The People Part of Enterprise Collaboration and Virtual Teams

• Martin addresses nine mistakes that make a corporate wiki a ghost town, including (2) creating a one-way communication platform, (6) overlooking the importance of workflows, and (7) dismissing Web 2.0’s role in the enterprise.
• The Office of Management and Budget is using a wiki to track earmarks in the federal budget, and is noting significant efficiency gains. “With the wiki, federal agencies compiled a database of 13,496 earmarks in 10 weeks. In the old days, it would have taken six months to get the information to the OMB.“

The Technology Trends of Enterprise Collaboration and Virtual Teams

• Zoho released Zoho People, a hosted human resource management application. Key features: organizational charting, recruitment, forms, checklists, and self-service. “Zoho People is really targeted at a level beyond the very small (say 50+ employee) businesses. Very small businesses can keep track of people in ad-hoc ways, (spreadsheets work!) but once a company reaches a certain size (even 25-30) keeping track of things like recruitment, IT resource allocation, benefits, vacations, skill management etc. becomes time consuming. In fact, that is the level at which a business typically gets a dedicated HR person. That is where Zoho People steps in.” See coverage at ComputerWorld (“there’s nothing about security and redundancy concerns”) and SocialMediaToday (“will it disrupt or fail?”).
• If Google released an appliance edition of Google Apps, what would that mean for customer adoption and Microsoft? Garett writes “Launching the Google Apps Appliance will put Google on a level playing field with Microsoft — and the lower price-point of Google services will look more attractive than ever before. Microsoft will either be forced to reduce their price to compete, or lose some customers. Both will negatively impact their earnings.“
• The original founder of WebMessenger re-purchased their company about nine months after being acquired by Apptix. Apparently it didn’t work out within Apptix, and the founders want to stay focused on what they do best.
• IBM is betting big on unified communications, with a pledge of $1 billion in upcoming investments. “IBM is ramping up its investment in products like Lotus Sametime to provide unified communications to the largest business customers, which the company defines as having 1,000 or more employees. This is also the sweet spot for IBM’s Lotus Notes collaboration software, the latest version of which includes the Sametime unified communications client.” See also ChannelWeb, “Over the next year, IBM software and services will be offered to enable anytime, anywhere productivity and will expand IBMs reach across devices, from desktops and laptops to BlackBerrys, iPhones and other devices. IBM is also working to reach across all major platforms including Windows, Mac and Linux to enable office capabilities to workforces regardless of device or location.“
• Chan is back from the SharePoint Conference in Seattle, and offers his round-up of the show.

Insights on Being Productive and Effective as an Individual

• Do you work to live, or live to work? Laura has 10 tips if you are struggling with maintaining a semblence of balance: (1) allocate your time according to your priorities, (2) achieve your ideal life balance, (3) set appropriate boundaries, (4) stop thinking about work at the end of the day, (5) ask for help when you need it, (6) create rituals with your family, (7) set reasonable limits on electronic pursuits, (8) turn off the technology when you are with your family, (9) take full advantage of your company’s wellness and family balance programs, and (10) consistently leave work on time. “You can’t devote 100% of your energy to your job, no matter how much you try — or how much your boss would like you to. To be a complete, well-rounded human being, you need to focus some of your attention on other things that are important to you: your family, your religion, your hobbies, and especially your core values. Otherwise one of these days you’re likely to look up and wonder who you are, and how you got there — and why it’s so lonely.“
• Leo shares similar thoughts, outlining a plethora of ways to make time for your personal goals, such as (7) block off time, (8) make it your most important appointment, and (10) find (and eliminate) your time wasters.