Jive Software, the maker of an all-in-one social enterprise software, has acquired data mining software company Proximal Labs. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Proximal Labs is a software company that analyzes and mines data within a community to power applications that plug into social media networks. These “smart apps” learn about users based on what they do in the community, who they interact with, and how they behave. Based on data mined, Proximal Labs’ technology delivers contextualized recommendations that put timely, relevant conversations, people and content together; guided, personalized search that sort results based on users interests and recent activity in the community; smart streams that filters and personalizes content, and an adaptive Q & A that automatically routes questions to key community members and creates teaming around issues.
For Jive, the acquisition of Proximal is an investment in beginning to analyze and mine big data within Jive’s professional social networks to better serve its users. As Jive says, the company is using ‘big data to unlock
the value of the social graph in the enterprise.’ Modeled to offer Facebook-like features to enterprises, Jive’s software combines computing with social collaboration to offer fully-featured social networks for businesses. Its suite of applications help businesses collaborate on a variety of tasks, including holding discussions, communication, sharing documents, blogging, running polls, and social networking features and more.
Of course, Facebook has masterfully analyzed interactions and data on the social network to give users a better personalized experience (i.e. friend recommendations). Jive’s SVP of Engineering Brian Roddy, says that Jive wants to start delivering a similar experience to their enterprise users.
Roddy says that Proximal’s technology will help Jive provide better personalized and intelligent recommendations to Jive users, will enhance search results, and improve the application’s analytics capabilities. And a more personalized Experience, says Roddy, improves collaboration within an enterprise. With the acquisition, Proximal Labs’ team will lead the “big data” team at Jive. David Gutellius, Proximal Labs’ co-founder and CEO will become Jive’s Chief Social Scientist.
As Jive ramps up for an IPO this year, the company just added four new board members, including execs from Google and Facebook. And the company raised $30 million in new funding last year. As for acquisitions, Roddy says than we can expect more on the horizon.