Noodle

GetApp Analysis

Growing companies don’t have time to use dozens of separate apps and platforms for common workday tasks. With a social intranet platform like Noodle, however, it’s possible for employees to share ideas, post documents, merge schedules, and upload photos all from within a single, unified site. Noodle is a web-based solution intended to enhance communication, encourage innovation, and increase corporate wisdom.

With multiple levels of adoption, companies can choose which features are right for them. Noodle fits somewhere between open source intranets and higher-cost solutions like Microsoft SharePoint, with partial flexibility and no work investment.

Key Noodle features include system-wide apps, real-time activity streams, customizable portals, instant messaging, and integrated employee profiles. Companies get access to 15 system applications from the get-go, providing employees with the ability to share, collaborate, and complete tasks inside Noodle from the moment they start using the web-based solution.

What is Noodle?

For organizations that currently share information through a combination of email, file servers, and static webpages, Noodle is a welcome alternative. The web-based intranet replaces outdated technologies and connects employees through a built-in corporate social network. Using a combination of profile pages, activity and status feeds, and instant messaging, employees are able to quickly share information. Noodle also increases employee engagement by making knowledge and work more transparent.

Every page within a company’s intranet includes a search engine, which helps Noodle users find what they’re looking for in a flash. Wiki-based page editing makes it easy for employees to update company pages, blogs, and forums. At the same time, strong permission controls limit the information that certain employees have access to, preventing contractors or freelancers from reading, posting, or modifying selected types of content.

The app is available locally or in the cloud. Cloud-hosted Noodles are hosted in Rackspace, which is a leader in IT security. When companies choose local hosting, they have the option to sync Noodle with Active Directory, as well.

Noodle Main Features

Employee Profiles

Employee profile pages offer a glimpse into what individuals within a company have been working on and what they have on the horizon in the coming days and weeks. Employees can review their colleagues’ profiles to see the history of the content they’ve created, along with more personal information, which is accessible through status updates and personal photos.

Customize your profile page to reflect your personal aesthetic and professional reputation. You can select your own profile picture, add links to your social media accounts, and include a brief biography. Profile pages serve as a great place to keep to-do lists and post family photos, as well. Your page should give colleagues a good idea about who you are both inside and outside of the office. Noodle also gives you the option to download a shortcut that stores your password for faster access.

Activity Feeds

Activity feeds promote engagement from within Noodle. Users are able to see personalized views of their feeds—singling out the work of specific colleagues or reviewing certain types of content first—with the ability to filter content and have the newest updates routed directly to their email inboxes.

Keep your activity feed updated by sharing real-time information with status updates. Your colleagues will see your status update and then scroll down to “like” or comment on the items in their feeds. Examples of typical items in a feed might include meeting updates and links to documents that have been newly created or edited. New content will display under the “What’s New” icon.

Instant Messenger

Noodle has developed a smarter, faster way for employees to communicate. The social intranet’s built-in instant messenger application provides a way for employees to chat and collaborate on all types of projects. It notifies users when they have new messages through a blinking light on the web browser.

In addition to chatting with colleagues through Noodle’s instant messenger, you can also share photos and videos. Built-in video conferencing makes it possible to launch video conferences with multiple colleagues. You can shortlist the contacts you communicate with most frequently, as well. The app keeps an archive of all chat logs for future reference.

Document Sharing

The ability to securely share documents is a key component to any intranet. Noodle has focused on providing its users with a seamless way to share and collaborate on documents. Not only do users have the ability to create an unlimited number of folders for any type of file or document, but they can also utilize advanced tools that require colleagues to “check-in” or “check-out” documents online.

You can set up a workflow to manage your documents. The workflow you create will automatically move, archive, or delete certain documents based on the timeline you selected. Documents can be shared individually or in bulk, with the ability to track which users have viewed each document and which, if any, have made modifications or edits.

Noodle Integrations

Noodle integrates with Google Calendar and Microsoft Active Directory.

Noodle Pricing

A free 30-day trial is available for organizations with up to 15 users. Companies that opt for the Cloud Pro account can expect to pay $3 per user, per month, with a minimum of 50 users. An On-Premise solution is available, as well. Noodle’s On-Premise solution costs $9,500 for the first 1,000 users.

Noodle Bottom Line

• Provides businesses with a way to share ideas, post documents, and merge schedules
• Enables quick communication through a built-in instant messenger
• Workflows simplify the document sharing and management process
• Activity streams show all new content in real-time
• Promotes engagement within growing companies