As we talk with corporate HR and L&D leaders they tell us that more and more of their focus is moving toward strategies and systems which support and create internal social networks, internal collaboration, content sharing, and informal learning.  So naturally we asked ourselves, how is this all going to come together?

Our research found several things.  First, today most companies are experimenting with many forms of social software in the areas of employee expert directories, customer service, customer community management, sales force collaboration and knowledge management, and technical communities of practice.  In fact, more than half the companies we talked with have active, highly sophistocated communities of practice in many of their customer facing and technical roles.  

Second, we found that very few companies have found a way to apply these tools and solutions to enterprise-wide HR, learning, and talent strategies.  Some, like IBM and Cisco, have invested heavily in this area and are well along on implementing what we call "learning on-demand" solutions internally.  But most companies are still bringing together teams from IT, HR, L&D, sales, and service and trying to figure out how an enterprise-wide social networking strategy would work.

Third, we found that this new application segment has spawned a large and very fast-growing segment of software providers.   While the jury is still out on whether these companies will grow into billion dollar companies or be subsumed into the likes of Oracle, SAP, Microsoft, IBM, and others, we believe that for the next 3-5 years these companies will become very important in the development of strategies and solutions for enterprise-wide learning and talent strategies.  The market is already over $270 Million and we expect it to grow to over $400 Million by the end of 2009.

These new, fast-growing companies like Atlassian, Jive Software, LiveWorld, Mzinga, and Telligent have built highly functional systems which implement the four major categories of "Social Software" - conversations, connections, collaboration, and content.  While most are not uniquely targeting the market for HR and corporate training, all are moving in this direction and they warrant a good look by your organization.

Does this mean that the market for Learning Management Systems (LMS) and content management systems is going away?  No, not at all -- but it clearly means that a new "category" has been created, and this new category will challenge LMS providers and corporate buyers to think hard about how they build their next-generation HR and Learning systems architectures.

I encourage our clients to learn about this space - it is transformational.  Our upcoming research bulletin on the role of Social Networking in Enterprise Learning and Talent Management will help you learn more.

Some interesting facts to consider:

People participating in your social network are more likely to spend more money with you.

People participating in your social network are likely to be loyal to your brand.

Later the same day I was on a sales call visiting a large organization. One of things they mentioned is that they tried a small pilot of Lotus Connections last summer. The pilot was well received by the summer interns, but now the interns are gone and they are not sure what to do with it. They thought that the software was good but they weren't sure if the corporate culture was right or ready for an online social network. In addition, they were concerned with how to monitor the content being posted. Armed with the well-formulated thoughts from the seminar, we talked about the 4 steps to a successful social network: Plan, Design, Launch, Monitor.

A good plan and a well-designed site will go a long way to ensure a successful launch. Make sure you know who you want to be in your social network, design a community to meet their needs and figure out how to attract them. The software selection comes 3rd in the planning process. It should not be the main driver for how your community will look and act.

I am hoping PSC will be able to help these folks as they take another stab at building an internal social network.

Seems one of my current favorites is closer to home than I thought. If you are a member of the EMC Developer Network, no doubt you have been pleased and impressed with the new platform. Under the covers it is powered (at least in part) by Jive Software, who recently announced a new release of their flagship Clearspace. Marko had some insight into this relationship from EMC World in this post.

I'm sure there are more developments to come but in the interim, the inclusion of Jive in the EDN makes the product worth further exploration.

DAY ONE:

It was a great first day at the iPhone DevCamp 2 satellite event being held in Portland.  Despite being under construction, Jive Software is a first-rate venue.  The setup at Jive includes a spacious main area, where a live satellite feed from the San Francisco main event could be viewed on a giant screen.  There were tables to work at, electricity and wi-fi internet access for camper's laptops, comfortable seating and access to a well-stocked kitchen.  Separate meeting rooms provided a quiet place to work or chat.  The whole place has an energetic, hip urban vibe about it. Jim Goings and Jive Software are wonderful hosts.  Employees of this local software company should really appreciate these diggs.  When construction is complete on Jive's downtown Portland headquarters, the renovated old Federal Reserve Building will be something to behold. I can't wait to see it.

