said Doug Harward, Chief Executive Officer, TrainingIndustry.com.

“We’re thrilled to be recognized in this group of vendors as a leader in the authoring tool market,” said Jody Frey,  Lead Content Officer of Mzinga. “We have been focused on learning content for over 20 years – administering it through our leading Social Learning Management System, building custom content for clients world-wide, sourcing off-the-shelf content for clients, and providing award-winning authoring tools.”

View the 2013 Top 20 Authoring Tools Companies at TrainingIndustry.com

About Mzinga
Mzinga is a leading provider of enterprise social software solutions and services serving the learning, marketing and support markets for employees, customers and partners.  Through a combination of enterprise-class technology, strategy and online moderation services, Mzinga’s social solutions enable businesses to increase revenue and lower costs by improving brand visibility, employee performance, workplace satisfaction, and customer loyalty. Headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, Mzinga empowers millions of users at many of the world’s largest organizations in 160 countries worldwide.

To learn more about Mzinga, visit www.mzinga.com.

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Burlington, MA – October 31, 2012 - Mzinga® (http://www.mzinga.com), a leading provider of enterprise social software solutions and services serving the learning, marketing and customer experience markets, today announced the release of OmniSocial® Engaged. OmniSocial Engaged is a flexible social business platform that helps enterprises connect with target audiences on a deeper level to drive website traffic, amplify customer and buyer loyalty, and increase customer satisfaction.

OmniSocial Engaged can be easily branded, configured, and deployed to match customers’ unique business needs in creating a seamless social ecosystem -- either as a private or public site, or as integrated applications within existing web environments or as a custom social solution through Developer APIs.

The new release supports buyers through three different solution sets designed to meet target audience needs:

• For Enthusiasts

Organizations can connect fans, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those with shared experiences by creating a community that delivers value by building demand to reach new audiences, increase opportunities for revenue generation, and create a base of passionate, engaged fans and buyers.

• For Brands

With an OmniSocial Engaged solution, brands can harness the power of online conversations to develop a compelling brand image, accelerate innovation through crowdsourcing, acquire intelligence for market research, increase market demand to drive sales and motivate and engage members.

• For Support

OmniSocial Engaged helps reduce support costs, increase customer satisfaction, gain valuable customer insights, enables peer-to-peer support and customer collaboration.

Features & Functionality
OmniSocial Engaged offers a self service solution which allows businesses to easily implement and integrate social applications and widgets into existing web properties, Facebook pages, business applications or deployed as a stand-alone, branded solution. With easy-to-use administration controls, OmniSocial Engaged administrators benefit from intuitive configurability and management across all their OmniSocial environments.

Additional features and functions, such as banned and watch word filters, user permissions, and moderation queue dashboard, are designed for community managers and moderators to help automate the removal of harmful content, manage content, and ensure that users adhere to the Terms of Service.  Content can also be organized in multiple ways, by folders, categories, and tags, to allow users to find the content they are looking for in a more logical and intuitive way.  Other features such as recognition and reward badging and assignable icons allows community managers to reward their most valuable users by assigning badges such as top contributors, engaged member, or influential member.

With social analytics and reporting, enterprises can measure community success and return on their OmniSocial Engaged investment by analyzing and reporting on key community features such as logins and registration, traffic and page views, popular application and topics, member engagement and influence, search terms and much more.

“Organizations today are looking to not only reshape their brand image, but they are looking for a solution that will completely change how they interact with customers to build and support those relationships,” said Mike Merriman, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Mzinga. “OmniSocial Engaged takes advantage of the changing landscape of brand marketing, support and enthusiast communities to meet the growing market demand.”

OmniSocial Engaged is available immediately. The full feature list and pricing is available upon request.

About Mzinga
Mzinga is a leading provider of enterprise social software solutions and services serving the learning, marketing and support markets for employees, customers and partners.  Through a combination of enterprise-class technology, strategy and online moderation services, Mzinga’s social solutions enable businesses to increase revenue and lower costs by improving brand visibility, employee performance, workplace satisfaction, and customer loyalty. Headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, Mzinga empowers millions of users at many of the world’s largest organizations in 160 countries worldwide.

To learn more about Mzinga, visit www.mzinga.com.

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• While business are attaining some value through social technologies, 49 percent state that they are not using social technologies to their full potential, while only 12 percent of respondents acknowledge that social technologies have helped in their day-to-day roles and responsibilities
• The top use cases for social technologies that will impact areas of trust and influence include customer experience, service or support; marketing or brand experience; employee collaboration and knowledge sharing; and sales

• 75 percent of respondents do not measure ROI for their social business programs, while the majority of use occurs on a case-by-case basis
• Of those who do not measure ROI, 31 percent don?t know if their vendor provides analytics, 14 percent have a vendor who does not provide analytics, and 44 percent do not work with a vendor for analytics at all
• Some respondents also are unaware of what information analytics can provide, whereas others state a desire for more thorough, advanced training on their analytics? capabilities
• Many participants claimed to be influential in their company?s adoption of social technologies but were unaware of how their use could be successfully measured, or stated that analytics were too difficult

• Big data technologies are still ahead of the market: 42 percent of respondents are unfamiliar with big data technologies
• Respondents realize the importance of analyzing and gleaning insights from social interactions happening in real time, but are unable to indicate a time frame in which they will implement a solution to do so
• The top metrics respondents want in a big data solution include customer feedback and preferences; user, behavioral and content trend analysis; and ROI

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