Yahoo Beginning to Sort Things Out, Announces Cloud Computing as a Priority

We informed you on Monday that Yahoo! has seen many executives leave over the past few weeks and is now trying to pick up the pieces. As mentioned here in EWeek, Yahoo has reorganized their business into three areas: Audience products division will now be lead by Ash Patel, US Region to Market Division will be lead by Hilary Schneider, and a third which has not been given a leader yet. All will be overseen by Yahoo President Susan Decker.

Yesterday, Yahoo announced that it will now begin to focus on cloud computing, with CTO Ari Balogh as the leader. Goals for this division will be: developing a world-class cloud computing and storage infrastructure; rewiring Yahoo! onto common platforms; and creating a stronger partnership between product and engineering teams.

In related news, the New York Times Bits blog divulges an email recently sent out to Yahoo! share holders. This email detailed reasons why Yahoo believes that Google is a better partner than Microsoft. Yahoo also did try to work with Microsoft to create new purchase terms, but that fell through. Many more questions will develop before the August 1^st shareholders meeting.

Xobni Adds yet another tool

In an article at EWeek, we find out that Xobni has added yet another way to turn your Microsoft Outlook inbox into a social networking tool. We’ve already reported on their desire to make the inbox 2.0 worthy, and now, they’ve added LinkedIn tools to the inbox. They will now host LinkedIn public profiles in the left hand tool bar. The information detailed will be the person’s current employer, job title and it will link to their LinkedIn public profile. This announcement came a month after they ended testing their tool with beta.

Enterprise Information Flow

Oscar Berg from The Content Economy recently uploaded this presentation in which he makes a comparison to knowledge flow within an organization and the flow of water through a metropolis. His point…It’s the same. Employees will have to easily access and trust information sources just like how people who come across the metropolis will readily expect that water is consistent and of the highest quality. Make sure to take a minute or two to flip through these 18 slides.

| View | Upload your own

Collaboration leads to Edit-able Page Button

According to this article here at Read Write Web, collaborative efforts of 20 wiki providers has lead to a new add-on for Firefox. This new button, which will be located near the auto discovery RSS feed detector will indicate any time a web page is able to be publicly edited.

The groups hopes for this new add-on is that it:

"will be a convenience to web surfers who are already inclined to contribute, and an invitation to those who have yet to discover the thrill of building a common resource."

If wiki editors were able to work together to come up with this tool, imagine the power it will be able to give the users who constantly create content on websites. It will be easy to detect where they can give input, leading to more collaboration throughout the World Wide Web.

Yahoo Still Feeling Shockwaves of Microsoft’s Bid

As we reported on May 6, Microsoft officially withdrew its bid to buy Yahoo!. The event that shocked the industry gave Yahoo credit for being brave enough to stand up to the software giant. Now, Yahoo! is seeing the repercussions of Microsoft pulling out of the deal. Over the past week, many of the top executives have quit Yahoo, such as Qi Lu, Brad Garlinghouse, Vish Makhijani, and executive vice presidents Jeff Weiner and Usama Fayyad, according to this article here at the New York Times Bits blog. The majority of these executive workers are leaving the sector of Yahoo that builds services for its users. How is Yahoo going to continue to show that they are going to consistently provide for their users? Microsoft may get their wish of being second in internet advertising after all, with a price tag much less than their original offer.

Restricting Access to Social Software Sites Could Reduce Employee Productivity

Not only does blocking access to Facebook decrease collaboration within the enterprise, it reduces job satisfaction which leads to poor productivity. Web 2.0 is here to stay, so organizations must then adapt to it, instead of restricting access. This article on CNN explains how by balancing job and life responsibilities at work, employees can focus more on job tasks at hand.

While it might be tempting for employees to “poke” a friend or two during work hours, the business benefits outweigh and negatives allowing access to social sites might bring.

Grab that Custom Yahoo ID

There is some hope for who have been looking forward to changing their bloated Yahoo ID (ex:johndoe1893747@yahoo.com) to something much simpler. I came cross this post on eWeek which notes that Yahoo has opened two new email domains, ymail.com and rocketmail.com. There are currently 260 million global users, so the chances of getting your preferred alias are slim to none.

Enterprise users do not worry. Email addresses created at these two new domains will still have the same features regular yahoo addresses have including the integrated instant messaging feature, spam and virus protection, a country specific e-mail account, and unlimited storage. It is much simpler to collaborate with teams in your organizations with simplified IDs.

Adobe partnering with Alfresco

In a new announcement, Adobe has announced that they will embed Alfresco, and open source enterprise content management system, into their Lifecycle Enterprise Suite.

This article at CMS Watch states that the current Adobe offerings will remain the same, such as automating simple, form based processes. Alfresco’s addition will add true ECM capabilities, in addition to giving it some Web 2.0 capabilities. Alan Pelz-Sharpe is wondering whether this is just a marketing move for if there is something more significant to the announcement. What do you think?

Is Sharepoint the end of portal innovation?

