Peerlyst has announced the world’s first social site that fosters community around IT products. The website gives enterprise technology decision makers comprehensive product information from a range of sources, including the one they value most: their peers’ firsthand experience with IT solutions.
Peerlyst provides a unique, trusted social buying experience for enterprise technology products and services, using the same capabilities that people are familiar with from their personal social networks. Peerlyst combines LinkedIn-like product pages (PeerPages™) with user-generated product ratings (PeerRatings™) of the key product features that are most important to IT decision makers.
Peerlyst’s social features, such as the ability to follow products, will give users an ongoing feed of pertinent information over a product’s life span. That includes reviews and comments from other Peerlyst users; technical content from vendors; and product-related articles, discussions, files, and videos from the Web.
“CIOs, CISOs, and IT managers don’t have the time and resources to benchmark each product, so getting the real story about a contemplated purchase—be it hardware, software, or services—is invaluable,” said Peerlyst founder and CEO Limor Elbaz. “Peerlyst provides new avenues to get relevant and timely information to make informed decisions and manage risk with both existing technology solutions and future purchases.”
She adds, “Peerlyst is the only site to provide the depth of information required for a true social buying experience. What IT pros want is a reality check based on the crowdsourced experience of many other users.”
Peerlyst is focused on enterprise solutions that cost thousands to millions to acquire, implement, and maintain. “Other websites deal with markets where the product acquisition cost is low and the information required for decision making is simple,” Elbaz points out. “Those sites cover products like Gmail, Skype, and Dropbox, which cost nothing or very little to try, and certainly don’t call for peer advice.”
Focus on Enterprise Security
The IT security market is the first segment of the Peerlyst service to officially launch, with approximately 1,600 information security vendors and more than 6,000 identified products across multiple categories.
Peerlyst is kicking off the site launch with a PeerFocus™ campaign targeted at users of mobile security solutions from vendors that include Absolute Software, Accellion, AirPatrol, AirWatch, Amtel, AppSense, Appthority, Asurion, BlueBox, Boxtone, Centrify, Citrix, FancyFon Software, Fiberlink, Good Technology, MobileIron, Mocana, SecurityCoverage, Silverback, Tangoe, and more.
“I’m excited about the launch of Peerlyst,” said Dan Lohrmann, chief security officer for the state of Michigan. “I think its model of using social media and peer reviews in a LinkedIn-like format has the opportunity to change the way enterprises research and purchase technology. The free use of the service for end users is also intriguing.”
To try Peerlyst, sign up on www.peerlyst.com. IT security companies, their marketing and public relations departments, and their PR firms can submit products for inclusion in the Peerlyst database on the site, or by emailing vendors@peerlyst.com.
More details on the PeerFocus on Mobile Security program can be found at www.peerlyst.com/categories
About Peerlyst, Inc.
Peerlyst is a social media platform designed to give enterprise technology decision makers the unbiased information they need to buy, and make the best use of, IT solutions. The network enables a new social buying experience based on peer-to-peer interaction regarding technology products, services, and integration. Peerlyst is designed to guarantee that users get honest information about enterprise technology from actual users and experts. The company has offices in Silicon Valley.
Information on Peerlyst can be found at www.peerlyst.com or by following the company on Twitter @Peerlyst.