Ten first day attendees arrived shortly after 9:00 am, set up their laptops and introduced themselves.  Developers and coders are not known for being morning people, so fresh coffee and things to eat for breakfast were quite welcome. After some discussions went around the room about what people wanted to gain from this event, it was time for the opening keynote forum from San Francisco via Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro.  Merlin Mann led the forum, alongside Mike Lee and  Brian Fling.  I'm sure it was a fine keynote forum, but it was really hard to follow from a satellite feed with seven other cities and I lost track of what was going on.  That was alright because the Portland team was itching to get started on their entry in the Hackathon contest.  A basic team of four people began discussing how to build procedural wallpapers for the iPhone. Work went on into the late night and other than lunch, the rest of the day was uneventful.

DAY TWO:

A crack team of Portland iPhone geeks decended upon Jive Software, bright-eyed and ready to go for day two of iPhone Devcamp 2. From the night before, much of the XXXXXXXXXXXXX for the Hackathon entry had been built using XXXXXXXXXX and XXXXXXXXX.  The team, led by Andrew Pouloit, assessed what had been done and what was still left to do.  XXXX XXXXXX had XXXXXXXX the XXXXXXXX by XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.  This was especially difficult because XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.  A simple fix was to XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. As you may know, XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX and XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.  This a common problem and XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX is a real time saver.

So, with the XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, there was still much work to do.  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX and XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX need to be adressed when dealing with any XXXXXXXXXXXXXX.  In order to XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, you should always XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.

So much was learned by XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.  A XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX should be in every coder's vocabulary.  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX and XXXXXX are reliable fixes for a problem that is shared by many when trying to XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.

By now, the XXXXXXXX and XXXXXXX were XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.  A basic work flow for  XXXXXXXXXXXX is XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, according to this group's experience.  So much was learned by XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX and XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.

HACKATHON:

Portland wins the Hackathon for best app among the cities attending the event via satellite!!! Details are still being discussed about what I can say about it.  Stay tuned.

SPECIAL THANKS:

When our original event venue became unavailable  shortly after we announced our event to the world, Rick Turoczy of Silicon Florist put the word out for us and the very next day, we had three offers.  Jive Software stepped in right away and said we could use their offices.  They not only offered their space, but made sure we felt welcome, even making event posters for us. We should feel fortunate to live where there is such support for the tech scene and give these people some love whenever we can.  Thanks to all of the attendees for making this a successful event.  Next year's event should be even bigger and better.

]]> http://dougcoleman.wordpress.com/?p=224 Tue, 29 Jul 2008 23:23:20 +0000 dougcoleman http://dougcoleman.fr.wordpress.com/2008/07/29/portland-iphone-developers-unite/

Thanks to the efforts of iPhone visionary Dean Martindale and Portland tech community supporter Jive Software, iPhone DevCamp 2 is holding a satellite event in Portland.  This event is open to the public and is free.

For those of you who are not familiar with iPhone DevCamp, here is a brief explanation from iPhone DevCamp.org:

iPhoneDevCamp 2 is an upcoming not-for-profit gathering to develop applications for iPhone and iPod touch using both the native SDK and web standards. This is a follow-on event to the first iPhoneDevCamp, held in early July 2007.

iPhone DevCamp Portland will take place August 2nd and August 3rd at Jive Software Map Link.  Here is what will be available at our satellite feed event:

• 2 projectors (more if we really need it) - each connected to a MacMini (or your own computer)
• Wi-Fi with fast, redundant Internet feeds
• Seating for 40 (but probably less once tables, etc are setup)
• Beverage cooler  with drinks
• Coffee
• Food is still being planned and people will not go hungry
  

Additionally, there will be a meet and greet on Friday evening August 1st, from 6pm to 8pm at the Living Room Theaters across the street from Jive and Powell’s Bookstore.

Participants will be able to participate in this year's Hackathon!! Track up-to-the-minute updates from San Francisco at iphonedevcamp.org.

An agenda and further information can be found at: iPhoneDevCampPDX.pbwiki.org anyone interested in providing food sponsorship for this event please contact dougcoleman1@gmail.com or Dean Martindale.

This hilarious video shows the big "break up" customers are having with traditional media, in particular advertising.  It's part of the Bring the Love Back blog created by Microsoft Marketing Manager Geert Desager and the communications agency Openhere.  It's great to see the man embracing the Groundswell.

