Just yesterday we were talking about team communication with the launch of Fleep, the communication tool created by a team of ex-Skypers in Estonia. But meanwhile throughout the whole Nokia/Microsoft surprise, I saw Ninchat popping up on my newsfeed in connection to the news, and now see they’ve launched some new partnership news today.
You could say the Finnish startup is taking IRC into the modern age, believing the real-time communication IRC offers has a number of unexplored uses. Their new expanded to-be-formally-announced offering, Ninchat for Websites, has been picking up traction with a few customers, like Finnish state broadcaster YLE news, who employed the technology for analysis after the announcement.
The product offered was unique to my eyes, which split the real time chat in half vertically down the screen. On the left side of the screen the chat was devoted to YLE’s analysts discussing the news, while everyone else could comment on the right side.
“It proved highly engaging and addictive to all parties,” says Ville Mujunen, CEO of Ninchat. The chat peaked at 600 users at one time, with no press or advertising.
Also in today’s Ninchat news, the company has announced a partnership with Veikkaus, Finland’s national lottery. Here it is being used as a customer service solution where Veikkaus customers can communicate in real time with customer support. The solution also gives the customer support a back-end to discuses issues themselves.
Ninchat put the whole dual-chat service up with a 2 hour notice from YLE, and are now continuing their cooperation. Mujunen says that it’s a good anecdote for today in Finland, which is the National Day of Entrepreneurs. Rather than one of the larger consulting/development companies creating a product, large customers like YLE need a fast, flexible partner.
