Web 2.0: Online Collaboration Software and Other Great Tools (download available)

As an online collaboration software vendor, we at GroveSite know a bit about Web 2.0!  I was recently asked to give an overview of 'Web 2.0 and Global Collaboration' for a California trade and economic development conference.  All in 30 minutes!  Undaunted, I tried to get my hands around how best to categorize the wealth of Web 2.0 technology tools, and then try to communicate that to an audience of small businesses, economic development agencies and trade organizations

By the way, if any of you are interested, you can access my Web 2.0 and Global Collaboration PowerPoint deck at http://www.slideshare.net/JaneHagen/web-20-and-the-world-of-global-collaboration-v2010.

Some folks say that Web 2.0 technologies have finally enabled the truly "Writable Web."  That means the information, or content, one can find on the web comes from all kinds of everyday people - business people, consumers, kids (especially kids).  Web content is no longer just the carefully groomed and proofread output of company marketers and their web programmers.

At GroveSite, we like to think of Web 2.0 technologies in three classes: User-generated content, collaborative, and social networking.   For the purposes of my address to this conference, I discussed:

• "User-generated' content
  •  Blogs
  • Podcasts, videos
• Collaborative
  • Web conferencing, desktop sharing 
  • Online workspaces/portals
  • Wikis
• Social Networking
  • Facebook 
  • Twitter 
  • Linked In 

  If you view the PPT, you can see examples of each technology, chosen from the economic development and trade industries.  I used GroveSite for examples of online workspaces/portals and wikis.  Check out a few GroveSite examples in this industry at:

  Shared Product Development Log: http://grovesite.com/grovedemos/pdlog

  Supplier Collaboration and Sample Tracking:  http://grovesite.com/grovedemos/designloft

  Online Communities:  Tradeport Collaborator:  http://grovesite.com/tradeport

  Online Communities:  CA Business Transportation and Housing Agency: http://grovesite.com/cabth/PIAC  

  And thank you for taking the time to peruse this.

Julius A Tavernaro joins the GroveSite team

Julius Tavernaro joined GroveSite this month to help the company implement an aggressive multi-year roadmap for its flagship online collaboration software product. GroveSite already makes it easy to collaborate securely with customers, vendors, partners, and far-flung colleagues. Mr. Tavernaro will lead a major UI project to enhance GroveSite's online file sharing, wiki web pages, project management, discussion forums, online calendars and web database capabilities. 

Julius brings ten years of web development experience to the GroveSite team. He has a natural curiosity and passion for exploring new software technologies that enhance the user experience.  Prior to joining GroveSite, Mr. Tavernaro worked in diverse industries including higher education, consulting, and health care. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Information Systems from Arizona State University.

Feel free to give Julius a call!

GroveSite: Extended Maintenance Feb 27 2010 to add hardware capacity

We will be upgrading the GroveSite online collaboration software infrastructure on Saturday February 27, 2010.  This upgrade expands file storage capacity to accommodate current and future growth.

GroveSite's online collaboration service will be inaccessible for up to 24 hours, from 12:01 am MST to 11:59 pm MST on February 27,  2010.  Users who try to access the system during this time will see an “Extended Maintenance” screen.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you or your teams, and appreciate your patience as we continue to innovate and upgrade the services we provide to your organization.

If you have questions please contact us at customerservice@grovesite.com.

Thank you

The GroveSite Team

 

 

 

GroveSite selected for Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Social Software, 2008

As a co-founder of GroveSite, I am pleased to say how honored we are that GroveSite was selected (for the second year in a row) for inclusion in the Gartner Magic Quadrant industry analyses, the "Gartner Magic Quadrant for Social Software, 2008."   GroveSite was one of only 38 vendors, including giants such as IBM and Microsoft, selected for inclusion.   In its comprehensive study, Gartner evaluated each vendor's ability to execute and its completeness of vision.   In its comments about GroveSite, Gartner again mentioned GroveSite’s strength in “easily customizable workspaces that blend wiki-style text information with more structured file and data exchange" and its “innovative use of "online web-native databases."  

GroveSite's hosted collaboration software has been offered since 2003 in the 'team collaboration software' category.  We have chosen to offer only a hosted (software-as-a-service) version, as our niche is helping clients collaborate with their vendors, customers, and other external partners.  Gartner first developed a Magic Quadrant analysis of this market in 2007, at which time the title of their study was, "Gartner Magic Quadrant for Team Collaboration and Social Software." So it is interesting that in 2008, they have attempted to group vendors such as GroveSite -- whose emphasis is online team workspaces -- with vendors who offer  'Facebook'-style social software all under a Social Software moniker.

Back to the 'web-native database' feature mentioned in the study:  GroveSite’s clients are increasingly using this web database feature to support day-to-day workflow between a company and its overseas suppliers.  Our database feature is somewhat unique as it incorporates discussion logs, multiple file attachments with thumbnails, and granular security.  For these clients, GroveSite moves from ‘social community tool' to 'secure web system for vital day-to-day business operations’.  We love it!

Enterprise Collaboration Software - Easy or Not?

It's amazing how difficult enterprise collaboration software can be to use. As an independent consultant, I work with many large companies, and have to be added to their extranets to transfer large files and manage documents. In the case of one client, it took three months just to get the IT department to pay attention to the need to add me.  Then it took another two weeks to get my password and user name to me. The password was machine-generated, and kept getting caught in my spam filter. Finally I found it in the junk mail, pulled it out, and uploaded a file.  The next morning, my internal contact told me she couldn't open it!

While we were waiting for the special, supposedly better, internal solution, we were using GroveSite.  And guess what? It took 30 minutes to set up, everyone could open everything, and everything worked. Why did we need to change? GroveSite's so much easier than enterprise software.

Francine Hardaway, Ph.D.

CEO, Stealthmode Partners

602.412.3315

www.stealthmode.com

http://blog.stealthmode.com