Big, expensive, custom software from blue-chip software and consulting companies has been a rule of thumb for giant corporations for decades now. Is it possible a new breed of cloud-oriented startups can change all that?

Source: tech.fortune.cnn.com Posted by support 561 days, 17 hours, 18 minutes ago

If you employ SharePoint on your intranet, should you also use it publish your public websites?

The debate rages, and there is no universal answer. In our Web CMS Report, we detail SharePoint 2010's key deficiencies -- around cost, developer-intensiveness, usability, and more -- that tend to argue against the platform in public website scenarios, even for those licensees using it effectively in intranet environments.

Source: www.realstorygroup.com Posted by bee 563 days, 2 hours, 51 minutes ago

Scene: A meeting room in a hotel in Vancouver. 15 or so communicators sitting around a U-shaped table participating in a 2-day course on intranets.

It's nearing the end of day two. I present last, and have the special honour of trying to figure out how to "workshop" an intranet-related topic. I abandon my pre-planning, control-freak self and decide to wing it.

This sounds much more cavalier than it actually was. This format was new for me - described as a "course" rather than a conference, with a much smaller group of attendees. Several other presenters before me, covering varied topics but working in environments quite similar to mine (3/4 from the public sector).

I didn't know what to expect of the whole event, never mind the workshop portion, and didn't want my 3-hour session (!) to be either totally repetitive or completely useless.

Source: rjfarr.posterous.com Posted by bee 564 days, 7 hours, 5 minutes ago

Gartner defines a strategic technology as one with the potential for significant impact on the enterprise in the next three years. Factors that denote significant impact include a high potential for disruption to IT or the business, the need for a major dollar investment, or the risk of being late to adopt.

A strategic technology may be an existing technology that has matured and/or become suitable for a wider range of uses. It may also be an emerging technology that offers an opportunity for strategic business advantage for early adopters or with potential for significant market disruption in the next five years. As such, these technologies impact the organization's long-term plans, programs and initiatives.

Source: www.marketwatch.com Posted by support 566 days, 19 hours, 15 minutes ago

GM has researchers from Asia to Detroit to Palo Alto that have been using Socialtext to share expertise and ideas about what’s going to be next big breakthrough in the automotive industry. Recently, I sat down with John Suh, a staff researcher at GM who has been helping drive the effort.

In this video, he breaks down how social software has facilitated more open communication between researchers at GM, and what benefits he’s seeing internally as a result.

Source: www.socialtext.com Posted by bee 569 days, 20 hours, 38 minutes ago

For many intranet teams it is all too easy to view the intranet through the eyes of their corporate colleagues. With dedicated computers inside the firewall and polished computer skills, access issues are limited. However, taking a broader audience view is critical to ensuring that the intranet gets the attention and usage it needs.

Access issues

Clearly, some intranet audiences have limited computer access. Computers may have to be shared or may only be available when workers are not completing core duties. Other audiences have no apparent need to use a computer, and there is a danger that these workers will be completely ignored for that reason when the intranet is designed. Some staff types at risk of being ignored include:

Source: www.steptwo.com.au Posted by admin 570 days, 8 hours, 44 minutes ago

Honestly, metadata is really, really boring. But hey, metadata is extremely useful.

Without good metadata, we can’t really solve the findability problems we have on our intranet. In order to give the right person, the right information, at the right time, at the right place and in the right way, we must use metadata extensively.

Or to be more precise, we must use master metadata. In this post I’ll try to explain how we mandate the use of metadata without making it a barrier for publishing information.

Source: sys64738.se Posted by support 576 days, 8 hours, 1 minute ago

A challenging issue for many intranet managers is whether to use the Web CMS selected for the corporate website as the Web CMS for the intranet. In this column I have summarised just some of the issues that need to be considered.

1. Development and Technical Support
2. Multiple Content Publishers
3. Application Integration
4. Document Management
5. Language Support
6. MS Office Support
7. There are Users and Users

Source: www.cmswire.com Posted by admin 580 days, 19 hours, 32 minutes ago

A brief tangent from my previous posts on ROI.....as I wanted to capture some recent discussions I had with a few people on the use of iPads in the business world.

Generally, there are a few use case scenarios you might consider. One is for salespeople in the field who want to access slides or documents, or perhaps deliver a presentation to a customer or demo something on a web site.

Another is for executives on business trips who don't need full laptops and might use iPads to access their e-mail, calendars or presentations and documents. Or perhaps you have a monthly Board of Directors meeting and are looking to move away from paper and digitize the meetings, notes, and documentation to ensure accurate record keeping. iPads and SharePoint might provide a good solution.

Source: aiimcommunities.org Posted by support 582 days, 5 hours, 31 minutes ago

Intranets in many environments are still alive and well. Regardless of the particular technologies you use within your business, there are plenty of open source and free intranet solutions out there with a plethora of features that developers can use or adapt to fulfil the needs of organisations without reinventing the wheel.

Following on from an earlier review of content management system – I’ve decided to examine and review the featureset of each of the intranet solutions listed below, which hopefully will help you to decide which system to download, deploy or develop upon further.

Source: blog.webdistortion.com Posted by admin 585 days, 4 hours, 32 minutes ago