I am excited to announce that iPhone DevCamp 2 PDX has an new venue! Thanks to Jim Goings and the wonderful people at Jive Software, iPhone DevCamp 2 PDX will be held August 2nd and 3rd at Jive's Stark St. offices in Downtown Portland.  Here is what the space has to offer:

• 2 projectors (more if we really need it) - each connected to a MacMini (or your own computer)
• Wi-Fi with fast, redundant Internet feeds
• Seating for 40 (but probably less once tables, etc are setup)
• Beverage cooler  with drinks
• Coffee
• Food is still being planned and people will not go hungry
  

Additionally, there will be a meet and greet on Friday evening August 1st, from 6pm to 8pm at the Living Room Theaters across the street from Jive and Powell's Bookstore.

I would like to thank those people who responded quickly with venues and ideas for help when we were in crisis.  I would personally like to thank Rick Turoczy of Silicon Florist for spreading the word on his site and on Twitter when I lost all of my followers suddenly. Rick is a rockstar in this town, and a great supporter of the tech scene here.  You should follow him: @turoczy.

For more information, go to: iphonedevcamppdx.pbwiki.org.  Be sure to register early on Upcoming and look for updates on this site.

1. Organizations are working mightily to figure out how to leverage social networking (blogs, wikis, presence awareness, messaging, expert directories, communities of practice) in all forms of corporate training, customer education and support, and talent management.  For example, 77% of all L&D organizations believe that younger workers (under 25) have significantly different learning styles than older workers, yet only 16% feel they have developed some level of expertise in the implementation of collaborative learning.  In our most recent Learning On-Demand research, even the most advanced companies tell us that only 14% of companies are using blogs or wikis, and fewer than 4% feel highly successful with these solutions yet.  One big surprise:  28% of our research respondents are not even using Instant Messaging yet, illustrating how long it takes for collaborative solutions to reach broad adoption (and support from IT).
2. Learning platforms are being "re-examined."  Most of the companies we talk with are significantly rethinking their entire learning platform strategy (LMS) to understand how to evolve or add new systems which support collaboration.  And today's LMS is not as successful as one would believe:  across all the organizations we studied (approximately 900 different organizations), on average only 51% of employees use the learning platform at all.
3. Sophistocated, large, global companies are moving fast.  Almost 1/4 (24%) of organizations now have some concept or strategy for "learning on-demand" (the term we have coined to describe the next era of corporate e-learning), and larger organizations (those with more than 10,000 employees) are twice as far along as small to mid-sized organizations.  The reason, of course, is that large organizations have no choice - without collaborative solutions they can no longer scale their L&D programs.
4. Social networking software companies are sprouting up like weeds.  We identified 90 such companies in our research, and more than 35 of them are somewhat focused on the corporate internal employee market.  Our initial research clearly shows that these companies fall into four categories:  (A) software providers focused on corporate learning, HR, and collaboration systems and solutions (e.g. IBM, Microsoft-Sharepoint, Jive, Mzinga, Awareness, Q2 Learning, and others), (B) providers focused on external customer and public-facing collaborative networks like a company external blog (e.g. Lithium, Ning, Communispace, Telligent) (C) providers focused on content management systems, who have added on systems for collaboration (EMC, OpenText,  Ektron, Alfresco) and (D) true application software companies who are adding collaboration and social networking to their systems (SuccessFactors, Saba, CornerstoneOndemand).
5. I firmly believe that this new form of software-enabled collaboration is a revolution, not an evolution.  Like many of the software innovations that I have personally witnessed over my career (e.g. the first color graphics PC, the CD-ROM, the web-browser, Flash, SaaS architectures, and others), social networking is really going to shake things up.  The reason is that these systems are both complex, data-rich, and require a new type of software architecture.  A system which supports 200,000 employees and customers with in-depth employee and customer profiles, active communication and blogging, tagging, content management, custom branding, and tracking each and every communication is quite a complex software solution.  As we examine these vendors we are finding some very significant new areas of functionality which are going to change and upset the traditional HR software companies.
6. The jury is out on what our ultimate HR software architectures will look like.  Small and mid-sized companies will likely adopt social networking through their SaaS application solutions.  Enterprises are more likely to develop IT standards eventually.  And many companies will implement departmental, divisional, and application-led solutions while the market evolves.  While most enterprises would like to have a corporate "architecture" in this area, it will take time for this to occur and it often takes a few years for the "safe, corporate-approved" solutions to emerge.  (None are there yet.)

