On Tuesday night this week I announced my resignation from Foldera. On Wednesday morning I was discussing a possible project with Steve, and when he asked “so you do have something lined up do now, don’t you?” and I said, “uh .. no” … it kind of hit me what I’d done (hey, I’ve only got 1 wife and 7 kids to care for …). Bold? Foolish? Crazy? I’m sure there’s an appropriate adjective floating around somewhere near here …

Anyhoo, numerous people … Eric, Isaac, Larry and even my children … have asked if I’ll be going back to Shared Spaces. I’ve given that a lot of thought, and have decided not to do so. The last nine months at Foldera have given me an insight into life at a vendor, and whilst that is well and good (and all the best guys!), I have re-discovered and re-affirmed that my core and fundamental (professional) passion in life is helping end user organizations to be successful with the technology investments they’ve made. I’m not talking about success at a technical or technology level — there are many who do that and do an admirable and sometimes excellent job of that — but rather success at the business level. How does an organization use this stuff for business success? What do they have to think about, what factors do they need to plan toward, what pitfalls do they need to avoid, how do they engage with their people?

Shared Spaces was all about the technology of collaboration, and the 7 pillars model was all about the questions you need to ask when deciding on a technology infrastructure. But going forward … I’m thinking about positioning myself as someone who can help ask and answer the questions related to effective use of whatever technology infrastructure you happen to have or are putting in place. In order words, the business focus. Getting a return. Making it work. You know … those “small” matters 😉

Do you think there’s a need for something like this? I’d really value your input …