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Google Wave as audacious as Windows

In the past month two juggernauts of the tech world have made announcements with the potential to shape the competitive landscape on the web for the next decade. Microsoft announced Bing, a "decision engine" looking to make inroads on Google's unstoppable dominance in search.  Initial reports indicate Microsoft has built a worthy alternative. I say worthy because whilst Bing is a vast improvement over Live, it doesn't seem to be bringing anything game changing. In other words, people will use it as a compliment rather than a replacement to Google Search. Ultimately, the attempt is reflective of Google's  current attempt at displacing Microsoft in the enterprise. Google Apps is worthy and some might say superior but ultimately not compelling enough for companies to disrupt decades of development and business process around the Microsoft stack.

Earlier this week I watched a joint interview with Steve Jobs and Bill Gates from 2007. What struck me about both their success was that they dared to be different, they were bold and they took risks. This was to be the catalyst for their dominance in their respective markets. In 1985 Microsoft bet on the Windows Graphical User Interface and won emphatically, dominating the desktop for the next 2 decades. In 2001, Apple launched the iPod which is now the "default" music player. Both of these strategies were bold, some might say audacious even.

So it was with great interest that I watched the announcement and demo of Google Wave at Google I/O. Techcrunch does a great job of breaking down Google Wave. An open collaboration platform which wants to be your social network of choice at home and your productivity toolset at work. Also interesting is that by allowing companies to run Waves behind the firewall Google has enroached on Microsoft's "software plus services" mantra (albeit in an opensource non-threatening kinda way). In those one and a half hours, Google Wave presented an audacious idea not unlike Microsoft's efforts two decades earlier.

"We made a bet that the paradigm shift would be the graphical user interface" - Bill Gates

When the politically impossible becomes politically inevitable

Milton Friedman once said "Only a crisis, actual or perceived, produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function; to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes politically inevitable.”

The idea of cloud computing has been bubbling away for a few years now. Many CIOs have watched but not acted, for a number of reasons. One reason may be personnel. If your team is entrenched in the behaviours and solutions of an on-premise world the change management exercise for the IT team, let alone the organisation would take cloud computing off the agenda. To tell your CEO that he will be using his favourite PC application on the browser, ditto. The decoupling of systems intertwined in the on-premise world, don't go there. There are many reasons why cloud computing may be politically impossible.

The question is not a choice between on-premise or in the cloud. That was answered when Microsoft announced its "software plus services" strategy. Rather, the question is, "how long until the politically impossible becomes politically inevitable?"

Inbox Zero. No pipedream.

I need to write this blog post. Every week I hear musings about, "I get 300 emails per day" or "It must be lost can you resend it" or well...... you get the gist.

No, I need to write this blog post if only to save those poor souls sucked into the productivity blackhole known as email. Adhering to the concept of inbox zero definitely works and is simpler than you think. Here's how.

1. Conversation View - this was introduced by Gmail but you can use it in Outlook and most email clients. Conversation view allows you to group messages of the same subject in a single thread. This allows you to process the conversation in its entirety reducing the number of individual emails you need to deal with.

2. Delete - enough said. If you've read it and don't need it for reference, bin it.

3. File - For the emails that require no action (and that's every CC email by the way) I file it into a single folder. No complicated structures just a folder called "Archive. How do I get away with it? Enter Google Desktop Search. Just set and forget, it will index your email and make it as searchable as..... Google.

4. Action - In the case where your email requires a reply, reply. If it needs to be forwarded, forward. If it requires an action for later. Create a task from it (this can be done in both Outlook and Gmail).
All of these steps need to be taken with the goal of removing emails from your inbox until there are none left. Inbox zero. When was the last time your inbox was empty?

Non-profits enjoying the spoils of SaaS

SaaS is perfectly suited to non-profits. From the very large to the very small, non-profits share characteristics that make them ideal candidates for cloud based apps. Limited budgets, an often nomadic existence and the need for collaboration across distributed teams make cloud based applications ideal. More importantly, non-profits often employ an army of volunteers which need adhoc tools in the right place at the right time. Google has recognized the lure of SaaS amongst non-profits by offering a free version of Apps suited to these organisations. Ning, a white-label social network, is also being used by non-profits the world over to extend their community online. Perhaps the most effective use of SaaS has been by Barack Obama who used all the Web 2.0 tools at his disposal during the 2008 Presidential Campaign.  For these organisations, the caveats around cloud computing play second fiddle to the benefits of returning their hard earned back to their core business. How is your club, charity or cause utilizing SaaS?

Should companies police employee use of social media?

A pertinent question was asked by a member of the LinkedIn community. Should companies police employee use of LinkedIn? The question strikes at the heart of how many companies are still struggling to understand social media and its impact inside and outside the organisation. There are a few considerations.