We also recently hired David Mallon, our newest analyst covering this area - who is actively involved in identifying case studies and product solutions in "learning on-demand" and the applications of social networking to corporate talent management. 

Research Available:  A Primer on Social Networking in Talent Management

We recently published "Social Networking for Enterprise Learning and Talent Management:  A Primer" which is available to anyone who would like to register at our website. 

Note:  we are actively seeking input on your experiences and organizational strategy in this area - you can participate in this study by clicking here.

An exciting area and we look forward to giving you more information as we learn more!

The PR and advertising world has changed.  Our daily work is no longer behind the scenes. If you've got to hide, then you're not confident in your abilities. Yes, there are some competitive advantages/differentiators that some agencies might not want to broadcast.  I'm thinking this could be like a gov't public meeting has to be conducted in California under the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act.  The big picture stuff should be in public.  But the principals are allowed to go into "closed session" for discussion of things like HR, $$$, and anything proprietary.  Best of both worlds.

Hey Sam!  We're in.

1. Youtube doesn't generate anywhere close the advertising revenue to even pay for the bandwidth costs to stream their videos, much less the ability to payout their licensed content providers on a per stream basis.  And since user generated videos are by nature inconsistent, Google has a daunting task ahead of them to take Youtube to profitability.

2. Twitter is the microblogging service that allows users to share quick snippets of information either about themselves or something they wish to discuss.  As of now there is no revenue at all for the company and I doubt there will be for the near future.  Last week they finalized a $15 million dollar round from Spark Capital, however in order to generate revenue, Twitter will either have to add a monthly subscription charge for certain services or start placing SMS ads in the text messages they send out.  Either of these actions would hurt their market share since users have become spoiled by using 100% of Twitter for free and also with any advertisements.

3. The final example of a popular consumer focused web company we will look at is FriendFeed.  Even though their burn rate is much smaller than Youtube or Twitter, it still has no revenue model built into the service and now any attempt to inject either ads or charging for services would dramatically decrease the traffic to the site.

Now let's talk about some companies that are actually the backbone of the online world, social enablers.

1. Brightcove is the leader in online video enablement.  With sites such as Wall Street Journal and the Weather Channel using their service it is no surprise that they have easily raised $115 million in the past few years.  But Brightcove is not a charity, they generate sizable revenues either by charging websites bandwidth fees or streaming ads inside each video played.  This allows them to responsibly expand their business without having to rely solely on VC funding.

2. Vidshadow is an online distribution company that allows third party websites to host its media player, and stream licensed content to their respective online viewers.  Vidshadow is a publicly traded company (VSHD) and therefore is a revenue focused company.  Each video that is played on the Vidshadow Network is paired with an in-stream advertising unit.  This enables third party sites to augment their online revenues while adding a social feature on their site in order to both retain and increase traffic.

3. Ning was founded with the mindset of enabling third party individuals or companies to create their own social networks.  Instead of attempting to create another Myspace or Facebook, Ning wanted to allow ANYONE to form their own social portals.  This can be a very effective tool for corporations to connect their customers in a fully controllable enviroment.  In other words comapnies that create a social network on Ning do not have the same contstraints that they would face on Myspace or Facebook.  And Ning has two revenue models.  They either place ads on these social networks with no revenue share and thus earn 100% of the revenue the ads generate, or the social network can choose to control the ad invntory and pay Ning premium fees.  Either way, Ning is a very intelligent business model.

4. The last company I will discuss is Jive Software.  You most likely have never heard of them, however they are the social network enablers behind sites such as Bank of America's Small Business Social Network along with CNN's iReport portal.  But don't try to ask them to do anything for free, Jive is very good at what they do and they know it.  You can be assured companies like Bank of America and CNN paid handsomely for the services rendered.

In summary, we have come a long way since the bubble burst.  And the potential that is currently available online for marketers, product manufacturers and communication companies has never been stronger.  From powering online entertainment and media to enabling communication, the non-techie should feel secure knowing that the backbone of the Internet is in the hands of companies that know the #1 rule of business: generate revenue.

"Taking Advantage of Social Computing with Documentum" presented EMC's architecture in a light that would use it's libraries for that would allow vendors to develop WIKIs, BLOGs and 360 networks that take advantage of the platform.  But other than saying they would look to open standards such as OpenSocial (or the new standard Facebook Platform announced yesterday) but would probably end up down a different path, they didn't get to deep into how.  At least EMC is thinking about how to work with others on Web2.0.  And they did show how it was being done in the real world, specifically with Jive Software.

