June 5, 06

CEO Guide to Technology

By Robert Hof

Web 2.0 Has Corporate America Spinning

What every CEO needs to know about the array of new tools that foster online collaboration — and could revolutionize business

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jun2006/tc20060605_424102.htm?sub=guidetotechrelated

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Enterprise Mashups
IBM CTO David BolokerNov. 8 – IBM’s CTO for emerging Internet technologies talks about mashing together programs like Google Maps and spreadsheet software to help companies do better biz

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http://feedroom.businessweek.com/ifr_main.jsp?nsid=b6e0053d9:10ee40092e8:-2786&fr_story=7f626f1dec13255039ae199b70988ce6319845b0&st=1163467400977&mp=FLV&cpf=false&fvn=8&fr=111306_082318_6e0053d9×10ee40092e8xw2785&rdm=127249.9969195653

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_30/b3944108_mz063.htm?sub=guidetotechrelated

Scrybe. It hasn’t launched yet, but they’re using YouTube to showcase the product (see video below). More companies should do this – it gives the company a way to show everyone exactly what their product is all about and control the messaging during the crucial pre-launch stage.

Scrybe looks to be a unique online calendar application that works just fine when you’re offline, too. Just open the site in the browser as if you were online – the app will sync the next time you are online. The calendar view auto-expands and minimizes depending on what you are looking at. It also allows seemless cut and paste and integration with Office documents, as well as a way to bookmark and grab content from websites. They’ve even thought through proper printing of calendars, to-do lists and other content (this feature reminds me of possibly the least technically advanced startup we’ve covered).

The online/offline functionality is what I like best about this product. This is something we discussed around email applications a few weeks ago, and is part of the promise of Adobe’s upcoming Apollo platform.

This is definitely a startup to watch. Look for a launch this month.

The CEO’s Guide to Social Networks

Social Networks

Social networks aren’t just for teens anymore. Executives and companies are increasingly using online social networks for a wide range of activities including recruiting, branding, advertising, sales, business development, market research and customer service. There are a number of social networks designed for executives, including LinkedIn, Ryze, OpenBC and Ecademy. Other firms are creating their own social networks to keep in contact with both company alumni and customers

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Alternates to iTunes:

Download the episode directly or grab the feed for your podcast reader.

http://www.businessweek.com/mediacenter/podcasts/guide_to_tech/guidetotech_09_11_06.htm

PROFILE: Erica, 31, Project Manager

About Erica: Organized, task-oriented, detailed and often works at several different client sites.

Erica’s Requests:

• No time for excessive bells and whistles – she wants current information and easy interaction
• Manage her data and show her what is relevant
• Keep her teams informed without overwhelming her with manual tasks
• Put all of her data in her hands and make it easy to find information

Some ways Erica can benefit from Convos include:

• Setting up a Convos group to manage her team and also to connect and collaborate with the client
• Assigning tasks to team members
• Sharing files and a collaborative group calendar
• Providing team members with access to a group directory
• Team members can send weekly reports to Erica using pre-defined forms
• Setting up meetings and receiving RSVPs
• Organizing information effectively by labeling files and events

PROFILE: Denis, 21, College Student

About Denis:

An intelligent, disorganized and extraordinarily busy guy in his senior year at NYU. Denis keeps track of assignments and appointments on post-it notes and by writing on his hand. He is majoring in English and is a member of several on-campus social organizations. He wants to be more organized but he does not want to waste time or energy to do so.

Denis’s Requests:

• Something to organize his life as a student, a fraternity brother, a teammate, and a friend
• No more advertisements cluttering the page
• Simple, fast interface that minimizes the time he needs to spend organizing
• Have all of his email accounts go into one central inbox

Some ways Denis can benefit from Convos include:

• Managing all fraternity-related activities in a simplified, secure, powerful intranet-like environment
• Connecting to his snowbarding club, intramural basketball, and sister sorority for information sharing, collaboration, event planning, polling, photo sharing etc.
• Maintaining current contact information of friends that have graduated
• Integrating his class and work schedule into Convos — to help him manage his time
• Compiling reports that need to be transmitted to the national headquarters of his fraternity

PROFILE: Bill, 45, Volunteer Organization Leader

About Bill: Dedicated to his causes and attempting to leverage technology for the good of his organization. Bill is not very tech savvy and needs something that is both comprehensive and simple.

