Gartner on Social Media at Work … Gartner offers 5 predictions for 2010 and beyond about social software at work. #1 is, “By 2014, social networking services will replace e-mail as the primary vehicle for interpersonal communications for 20 percent of business users: Greater availability of social networking services both inside and outside the firewall, coupled with changing demographics and work styles will lead 20 percent of users to make a social network the hub of their business communications. During the next several years, most companies will be building out internal social networks and/or allowing business use of personal social network accounts. Social networking will prove to be more effective than e-mail for certain business activities such as status updates and expertise location.“More
– 2. By 2012, over 50 percent of enterprises will use activity streams that include microblogging, but stand-alone enterprise microblogging will have less than 5 percent penetration.
– 3. Through 2012, over 70 percent of IT-dominated social media initiatives will fail.
– 4. Within five years, 70 percent of collaboration and communications applications designed on PCs will be modeled after user experience lessons from smartphone collaboration applications.
– 5. Through 2015, only 25 percent of enterprises will routinely utilize social network analysis to improve performance and productivity.

PepsiCo Goes Cisco TelePresence … Cisco announced that PepsiCo is installing Cisco TelePresence gear for cross-company collaboration. “This new collaboration strategy with BT and Cisco will reinvent the way we work,” said Robert Dixon, senior vice president and global chief information officer for PepsiCo. “Global virtual meeting collaboration will enable us to travel less, which will allow for greater productivity and a smaller environmental footprint. In this day and age, it’s simply a smarter way of going about our business.” More

SharePoint 2010 SocialFest … Microsoft held the SharePoint 2010 SocialFest last week, for 7 firms to develop add-on applications for SharePoint 2010. Huddle took first prize. “With Huddle for Microsoft SharePoint 2010, enterprise teams can invite external users into their daily workflow and synchronize their SharePoint document libraries with content stored on the Huddle network, or even on other SharePoint sites. SharePoint users can also gain access to their files through Huddle’s online, mobile and desktop applications.” More
– mmm, very interesting … that’s one of the “opportunities” in my 2008 ISV opportunities with SharePoint paper.
– Calinda MindUP for SharePoint also looks interesting — the automatic capture, organization and structuring of email interactions.

– As does Liaise, for parsing email messages into structured stuff in SharePoint (eg, actions or issues, due dates, people and priorities).

– More at Network World

Confer … Confer is an online social collaboration tool, aimed at making it easier to connect with other people. “Instead of calling up a specific customer from a customer relationship management database, and then selecting the correct input field, someone using Confer’s product can enter a message in a dialogue box similar to those used by social media/microblogging sites Facebook and Twitter. By using the @ symbol, users can identify a contact and access all communications with the person. By using a hashtag, the # symbol, users can easily tag a company, subject or project for rapid recall later. Another service, which is scheduled to be added at the end of the first quarter of this year, is the ability to call someone through Confer’s software, and the conversation will be recorded and stored. The software will generate a record of the call.” More
– www.getconfer.com/site/tour.aspx

Calinda MindUP … Without the SharePoint piece (above), MindUP is an online tool that improves on the group email idea. “Calinda Software’s MindUP is a software-as-a-service solution that helps workgroups collaborate more efficiently, within the email environment, that most of us are used to. A user would set up a MindUP group, including identifying its members, and start by sending an email message to the group. The MindUP software splits the email into topics (issues or items being discussed in the email), and sends the email to the group. Team members can respond via email to the specific topic that is relevant to them. At any time, team members can get a global visual map of the status of the various topics. This enables the team to stay on top of action items, all within the comfort of their familiar email environment. All email attachments are centralized and stored in the specific MindUp group, so team members can easily access them. MindUp also generates status reports, thereby helping users manage projects and deliverables more efficiently.” More
– www.calindasoftware.com

SAP 12sprints … SAP released 12sprints, a collaborative decision-making application. “12sprints, the codename for a new collaborative decision-making application, is the first and only software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution that brings together people, information and methods to drive swift, informed decision-making. The public beta phase of 12sprints invites everyone to take the solution for a free spin, evaluate it and contribute feedback to enrich its further development.” More
– 12sprints.com

Other News
– Clarizen introduced a range of new features, including user groups, skills management, and more.
– Telecom NZ is considering shifting some jobs overseas, and Gen-i could be a prime sufferer.
– 10 new (and hot) IT jobs.
– Apple’s had another go at fixing flickering iMac 27″ screens. Hope it works! (mine arrives tomorrow).