The session showed how Jive's Clearspace had been integrated with Documentum to show the relationships of individuals to content stored within Documentum.  When looking at an individual's record in Clearspace you could now see all the content they had authored, discussions around that content, and other collaborative aspects.  And EMC is using it in-house.

Sounds a lot like iTeam to me.  For those that don't remember iTeam, it was Documentum's attempt at collaboration lead by John Newton.  Unlike other collaboration applications that focused on collaborative communications/ interactions, iTeam was about collaboration on the creation of content.  It specifically focused on associating individuals and conversations with content within projects.  Unfortunately five years ago it was difficult to explain that there were different flavors of collaboration, so iTeam was replaced with the eRoom acquisitions. 

Well looks like Jive has recognized that the market is coming around to document focused collaboration.  Let's see how long it takes before EMC remembers they were there first.

• Is there an ROI to collaboration?

because when you start looking at collaboration products like Jive Software your aren't talking chump change. They face the same hurdles as any efficiency based initiative. The executives want to see hard dollars have have either the word INCREASED REVENUE in them or REDUCED COST.  If you can't show it they will give you a $1 to buy a six pack of Top Raman.  If you can, they money is there.

So with images of Raman dancing in my head I clicked on play and got to running.

All and all, I see two things:

1. The ROI of collaboration is STILL not clear
2. Jive is a great choice when you have a large, complex, internally business focused group. There are better options for IT and External uses.
   

Personally? In my business we eat Raman Noodles. Free is appealing for a startup ... at least till the adoption warrants re-assessing the maintenance headache of disparate systems. I was close though .. the shiny package of Jive was tempting. I would do it over Sharepoint that is for sure.

Would be curious on your thoughts ... as always.

