Well, that didn’t take long. As many of our readers know, this fall Microsoft Corporation closed its local product development office, which was called the Twin City Development Center, leaving between 30 and 40 software engineers without jobs. Today, about 20 percent of those professionals have found new opportunities with a 2013 Minneapolis-based startup called Smart Social Media — a wholly owned subsidiary of Texas-based Next Wave Health — that leverages the power of social media to take on and meet healthcare-industry challenges.
Smart Social Media’s technology is designed to address the complex challenges of healthcare delivery and management by providing custom, interactive, peer-to-peer, and enterprise social collaboration platforms for hospitals and healthcare IT users. It supports new, smart communities that can drive change.
According to its web site, the Smart Social Media team develops “secure, mobile social platforms for the healthcare industry and hospitals that not only want to connect with their audience, but also leverage the audience to drive beneficial outcomes from collaborative interactions.”
The Minneapolis office is located at 221 North First Street and is headed by Scott Diestler, VP of development.
“The former Microsoft developers, now with SSM, share their new employer’s dynamic vision to combine the power of IT and social media to improve an industry at a tipping point,” said Gina McAllister, the company’s spokesperson, in an email to me. “They find the opportunities of working in an agile environment that allows them to wear many hats in the development of unique new software to be worthy of their accomplished pasts and considerable skills.”
To learn more, follow Smart Social Media via its presence on Twitter or Facebook.