Bill’s Requests

• An application that is easy to learn and fun to use
• Being able to keep his volunteers informed of new events
• Connect to other volunteer organizations to boost membership

Some ways Bill can benefit from Convos include:

• Maintaining a distribution list of over 3000 volunteers to communicate community service opportunities
• Keeping the group up-to-date via collaborative group calendars
• Automatically building a public-facing website to attract new volunteers
• Electronically connecting his organization’s group to various other organizations for increased visibility and information sharing

PROFILE: Sandra, 29, Small Business Owner

About Sandra: Tenacious, entrepreneurial and addicted to the internet. She owns a company that specializes in making unique home furniture and accessories.

Sandra’s Requests:

• Sleek interface that looks good even when it’s not in use
• Instant information updates – no more refreshing the inbox
• Seemless integration with an external website

Some ways Sandra can benefit from Convos include:

• Managing all of her personal information, online interactions and work-related files in one place
• Connecting her business with furniture store distributors, enabling her to send updates on her products and collaborate with her vendors
• Communicating directly with her customers
• Posting store events on a shared calendar
• Using an internal calendar to ensure all employees are aware of upcoming shipments
• Allowing her assistant to use it to maintain financial files in one location
• Automatically publishing her store’s content to a public-facing website

BusinessWeek – CEO Guide To Technology

O’Reilly’s Guide to Web 2.0

Web 2.0

There’s no buzzword more popular in tech today than Web 2.0. Conceived during a brainstorming session for what became the Web 2.0 Conference now held annually by O’Reilly Media Inc. and CMP Media, Web 2.0 describes the new online services such as the volunteer-written encyclopedia Wikipedia, Yahoo’s Flickr photo-sharing site, online marketplace eBay, and search engine Google. Unlike most of the first generation of Web sites, these services have an innate social component, often “harnessing collective wisdom,” as O’Reilly Media CEO Tim O’Reilly puts it. Here, O’Reilly explains what Web 2.0 means for business, as well as what executives should be wary of when they try to use Web 2.0 services in their own companies

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Alternates to iTunes:

Download the episode directly or grab the feed for your podcast reader.

http://www.businessweek.com/mediacenter/podcasts/guide_to_tech/guidetotech_06_05_06.htm

http://static.flickr.com/14/93136022_25afa7e458.jpg?v=1140371682

A stew of bodies, originally uploaded by dreadfuldan.

Gannett newspapers are turning to their readers to help research and write stories in a new “crowdsourcing” initiative.  The idea is to tap into the knowledge, and even investigative zeal, of readers to help cover stories for the papers.  It sounds like USA Today wants to look more like Digg.

But figuring out how to tap into the culture of participation without abandoning journalistic objectivity is going to be tricky.  Once people figure out that they can influence what goes on the front pages of Gannett’s 90 local  papers across the country, they will try to game the system.  As Digg is finding out, giving the crowd a voice comes with its own set of issues.

Email this • Add to del.icio.us • Digg this

Posted by Erick Schonfeld on Saturday, November 04, 2006 at 01:48 PM in Culture of Participation, M

With the Web 2.0 conference going on this week, Dow Jones VentureOne put out a timely release (Excel download here, PDF here) stating that Web 2.0 startups raised $455.5 million in 79 deals in the first three quarters of this year, more than double last year’s take during the same period.  At the Web 2.0 conference itself, startups like 3B unveiled themselves.  3B lets you create a 3-D environment out of your MySpace page, photos, and other digital media by creating a 3-D room or environment where the walls are clickable Webpages (or digital photos or other media).  You can also walk through your room/world with a 3-D avatar.  Think  Cyworld

meets Second Life.  (I’ll take Second Life, thank you.  3B seems like a gimmick—projecting Webpages and other digital content onto the walls of its 3-D realm).

http://blogs.business2.com/business2blog/2006/week45/index.html

The party is still rockin’.  But how long before the growth starts to peter?  (Of course, half of the $4 billion racked up last quarter went to two companies: Google and Yahoo)