* START OF RAW SCRIBBLE TAKEN WHILE RUNNING **

• https://admin.acrobat.com/_a773188684/p96493791/
• Enterprise Collaboration & Community Software
• 4/28/2008, 6:05 AM - 2:02 in still doing housekeeping
• 7 years … 15% of Fortune 500 … 2000 customers
• Internal and External communities (hit both)
• Products
...............○ Clearspace
...............○ Clearspace community (external)
• Unique of Jive - Adhoc Conversation
...............○ Not document centric
...............○ Bauer comment - So they avoid the wiki, sharepoint angle of penetration
• 4/28/2008, 6:09 AM
• Some graph proving collaboration was largest impact to business
...............○ Bauer comment - a word smithing point? I mean doesn't that mean people talking hits all pieces?
• 4/28/2008, 6:10 AM
• External community keys
...............○ Talk about products
...............○ More than support
...............○ Feedback, sentiment, learning, story telling, associations
• Web help is more effective than call center
...............○ Supporting stats
...............○ Bauer comment - not very targetted examples … rather high level
• 4/28/2008, 6:12 AM
• Poll - What communities are you looking to create to drive value in your business
...............○ Primary response was collaboration in the enterprise (71%)
...............○ Service & Support (45%)
...............○ Developer & Partner community (36%)
• 4/28/2008, 6:14 AM
• Examples of customer implementations
...............○ PC World, Sprint, VMWare, Net App, Bank of America, John Deer
...............○ Enterprise Collab, BrandAffinity, etc are solutions
• 4/28/2008, 6:15 AM
• Focus on Enterprise Collaboration
...............○ Slide on communication flows (Bubbles, typical questions)
..............................§ Bauer comment - still not crystallizing a core message for me. Might be they are moving across a lot of topics very lightly.
...............○ Service Tech
..............................§ Ideas shared by networking / meeting
..............................§ R&D getting feedback
..............................§ Without clearspace doesn't get widely leveraged
...............○ Make captured conversation easily visible
..............................§ Discussion
..............................§ Document
..............................§ Content management (Sharepoint integration)
..............................§ Finding the right SME in an org around a question search
...............○ Bauer comment - its interesting they don’t talk to how different roles want different tools to interact w/ the collab stack. Wiki is typically not a biz user preference (not powerful enough in formatting and other functions)
• 4/28/2008, 6:19 AM
• Example of capture of info
...............○ Bauer comment .. Like a blog post or a forum post
...............○ Anyone watching space or tags on post get auto email notification
..............................§ Bauer comment this is somewhat notable (how to make people aware efficiently) but then the debate of how to effectively tag in an org becomes the riddle (ala ECM meta tagging from years back)
• 4/28/2008, 6:21 AM
• External collaboration example
...............○ Brand and peer to peer support community (excellent example per them)
..............................§ Bauer comment - I would say the example is weak. Powered does a much better job (given their marketing focus/background) on how to use tools like Jive CS 2.0 to drive brand
...............○ Shows a ton of discussions (forum)
..............................§ Company mines and watches these threads
...............○ Bauer comment - interesting how they are focusing on the 'build it they will come' when really your partner and recurring customers would prefer a decentralized model that aggregates to their preferred reader (don't assume your external user only does the role that works w/ you)
• 4/28/2008, 6:24 AM
• Poll - Biggest Driver of Success
...............○ Ease of Use - 58%
...............○ All in one system - Wiki, Blog, Forum, etc - 10%
..............................§ Bauer comment - This isn't a concern until users get in an realize integration (or lack of) breaks the workflows across the various collab environments
• 4/28/2008, 6:28 AM New features
...............○ Personalization on homepage
..............................§ Widgets ala how wordpress feels
..............................§ No other competitor does this
..............................§ Bauer comment - Wouldn't Wordpress local do similar? Make homepage style a blog model (posts and pages)
..............................§ One homepage example - Calendar (bauer - pick your favorite), recent content (bauer - live mesh), Status update (bauer - twitter), tasks ( bauer - remember the milk)
.............................................□ Bauer comment - They spent 1-2m on status sharing being important in the enterprise … hello twitter (in private mode)
..............................§ Another homepage example - 2-3 people you are tracking (bauer - hello friendfeed), product tracking (bauer - document change via mesh), external rss feeds (techcrunch)
...............○ Visibility of org relationships / profiles
..............................§ 4/28/2008, 6:34 AM
..............................§ LDAP and AD integration … pull into clearspace … populate the system
...............○ Projects
..............................§ 4/28/2008, 6:35 AM
..............................§ Self organize
..............................§ Configure like homepage … tasks, discussions, blogs tied to project
...............○ Sharepoint integration
..............................§ 4/28/2008, 6:36 AM
..............................§ 1st Goal making it part of the enterprise footprint of documentation
..............................§ Enhance link functionality to tie to what exists in SP sites
.............................................□ So if you hit link button there is a SP tab that allows you to pull content from sites in SP
..............................§ Bauer comment - interesting how we are not talking to the collaboration style that the dev team wants / needs versus what functional roles want/need … and how the two work together.
..............................§ Bauer comment - Its 'free' footprint continues to keep it in the game (at least the starting version is free)
..............................§ Sharepoint is also tied to search results
...............○ Document sharing
..............................§ Users can share content outside of clearspace (collaboration)
..............................§ Partners, contractors … secure and managable
.............................................□ Give access to partners @ discussion and/or document level
...............○ Admin console Auditing
..............................§ 4/28/2008, 6:40 AM
..............................§ Visibility and control of any change in admin (bauer comment phpBB3 does this default)
...............○ Additional items
..............................§ Rich text editor
..............................§ Widget framework
..............................§ Core arch - better API, REST, Spring/Struts based upgrade
• 4/28/2008, 6:41 AM
• Demo
...............○ Login as VP OPS
...............○ Homepage Widgets
..............................§ Watching tags
..............................§ Watching people activity
.............................................□ Bauer comment that is a nice widget
..............................§ Discussions
..............................§ His Tasks
.............................................□ Not clear if this is a one-off project tool or tied to a Proj Mgmt Sys
..............................§ Blog posts
..............................§ Your Projects
..............................§ You Colleagues
..............................§ 4/28/2008, 6:44 AM (still going on homepage)
.............................................□ Bauer comment - would agree the innovation area is how to bubble up the activity from the raw areas
...............○ Search
..............................§ Search for online marketing
..............................§ Ability to expand to detail search results in search result pane
..............................§ Profile
..............................§ Actions - Email, Private Message, etc
..............................§ See reporting relationships
..............................§ Mini profile (on mouseover of names - shows what they are working on)
.............................................□ Bauer comment - Amusing the ongoing 'status' play
...............○ Project Calendar customization
..............................§ 4/28/2008, 6:48 AM
..............................§ Mention of how this isn't the core system the PM is using … goal is one calendar, doc repos, discussion area
• End
...............○ Bauer comment - Collaboration (JIVE): Pick Your Flavor or Flounder (like JIVE)
• 4/28/2008, 6:51 AM
• Q&A
...............○ 4/28/2008, 6:51 AM
...............○ Differences in CS 2.0 Ent vs CS 2.0 Community
..............................§ Personalization, projects are bundled in enterprise. Can turn on (for a fee?)
..............................§ Nuances for external versus internal communities
..............................§ Next release has a bunch more of features focused on social networking
...............○ Status update like twitter?
..............................§ Yes. Can see in 'status widget' or 'my colleague widget'
...............○ Plugin for video
..............................§ Yes. I.e. Youtube.
..............................§ Jive Space (Deverloper space) can help build custom widgets
...............○ Internal Calendar (Jotlet) can synch to Outlook
..............................§ Yes
...............○ Printable
..............................§ Yes
...............○ Profile integrate w/ 3rd party HR systems
..............................§ LDAP focused
..............................§ Can choose some fields that come out of CS
..............................§ Bauer comment - So no
...............○ Admin, shut off ability to customize?
..............................§ Yes
...............○ Guest access
..............................§ Yes, by feature
...............○ Sharing and watching … what is that
..............................§ You watch their activity (stream)
..............................§ Bauer comment - Why wouldn't small companies just do Friendfeed private?
...............○ Questions around integration
...............○ Abuse flagging?
..............................§ Yes certain types … go to moderation
...............○ Project available in CS Community?
..............................§ Yes off by default.
..............................§ Can turn on (made it sound free)
...............○ Blog
..............................§ President -- www.jivesoftware.com/community/blogs/jivetalks
..............................§ Dave hirsh

