Social is no guarantee of effectiveness in an organization because it creates unnecessary friction as people try to figure out how to work in new ways, according to David Gutelius, the Chief Social Scientist at Jive Software, speaking at the GigaOM Net:Work event. Read more »
You might think that tech companies are more flexible and resourceful in seeking out the best talent. But you would be wrong, said Allen Delattre, global managing director for technology for Korn/Ferry International, the big executive recruitment firm. Read more »
Those of you who hate meetings and can’t stand endless PowerPoint-based presentations, there’s hope. Todd Barr, chief marketing officer of Alfresco had some encouraging solutions for how to improve them at GigaOM’s Net:Work 2011 conference on Thursday: use tablets. Read more »
The future of work is already here. It is just already distributed, one might say. The freelance economy, microtasking, mobile workers, coworking spaces, crowdsourcing: All of these point to how work is increasingly shifting from the twentieth-century model of Taylorism (think scientific management applied to labor processes such as assembly-line production and fixed workplaces) to a more flexible, hyperspecialized and connected workforce. This report examines the new world of work, from the devices and software services we use to the growing role of social media, the importance of a group-centric mentality and how the roles of employees, managers and organizations are evolving. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
As work media — social media tools designed to get work done — become more ubiquitous, futurist Stowe Boyd sees an even greater need for well-defined standards that would help companies transport their data out of the current silos. Read more »
Box has debuted the Box Innovation Network, also branded as “/bin,” a platform to make it easy for third-party developers to make apps with Box’s APIs. The company also announced a $2 million fund aimed at supporting developers building the most promising apps on /bin. Read more »
Iongrid’s new Nexus software promises to bring your Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets to your iPad with what it calls “pixel perfect” fidelity and in a way that won’t give IT or the compliance department a collective heart attack. Read more »
The iconic office design company sees a trend away from personal space and toward shared space. Don Ball talked to Steelcase about the changing state of the “office” and how it is designing spaces that allow people to be “on” — not “at” — work. Read more »
Google Docs, which can be slow and hard to use, is an essential product in need of improvement. At GigaOM, we see problems as opportunity for innovation, so we invite you, readers, to weigh in on how would you fix or change Google’s extremely-handy-but-could-be-so-much-better productivity tools. Read more »
Simply joining a coworking space is obviously a necessary first step to joining the movement, but it’s not enough to get the maximum benefit out of participating, according to Genevieve DeGuzman, the co-author of a coworking guide. She offers tips for newbies to find their footing. Read more »
WeVideo is launching a new product that will enable organizations to use its collaborative editing products in the cloud. The WeVideo Commercial product is aimed at bloggers, journalists, marketers and other creators who wish to easily edit, manage and publish videos from a single online platform. Read more »
Last quarter’s big headline in social media and real-time technologies came from Google, which launched Google+, its first social tech product that seems legit. In the third quarter, things were back to normal. Google+ is still growing, but Facebook’s platform update dominated the news. And as Google+ passed 25 million users and won some raves from the digerati, its competition with Facebook intensified. Additional companies mentioned in this report include Zynga, Salesforce, BranchOut and Foursquare. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Kerio Workspace 1.1, described as “an online file and content sharing platform,” has some features in common with collaboration solutions such as Basecamp, but it omits project management features. It has more in common with file sharing solutions such as ShareFile.and with enterprise microblogging solutions like Flowr. Read more »
Imagine if you could turn the text and illustrations on a traditional whiteboard into digital data in real-time. That’s the premise behind the eBeam Edge Whiteboard by Luidia, Inc. The technology works with any whiteboard and most Mac or PC computers. Read more »
The Socialcast team at VMware has introduced a beta version of a new product called Strides, which aims to make task management an interactive experience. Think Basecamp, but more social, and with more visibility into what your colleagues are working on. Read more »
David Robins’ company Binfire created project management software based on the philosophy that better collaboration and communication leads to increased productivity. But as his global team worked on the software, he learned how best to manage that collaboration and when to involve others in planning. Read more »
This month, online collaboration platform Teambox added private elements, offering users various levels of privacy. More than just a response to Google+ Circles, the feature supports modern organizational practices, allowing employees to share limited information with vendors and clients. Read more »
A recent study seems to indicate that remote workers commit fewer ethical violations than in-office workers. But why? Is it simply because there’s less opportunity when you don’t see your coworkers? Or, as some experts suggest, could trust be the key difference? Read more »
If you want to use your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to go paperless, these apps have many basic business needs covered, helping you take notes, scan documents, sign contracts, send faxes, convert business cards to Address Book contacts and even process payments. Read more »
Cisco said today it was buying a little-known collaboration software company, Versly for an undisclosed amount. Versly makes it easy to collaborate inside Microsoft Office products. This seems like an acq-hire, aka a large company buying small players for their skills. Read more »
