RSS
Email
SMS
Social Saas: Project Management Pimped Up With Social Networking Tools
(Rate this article)
Loading ...Email It!
Social networking powering Enterprise networks is not a new idea. However, we are yet to see an actual project go live with a prominent presence of social networks and tools backing them. This comes at a time when people see Enterprise 2.0 hitting the $4 billion mark in the next 5 years.
The times, as Bob Dylan would say, they are a’changing. A couple of enterprise management systems are turning social, if blog posts are to be believed. So, we have a Joint Contact gluing Twitter into its solution, DeskAway talking about chat and “newsfeeds” (a.k.a. Facebook) & email task management built into it as they see the future.
Interesting points that come out of the above two examples:
- Presence of existing social media platforms as Project Tools
- Option of developing systems based on existing solutions (email, chat, etc.)
- Model of Custom Solutions derived from existing platforms
Enterprise management systems are often aimed at productivity & task management and at, in general, the record of the work going around in the organization. The above picture therefore fits perfectly in to the puzzle of developing an enterprise network.
With popular platforms or solutions, say a twitter being included into the management system, the learning curve is vastly reduced. What we see, instead, is a quicker integration of the system within the workforce,and the users getting more keen on using the system because they understand it.
A separate way of going about things itself, is to develop the system integrated well with regular solutions. Say, the platform is built to work seamlessly with an MS Outlook or for Open Source fan boys with Thunderbird. The idea being to cultivate existing habits on to newer platforms.
Of course, this might also give an idea for media like Twitter, Plurk etc. to get a business plan in place for revenue. How will Twitter earn money has been the question of the decade for many. Perhaps, this gives an answer. Customized solutions of these platforms catering to the need of an organization or providing licensed versions to corporates with full API access can be a vital cog in building a revenue base. However, this itself might take the social part out of social media really, so things might not be as rosy as they look.
Infact, Facebook itself is looking at opening up its API for app developers to build it into complete systems. Jonathan Heiliger, VP of Technical Operations at FB, spoke about it in brief in an interview last month.
The whole idea of offering Social Networking Solution as a service is simple - Integrate, what people find comfortable, with your enterprise solution and reduce cost and time. The question is not really whether it is possible, rather on whether it is viable. Will licensing the platform, like Facebook, change the entire notion of social media? Will integration of existing tools into project management increase productivity or hamper it instead? Or on a wider note, should enterprises chuck the notion of internal network and go completely social on existing platforms?
Something suggests that the answers might not be all that far away.
Image source: Healthcare.ZDNET.com
Loading ...
I find the whole Social Saas direction quite interesting. Have been looking at Deskaway for a while now - since they presented at Proto. I like the fact that they are becoming more social. Including chat, opening up their API’s, a WAP site…
The site is also pretty handy with great functionality and reasonable packages. I’ve got a pro package for my company - helps me organise my stuff well..
Check out this video of Sahil at Proto - http://youtube.com/watch?v=L6uoqKZSckM - sort of outlines the philosophy of Social Saas and DA.
On a side note i like the fact that they are one of the few internationally recognized ‘Indian’ Product Start - Ups - everyone in India seems to be looking at Media/ Services..
Hmm… yeah, deskaway is certainly a break away from tradition as a product start up and is quite popular as a project management tool..
I have linked the video too in the post …
Maneesh, thank you for mentioning DeskAway within your blog. I have a couple of points:
1. “platform is built to work seamlessly with an MS Outlook or for Open Source fan boys with Thunderbird”
After interacting personally with DeskAway customers, what I have seen is that people want to move away from email. They are tired of managing their work through email! Integration with email systems might “sound” cool but in the end the problem is how do you come up with a system that can have all your ‘work - assets, communications etc.’ stored securely and then use email just for notifications and updates! Like what FB does when you get a message from a friend!
2. The word “Social” also implies a very very simple and friendly UI. Adoption should be quick for non-technical folks. Very quick.
3. I am still not sure how much value FB api’s will have for business apps. I certainly will not use a business app on FB. FB is my space to connect with friends, not work on stuff. Its probably a marketing stunt for companies - “oh check us out, we released an app on FB”
4. I have yet to see more Indian companies take to the software as a service model.
Harshil, thanks for your comments and glad DeskAway is helping you guys get of the ground quickly and keeping things in order!
Cheers!
Sahil
hey sahil
thanks a lot for commenting…
agree with you on the email part, I was sort of thinking out loud on the aspect of including systems usrs are comfortable with. For isntance, take a wiki like confluence, it’s page updates can be viewed through rss which inevitably would need a reader.. how about making it email updates instead which ppl are used to (the cluttered inbox of course would be an issue) ..just a thought
and the FB part was about the entire platform.. companies making their workspace on FB’s platform… their internal network which looks and feels like FB but not FB at the same time.. the point being like you mentioned making it social..quick adaption… I am not much of system’s man so perhaps you would be in a better position to say if that can happen…
and perhaps when Indian cos see beyond the obvious they will start to appreciate SaaS…
thanks again…
I think all this “social” things need to show some ROI first - only then will enterprises adopt it. Right now, its all fad and mostly used and hyped by the early adopters (if I may borrow this term from ‘Crossing the Chasm’).
I am happy that FB, gmail etc. have made non-tech. people a little more web savvy atleast! Makes them more likely to consume other software services….so technology is moving from consumer to business….
How often do you use Facebook for project management? I use Facebook as a social site, trying to to mix it with business life. The fact that I have a team does not mean I want to have my team members as friends on Facebook. I still think that social networks are for communicaion mostly, not for managmement. For managing projects I prefer tools, like Wrike.
Hey Veejay..
I wasn’t talking about getting your work and team on Facebook.. moreover it is not something I suggested as a solution for small organizations.. when you grow big where the numbers go into thousands I thought companies can use the popularity of something like Facebook to use its platform to create an internal network.. since it would be something people are used to… was an idea for new SNS to consider this as a possibility when making their platform…