1. Is social media an effective way to engage customers and employees?

2. Are companies better off regulating or educating their employees about the use of social media?

In my opinion, regulating the use of social media is not only futile, it's counter-productive. If your company has disengaged employees or unhappy customers there are probably wider issues to worry about than whether they are venting their frustration on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Social media is an effective way to conduct conversations with your companies constituents in a context meaningful to them. Who knows, it might actually help achieve some business objectives along the way.

Into the Twittersphere

There are quite a few Twitter parodies floating around. None as funny as this. Enjoy!

Personal computing and productivity in your pocket

There is no doubt the iPhone is overhyped for what it is. It's battery life stinks, its overpriced, the touchscreen keyboard ho-hum and is a fingerprint magnet. With all its reported flaws and after sticking to my trusty Blackberry Curve I decided to make the leap  of faith, pay my Apple tax and enter the world of the iPhone 3G. My initial thoughts were as expected.  Slick design, 3G speeds, email, contacts were all there, and the integration with iTunes very handy. As I used the device however, it struck me - the capabilities of this phone covered 80% of my personal computing needs. The browser highly useable for all but the most data entry intensive applications. Youtube, on-tap. Apps from productivity to frivolity. GPS, maps, Facebook, Twitter all here. It's always been my view that netbooks would actually help drive desktop sales at the expense of laptops as individuals purchase a desktop for their homebase and a netbook for their wireless needs. The iPhone has blown that theory out of the water. For all its drawbacks it has redefined the boundaries of what is possible on a mobile device and put productivity in my pocket. That netbook purchase will have to wait.

 

Cloud Computing Threat to IT

Cloud Computing is not a panacea. It simply removes certain aspects of technology which are commoditized and focuses IT efforts further up the value chain. This will require re-education and reskilling but nonetheless presents an opportunity for those willing to evolve. One could argue that technology no longer provides competitive advantage in the one-size fits all, multi-tenant approach of Cloud Computing. Indeed, you can implement Google Apps or Salesforce which is the same out of the box for everyone, but the differentiation provided by IT will be through integration, analysis and extension of the cloud platform to provide value within your business. This requires IT skills, different types of IT skills but IT skills nonetheless. I can see how traditional IT service providers and VARs may start to feel nervous. They must also evolve their offering to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the new paradigm. Appirio is a great example of a next generation IT integrator who has done just that.

“Without change there is no innovation, creativity, or incentive for improvement. Those who initiate change will have a better opportunity to manage the change that is inevitable.” -  William Pollard

5 reasons why Google will acquire Twitter

Google will acquire Twitter. Aside from the fact that only a handful of buyers are in a
position to make this acquisition commercially, none is more suited than Google strategically.

1. Search - During the earthquake tremors in Melbourne I went straight to Twitter search for real-time updates not google.com. Fancy search algorithms aside, Twitter's real-time search is the best thing in search since....... Google.

2. Apps - Google's burgeoning apps offering would benefit greatly from a enterprise version of Twitter (as Gmail did). This feature is a no brainer and Google will probably acquire Yammer if it doesn't grab Twitter.

3. FriendConnect - Facebook Connect has proved a formidible opponent to Google's more open approach to social graph portability. Twitter users can already join Friendconnect enabled sites and Twitter profiles would merge with or supercede the underwhelming Google profiles.

4. Capability - Google is the leader in building and scaling internet infrastructure full stop - their grid platform a key competitive advantage. Anyone who has experienced the Twitter fail whale would know that Twitter would benefit  from this capability and needs it in order to reach critical mass. Twitter is the leader in micro-blogging, an area which is exploding in popularity but which Google has little or no presence.

5. Openness - Google's culture of openness and accessibility is directly aligned with Twitter's approach to their API. The possibilities to marry this with App Engine and  Google's ever increasing suite of open APIs is delicious.

What are your thoughts? Will Google acquire Twitter? Will Twitter go it alone? Will antitrust concerns foil their union? Or will another player emerge to snap up the hottest property on the Internet in 2009.

Twitter providing value in the workplace #businessproductivity

Twitter co-founder Evan Williams articulated the vision and evolution of Twitter at TED. Twitter is now reaching critical mass and has become a key aspect of any social media marketing strategy but it has never presented itself as a business productivity tool. Now consider the case of a large national retailer. Armed with mobile devices, your salesforce could simply Twitter a request for a price check, product info or availability to obtain real time updates in a way that requires no training, complex integration or expensive infrastructure. We have just begun to scratch the surface on using Twitter and its enterprise incarnations (Yammer, Identi.ca) to realise real business benefits. What are your business use cases for Twitter?