Consider this: managers spend between 30 to 80 percent of their time in meetings and more than 50 percent of them consider many meetings to be a “waste of time.” oDesk CEO Gary Swart shares his proven techniques for running a successful company meeting. Read more »
After developing databases for Namibian non-governmental organizations while in the Peace Corps, Jay Haase moved back to Minnesota, moving the databases he created to the cloud and offering fractions of his time so the organizations could afford to keep him. Read more »
With the stock market in flux, do tech startups stand a chance when it comes to luring investors? To find out, we polled GigaOM readers on what’s hot, what’s not, which sectors might favor buyouts versus IPOs and how it all will change in the near ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
In a connected workplace, the conference call is a necessary tool, albeit one that is often used in unnecessary ways. Here are a few tips to help you make them more efficient, more collaborative, and actually productive. Read more »
There’s a growing number of social networks providing plenty of ways for users to share the minutiae of their everyday lives. Storytree, on the other hands, wants to provide a platform for users to share rich memories with their family and friends. Read more »
What do Egypt’s former president and Lotus Notes have in common? Middle East dictators and enterprise software solutions do not, on the surface, appear to have a lot of shared characteristics, but there is a connection. They are both victims of the will of the people. Read more »
Though the “gamification” of work has been something of a hot topic, there are some valid concerns about how game-like elements are incorporated into work and collaboration tools. Gamification may not only clash with a company’s culture, but also be a bit manipulative. Read more »
Collaborative consumption refers to a class of new businesses that use the web to enable the sharing and bartering of goods and services — from cars to apartments to office space. The market evolved out of the first generation of general-purpose P2P marketplaces such as Craigslist and eBay and is now tied to the way we use the Internet and cell phones. GigaOM Pro conducted a survey of GigaOM readers to gauge the popularity of the collaborative consumption movement, which services readers are using and the impact certain security concerns will have on the growth of industry. This research note examines the survey’s results and provides analysis on the current state and future of the web-sharing market. Companies mentioned in this report include Zipcar, RelayRides, thredUP and Airbnb. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free GigaOM Pro trial subscription. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Wi-Fi provider Towerstream is turning its superfast Manhattan Wi-Fi zone into a distribution platform for daily deal apps in a bid to monetize its wireless network, the largest in Manhattan. The company is partnering with BlisMobile, which will handle the app distribution through its AppZone service. Read more »
Gamification, that buzz word panned as hype by some, has increasingly won over companies, investors and even research firms like Gartner, which now predicts half of all companies will use gamification by 2015. So what’s next? How about gamification certification? Read more »
More than 45,000 Verizon workers are striking this morning. People are concerned about what the strike could mean for telecom equipment vendors, but a better question is how much will Verizon’s legacy employees drag down the company as it competes against more modern IT companies? Read more »
In the third part of GigaOM’s Euro 20 roundup, we’ll look at five of the startups we’ve dubbed Almost Famous. They’ve weathered the storm, come out the other side, and have solid products to offer. Read more »
The traditional office space is in the midst of its most dramatic shift since it was rocked by the creation of
the cubicle more than 40 years ago. These new workspaces create fresh challenges for IT departments and technological demands from today’s workforce. Read more »
What lessons has Chuck Robbins, a senior VP running Cisco’s sales team for the Americas, learned from his experience at a company that was not only an early adopter of flexible working, but also builds a number of remote work solutions? Read more »
Millennials — workers between the ages of 20 and 29 who grew up with ubiquitous cell phone and Internet availability — are now a dominant force in today’s enterprise. Is your company ready for them? This report, the second in a two-part series, examines the tensions ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Last week, Inmagic introduced IdeaNet, an innovation management platform. I spoke with Phillip Green, Inmagic’s CTO, about how the company approaches B2B collaboration and how its clients integrate innovation into customer interactions. I came away from the conversation with a new appreciation for keeping things simple. Read more »
What’s wrong with email today? That’s the question posed to me recently on Twitter, and considering that I use email as a primary method of communication, I was happy to think of a few ways to help tame the inbox. Read more »
quanp, an online file storage service from Japanese electronics giant Ricoh that we’ve covered previously, is being shut down in the U.S. In an email sent to customers, the company notes that the service, which was in beta, will be discontinued on September 30th. Read more »
What’s the fastest way to get collaborators to invest themselves, or their time, in a new project? Whether they’re colleagues within your organization, outsourced or remote talent, customers and clients, or subject experts you’re connecting with, the answer is the same: ownership. Read more »
The emerging web-sharing movement, which includes startups like Airbnb, RelayRides, and ThredUP, has its roots in the maturing way that people use the Internet and cell phones, and its future economy will rise around location, niche groups and capital-intensive, under-utilized and time-sensitive objects. For entrepreneurs looking ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