Today, at Intelligent Enterprise, Shawn Shell wrote an article pondering the future of portals. As he currently sees it, SharePoint seems to have stopped all conversation when it comes to evolving portals.

SharePoint is taking the E2.0 world by storm, and the software does have 1 million seat licenses, as well as $1 billion in sales. The software is also used by business giants Accenture, Ford, and DelMonte. Although SharePoint still has its weaknesses (record management, digital assessment, and search requires add-ons to be worthy of use). This has all caused a slow down in the expansion of other portals being developed by other enterprises.

Shawn Shell believes that this is just a pause in development of portal history, and they history is not over. What do you think?

Sharing PDFs on Google Docs: It’s Finally Here

Going through my reader this morning, the title of Oscar Berg’s latest post “Now you can upload and share PDFs with Google Docs” on The Content Economy caught my eye. One of the features that we have long been awaiting on Google Docs was the ability to view, upload, and share PDFs on Google Docs, and now according to this post on The Official Google Docs Blog, it’s finally here

Even though text from PDFs can easily be copied on Google Docs, the option to edit the PDF text is not yet available. The Google Blog has already mentioned that this is something that is in the works for the future (another thing we can look forward to from Google). This is definitely a valuable feature that will be appreciated in the enterprise.

Wachovia Effectively Uses Enterprise 2.0

At InternetNews Realtime, they discuss yet another company who has seen the positive effects of the use of Web 2.0 tools. Wachovia Bank began using Enterprise 2.0 tools in 2006. Into their corporate internet, they began to introduce blogs, wikis, collaborative environments and IMs. The bank saw it as a way to connect their 120,000 employees across the world.

One of the major problems with the wiki according to Pete Fields, the Vice President of the E Commerce division was, "They know it's relevant, but they don't know why it is relevant," he admitted.”

So Wachovia set out to make a point as to why this information was relevant for everyone. They found that virtual communities result in real and relational environments exactly like actual communities. Many companies not the same problem: they find it hard for their employees to relate to and find it difficult to use, however, given a few guidelines, they can adapt to the system and they can start using the system for its original purpose: to increase collaboration.

Mobile FireFox Might Be the Key

As mentioned in our previous post, Firefox is slowly increasing its market share as the world’s premier internet browser. A mobile browsing app called FireFox Mobile has been in the works for some time, but according to this latest post on TechCrunch it is actually taking shape.

What’s interesting about this mobile user interface is that it will be fundamentally easy to use with touch-screen smartphones. This is heaven for Palm Treo and iPhone users. FireFox Mobile will reduce the amount of typing required by simply scrolling down and makes it easier to send email, search Google, or mapping locations with any of its pre-defined buttons.

Collaboration in the enterprise is reaching new heights as we are experiencing a lot of changes in mobile applications. I would like to see how FireFox Mobile will make life simpler for those users who do not have touch-screen smartphones like the Blackberry. FireFox Mobile is still at its beta phase though, I’m sure the end result will be something that all enterprise users will be able to take advantage of.

Enterprise 2.0: Where do we stand?

A very common question posed in the business realm, but do we really know the answer? I came across this post on ReadWriteWeb and it summarizes eight attributes that enterprise software champions generally have now. Are we 100% there yet in terms of functionality and collaboration? No, we’re not, but we certainly are getting there. Here’s the list:

1. Software vendors now have monthly subscription fees instead of the dreaded annual contract. This means that the vendor must be good in order for the client to stay subscribed.
2. Adoption is by choice, and it is not set in stone by corporate policies. The software must be beneficial in order for it to get traction.
3. Software is usable within 30 minutes without looking at a manual.
4. SaaS is hosted, vendors don’t have to worry about the different platforms forced by IT department and can instead focus on R&D.
5. Enabling secure communication across firewalls.
6. Compatible with current modules and products.
7. Having beta models, for early experimentation.
8. Fun, relaxed environment.

Web 2.0 could lead to Fuel Efficient Corporations

In a recent post by by Bob Larrivee of AIIM, he addresses what Web 2.0 to aid corporations with the current fuel and energy cost crisis. The current cost of fuel is an average of $4.02 a gallon (Source: CNN), and companies are seeing results of increasing power everywhere. Larrivee points out that this could be a big incentive for companies to finally learn to utilize Web 2.0 technologies to their advantage, aiding both their workers who pay to commute, and their companies, who are paying for the power to fuel their companies.

Over the years, many stay-at-home workers have adopted Web 2.0 tools. Now, with increasing energy prices, companies may see it beneficial for their employees to work at home with tools that allow all employees to access each other and the information they need 24/7 in the digital realm. It would involve some adjusting from companies policy, along with strong changes in policies, work procedures, business process management, and enterprise content management.

But having these employees work from home not only helps aid the current expense to fuel the enterprise, but could result in more productivity, flexibility and innovation from the employees. They’d be able to collaborate at any time online, and wouldn’t have to pay for the fuel costs to drive into work.

Do you think there will be an increase of Web 2.0 due to the current energy price increase?