** END RAW SCRIBBLE TAKEN WHILE RUNNING **

Yes, they have a basic job description, but they also have a video of Sam Lawrence, talking about the position and including other members of their team, their agency, and I think, his kids.

I think they are looking for someone who knows how to use the tools, other than someone who can just send in a resume. Good tactic. Let's see if it works.

37Signals' BaseCamp, covered before, provides a popular web-based product tool, but what if you're a team or workgroup who is looking for something a little more robust?

Jive Software has released version 2.0 of their Clearspace product. Clearspace differs from other product offerings by focusing their product on the people who will be utilizing the collaboration tool.  Unlike Microsoft SharePoint, which focuses on documents, ClearSpace wants to ensure user adoption by adapting many of the Web 2.0 strategies used by FaceBook, MySpace, and other social networking sites into the enterprise environment.

Bring Social into Work Collaboration

Users who log in to Clearspace will first see their personalized home page.  Dubbed "iGoogle for your work life," this web page is a widgetized window into your working world.  You can customize your activity streams and you can see recent activity on users by hovering over their name.  Presence indicators allow you to see the person's availability for an IM conversation.

The startpage shows you status of all your projects, to-do lists, and related information. You can update your status, similar to Facebook.  For example, you could state, "Jason is unit testing his code for the calendar widget".  You can also set announcements, use polls, and see tag clouds for Clearspace content.  Check out the video below, courtesy of Dennis Howlett's review of Clearspace 2.0.

Getting Work Done

Clearspace wants to be the hub of your project management.  With their management utilities, you can create project calendars, milestones, assign tasks, discuss project status, and upload documents.  Using their customizable interface, you can drag projects you want to keep an eye onto your homepage and keep tabs on the project via RSS feeds.

As a unique feature, Clearspace allows you to collaborate on documents with people outside your corporate firewall, similar to the functionality in Google Docs.  Clearspace can also search and interact with data within Microsoft SharePoint.

The Competition is Stiff

Microsoft SharePoint is a leader in enterprise collaboration. As a SharePoint user and proponent in my day job, I'm familiar with its shortcomings. SharePoint has features such as shared calendars, task lists, document libraries and a few collaborative web tools such as blogs, wikis, and message boards.  However each component is shut off from the others, making the creation of a cohesive project website tedious.  SharePoint requires a high degree of trial and error and end-user training.  With SharePoint, Microsoft has  focused on function over user-friendliness.

Jive seems to have heard the battle cries of disgruntled employees who want to effectively collaborate with their teammates and co-workers. Clearspace, with its streamlined UI and usability, helps individuals and teams create intranets that blend attractive aesthetics and functional project sites.

