Leaderboarded exists to provide stand alone leaderboards that are transparent and flexible. You decide who is playing (players) the rules for scoring (metrics), the frequency of update and score period (release) and decide who will see the leaderboard and how (channels).

But often it’s not obvious, at first glance why a standalone solution is going to be better. Many apps have leaderboards ‘baked in’ to the software, why would you ever need a stand alone leaderboard? If you were wondering, then here are 4 good reasons:

1. You can display it on multiple channels – that means your leaderboard isn’t buried inside a single app – i.e. on a Salesforce tab, or under a Yammer menu. Instead you can post on a LIve TV, project is on  massive 50 foot wall, print it out and stick it to the noticeboard, tweet about it – you get the idea.  Making the leaderboard as visible as possible is part of ensuring it’s appeal.

2. You can control who is playing more easily. You might want to exclude the admin team from the leaderboard or perhaps senior managers – by running the leaderboard as stand alone, this gives you control over who is playing.

3. Players can opt-in and opt-out easily. Not everyone wants to be on a leaderboard, having a stand-alone leaderboard allows people to opt-in and out according to their own wishes.

4. You can mash in new metrics from other systems.  Not all leaderboards are ‘single system’ – there are plenty of times you might want to weave in data and activity from other systems – a LinkedIn – Twitter – Salesforce mash-up leaderboard can be really effective in driving social selling performance for example.

If you’re in need of inspiration, take a look  at the Exaleague of London Tech Startups.  This league is on the web, on TV screens and noticeboards at the participating tech community venues – it covers scores from a multitude of systems (social media platforms).