Enterprise Networking Through Social Sites 2.0

I came across this article on Market Wire today, and it details the NewsGator Technologies’s latest release of Social Sites 2.0, which is a huge improvement from their social computing solution offered for Microsoft Sharepoint 2007. This release will aid users to interact more easily, collaborate, and to find the right content and people that they are looking for more efficiently.

Social networking trends in the enterprise have allowed for this application to come alive. NewsGator transformed its corporate intranet into a social network where colleagues can easily exchange information across departments.

Joe Toth, assistant VP for CME Federal Credit Union mentions:

“These features, along with the other social computing capabilities provided by the solution, have led to improved productivity by saving our employees an average of 30 minutes per day."

The release of Social Sites 2.0 is a step in the right direction for organizations that are looking into implementing collaboration software within the company.

Firefox to hit 20% World Market Share in July

According to this article at CNet, Firefox will own 20% of the world’s browser market share in July. There are many reasons for this, but one may that they’ve begun to include a box when installing that asks to make FireFox the default browser.

Matt Astray at C-Net belives that there are two reasons that people have begun to to use Firefox over IE:

1. It works better (Better security, better performance, better functionality).
2. It's much more customizable.

The article also states that at one point, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer held 96% of the world’s browser market, and now, they’re down to 80%. Firefox is slowly gaining on the market share.

Hershey adopts Enterprise 2.0

In a recent article at E Week, Clint Boulton reveals Hershey’s plan to adopt the tools of Enterprise 2.0. Simon Revell, who was the mastermind behind setting up a social networking system at Pfizer, has now moved on to implement a system at the Hershey headquarters in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Here, he’s developing the HCAR Knowledge mesh system. It’s main goal is to develop a social network for scientists. Officials are hoping to see this network facilitate research.

There are two specific goals that Laura Butcher, the executive director of HCAR, hopes to see two things come out of this experiment:

1. To create and improve interactions between industry, academia, government, venture capitalists, the work force and IP attorneys
2. The tool will position the center for growth

The system will include wikis sectioned for the different departments, a social networking tool designed like LinkedIn, and a system that will incorporate blogs and tags into search capabilities.

How do you define Enterprise 2.0?

In a new study released by content management association AIIM, it is detailed here at destinationCRM. AIIM reports that 74% of organizations have a vague familiarity of what enterprise 2.0 is. Although it is a buzz term, there was no consistent definition as to what Enterprise 2.0 was.

AIIM defines Enterprise 2.0 as:

A system of Web-based technologies that provide rapid and agile collaboration, information sharing, emergence, and integration capabilities in the extended enterprise.

However, this study, along with other, has noticed that there is a transition from wondering what enterprise 2.0 is to how to use enterprise 2.0. The report also states that Enterprise 2.0 is clearly still in its early adoption stage. Many companies are perplexed as to how to deliver these technologies, but would like to being to use them to increase collaboration within their company.

Enterprise 2.0 Still Growing

Enterprise 2.0 technologies are certainly still growing within companies, however, not without concerns of the managers or IT personnel. According to this article at EWeek, security and liability are still the most common concerns when implementing web 2.0.

Of those who have increased the use of Web 2.0 tools in their companies, 71% of those surveyed cited that they’ve started using Web 2.0 tools because of the increased and improved collaboration and communication between their staff. In addition, 46% of the users cited increased collaboration and communication with their consumers.

What are the most used tools according to this study? It’s still the common ones we’ve been addressing here at E3, which are: blogs (49% usage), wikis (48% usage), and in third place are the RSS feeds (at 43% usage). Falling farther behind was social networking, as there is a 27% usage rage.

Security concerns rank as one of the biggest problems with implementing Web 2.0 tools, as 41% of managers are worried about the security risk that the tools can bring in. The other major concern among managers was the tools would result in the leaking of sensitive information, 35% of those surveyed were concerned about that.

Innovation is another concern for those participating in the implementation process. The article takes time to point out that many of these applications can be put together quickly, and often times without the knowledge of IT. This can create issues as the tools are not fully integrated within the IT environment and increase IT managements concerns for security.

Adobe Launches New Collaboration Suite

The latest article on Read Write Web highlights Adobe’s latest launch of Acrobat.com, which is an online office suite that includes a word processor, a web conferencing app, an online file sharing system, file storage, and a PDF converter.

Buzzword, the word processing app allows for collaborators to be given different roles depending on their access levels. Employees can be given the role of an editor, reviewer, author, and reader. Users can even comment on articles.

Connect Now, like WebEx or Citrix is a web conferencing tool where live meetings can be done over the web via screen sharing. Participants can be assigned roles throughout the meeting, and those roles can also be easily changed.

Share is a collaboration tool that allows a user to share large files on the online office suite while still maintaining control of the document.

My Files is a document organizer which allows you to search files by author, date created, file type, last updated, and by alphabetical order.

Create PDF allows you to convert existing files to PDF documents. This is a trial version though that only allows you to convert five documents.

The launch of Adobe’s new online office suite is sure to give Google Apps a run of its money. Over time, which will be the enterprise favorite? I have my pick.