Conclusion

Clearspace's focus on giving its users the ability to set up a workspace and presenting the information that is of interest to them is a strategic advantage. FaceBook calls itself a social utility to keep you in touch with the people around you. Clearspace has taken strides to be the work utility to keep you in touch with the projects and co-workers who you depend on day-to-day to help you get your work done.

There are two purchasing options for Clearspace, a hosted model and a licensed/self-hosted model. The Licensed model sits behind your company's firewall and is priced at $5 per user per month. For more information on hosted model pricing, see Jive's website.

@marshallk sometimes you gotta test the software, not just read the PR. :-)

Hm. Is this Arrington's normal grumpy cynicism showing up, or is Jive Software the new Broadvision? I haven't actually used the software myself, so I can't speak to it. What have you heard?

UPDATE: Good context post from Anthony Ha at Venture Beat here.

This time it's the CMO of Jive who is making noise with the grades he has assigned to the two major analyst firms that they subscribe to.  Those firms are Forrester and Gartner.  A big part of Jive's business is creating software to connect people. Social media in the enterprise.  So, social media research and analysts who understand social media is important to them.

After assigning the 'grades' online. Josh Bernoff of Forrester literally responded within minutes. Over the next hour several other analysts and others weighed in.  So far, no comment from Gartner.  Guess they don't get it.  Also, because that's what he does, and apparently Jive appreciates, Jeremiah Owyang has a response.

The conversations are happening. Does Gartner want to listen or participate?

The question was brought up apparently as a client asked their new agency to include them on their blog. Here's the original post from the company CEO.

Now, looking back to when I was at Edelman, this issue came up a few times.  Sometimes new clients would sign up with us and say, "Hey can you have Steve Rubel or Phil Gomes or Richard Edelman write about us?"

My answer would be, "If what your doing is something their readers are interested in, then I can send them a link." Was there an obligation for them to post it, heck no! If they did, then their readers would disappear in droves.

Now, my answer would be, sure, we can do that.  Different megaphone, and it's my megaphone.

They're a competitor to SharePoint and you might remember how I feel about SharePoint. I love how Cook quotes Jive's Sam Lawrence as saying SharePoint is a "Frankensuite".

They're at #7 on the February Portland Startup Index. They just got their 2,000th paying customer. They were recently named a runner-up in the 2008 IntranetJournal.com "Product of the Year" awards in the Collaboration category. They just added Tony Zingale of Mercury Interactive to their board.

Not too bad for a seven-year old company. I'm reminded of a recent post by David Rusenko of Weebly in which he talks about perseverance:

But you've got to keep with it to gain momentum. It doesn't usually just build overnight, it takes time. Keep building your product, and eventually you gain momentum and a critical mass of people who know about you and tell others about you.

Keep it going, Jive!

Tired of hearing the buzz word Web 2.0 and want to see a real world examples of technical collaboration online?  Then, check out the new NI Developer Zone Community.    Just in time for Valentine’s Day, this platform allows a community of engineers and scientists worldwide to connect and share example code, tutorials and textbook companion materials directly on the National Instruments Web site.  It also has unique collaboration features, polling capabilities, tagging, and other functionality from Jive's ClearSpace X platform.  

This go-live marks one of the biggest events of my career.  Since October 2006, I’ve been working with a team of IT developers, computer scientists, and engineers to create a comprehensive online community geared at helping our customers connect online.  

Now, ni.com/community will be the home for customer-created content or documents that our engineers wants to work on with users.  For example, we are transferring several of the "community nuggets" (or programming tips) from the NI Discussion Forums to this new site, since it allows both employees and community members to interact and edit easily via a wiki interface.  Several of our users were using the forum technology for white papers, causing them to have to use several posts to explain one topic.  Additionally, the edit functionality on forums is limited to a 3 minute window. We hope this wiki-based approach will help our users share detailed information and collaborate more easily online. 

Now, my main focus will be growing the community and obtaining quality content for our users.

You can download Clearspace and get a free 5 user evaluation license to use to develop a kick-ass plugin by Oct. 25th to win all sorts of cool stuff including:

• iPhone
• Cash prizes up to $5000
• Free 25 user license of Clearspace
• Jivespace T-shirt

More information about the contest is available on Jivespace.