REDMOND, Wash. — Sept. 20, 2010 — Two of the biggest problems facing today’s information workers are e-mail overload and the challenge of keeping track of deliverables, their due dates and their owners. But now there’s a new collaboration software product called Liaise, from a company of the same name, that helps teams and individuals who send and receive hundreds of e-mails a day stay in control of the action items mentioned in their messages.

Liaise automatically identifies and captures actionable items within Outlook messages. Click for larger image.

Designed to work seamlessly with Microsoft Outlook, Liaise uses a natural language processing engine to capture, organize and prioritize action items in both incoming and outgoing messages. Liaise doesn't require users to change anything about the way they write e-mails. Automatically it annotates messages with five parameters: the name of the initiative, issues or actions, people responsible, due dates and level of urgency. Liaise then organizes this information into a management dashboard where users can quickly sort items, update their status, synchronize tasks and activities with other Liaise users, create management reports, and update their Outlook calendar. If an action becomes overdue, Liaise generates a notification to that effect. For team interactions that don’t occur through e-mail, users can apply the same intelligent recognition software to meeting minutes and notes from conversations, extracting action items, assignees, due dates, etc.

Liaise might not have reached the market without the help of a two-year-old Microsoft program called BizSpark, which helps software startups around the world succeed by giving them free access to software development tools and platforms, business and technical advice, and a connection to more than 2,500 BizSpark Network Partners, including investors, consultants, university incubators, government agencies and financial institutions. Some 35,000 companies are now enrolled in BizSpark.

“BizSpark provides entrepreneurs with access to software, technical support, business coaching, and markets and channels at a time when they need it most and can least afford it,” says Lynda Ting, BizSpark program manager at Microsoft.

In November 2009, Microsoft launched BizSpark One, an invitation-only intensive program for select BizSpark enrollees that the program’s leaders feel have the greatest potential for success and the closest alignment with Microsoft’s platforms or markets. Only about 100 businesses are invited to join the BizSpark One program.

Startups accepted into the BizSpark One program are paired with a dedicated relationship manager at Microsoft who is often both advisor and advocate to the business to help it identify its unique opportunities and expand its network of partners, investors and mentors. A key goal of the BizSpark One program is to create a community dedicated to nurturing some of the most promising startups in the Microsoft ecosystem.

“Being involved in the BizSpark One program has been tremendously helpful,” says Sidney Minassian, co-founder of Liaise. “It gave us a chance to consult with people at Microsoft who had excellent insights into our target demographic and were able to help us make strategic decisions about where to focus our limited resources. And it gave us exposure to distributors and other potential partners that a small startup like Liaise could not have easily reached without Microsoft’s endorsement.”