The Connected Workspace

[Podcast]
A key component to a cohesive Universal Collaboration (UC + Web 2.0) strategy is the "connected workspace". As cited in the Facebook example a few weeks back, a workspace can be described by four key characteristics that include:

• Usability – an easy-to-use graphical interface that can be customized for each individual user based on context (i.e. project based, team, work habits, relevant information, etc.)
• Accessibility – the ability to access the workspace application from a myriad of devices, operating systems, wired or wireless.
• Participation – a workspace should not be limited to file sharing. Members should have full read/write access to promote discussion, debate and innovation.
• Collaboration – via any device in one-to-one or one-to-many communications. Leverages a full range of unified communication capabilities.

The connected workspace can be built around an individual or a team. In my experience, for the workspace concept to catch on with users, all four of these defining characteristics have got to be present. In the case of an individual workspace, the idea is to provide a user experience that follows the employee across devices, location, networks, etc.

In order to maximize its effectiveness and truly promote Universal Collaboration, workspaces (especially those that are team-based) must also cross trust boundaries, per the last blog topic. This allows all members of a given ecosystem to have full access to all features and functions of the connected workspace including: file sharing, editing, real-time and asynchronous collaboration, and sharing of presences/availability information. One of the key advantages of traversing trust boundaries, which commonly exist between different corporate domains, is the ability to federate presence. Presence federation allows all members of the workspace to view each other's availability regardless of what instant messaging engine/client they are using (Lotus Sametime, Microsoft Office Communicator, Cisco Personal Communicator, AOL, etc.).

The workspace is key component to realizing the business transforming value of Universal Collaboration and Web 2.0 in the enterprise.

Trust Boundaries

[Podcast]
Trust boundaries are a tricky thing when we start talking about Web 2.0 in the workplace. It's not generally an issue within a social context when a group of friends or family members are sharing photo's because everyone involved is using the same application and have been identified as a "trusted friend". However, in the corporate world, not every company is using the same set of applications nor does a common set of trusts exist.

The idea of trust boundaries is constantly evolving. It used to be that a company's trust boundaries were inside the four walls of it's building and anything or anyone external to that was not to be a trusted source to send/receive information. A lot has changed since then.

• With IP and the ability to create location transparency "trusted" employees have become highly distributed.
  
• There are growing needs to collaborate with business partners, consultants and suppliers globally.
  
• Business process outsourcing has extended the employee pool to include contractors and external developers in emerging countries.
  
• Even merger and acquisitions have changed trust boundaries, where it may take months or years to integrate a newly acquired company but the need to share information seamlessly may be a day one requirement.

Today, there is no blanket statement as to where trust boundaries exist. It varies by company, by project, even by day. I even had one customer this past week tell me that their trust boundaries extend into space (they work with the space station)! The ability to traverse trust boundaries or firewalls is a key component to a successful Web 2.0 strategy. To achieve a state of true Universal Collaboration, where an organization can leverage any resource in its ecosystem to participate in a value added activity, you must be able to go across trust boundaries.

For example, to improve time-to-market of a new product or application a company will want to improve its collaboration and communication with it's developers. In some cases, these developers may be on contract (and thus part of a different domain) and located in another part of the world. In order to leverage the collaborative power of Web 2.0 to achieve that goal the ability to communicate, collaborate and share information across firewalls must exist.

Looking back to the blog from January 12, 2008 - "Fears About Adopting Web 2.0" - we talked about how, among other things, tools and solutions you adopt should be secure. I think now would be a good time to revise that statement to state that a sustainable Web 2.0 strategy should include "security across trust boundaries".

What are some of your thoughts and comments on this topic? What else do we need to consider relative to trust boundaries? Looking forward to your thoughts.

Universal Collaboration: The New "UC"

[Podcast]
Unified Communications (UC) has been commoditized. But have no fear, Web 2.0 is enabling the next generation of UC, called Universal Collaboration. Of course, calling it UC 2.0 would be too cliche. Universal Collaboration really captures the essence of both UC and Web 2.0 and the value of bringing them together.

Unified Communications' purpose is to optimize business processes, enhance human communications and eliminate device and media dependencies. Web 2.0 is about using the network to harness the collective intelligence of all the users to drive innovation. When you combine the two and apply it to the workplace you come up with a powerful new value proposition. One that involves the creation of virtual workspaces that enable employees to collaborate using their own customized set of tools, from anywhere - even across firewalls and trust boundaries. A la, Universal Collaboration.

PROOF POINT:
Any idea how many people use Facebook (without looking it up)? 67 million registered members. No lie (I was shocked when I found out). If the Facebook user community was just made up of kids then it would have little relevance in a workplace conversation. But, next time you are in Facebook look up some of the groups that are listed (as a quick sidebar, the largest group is the city of Toronto, Canada which has 1/2 million members. Those Canadians know their Web 2.0!).

Here are some notable workplace groups and number of associated Facebook members:

• IBM - 34,000
  
• Microsoft - 30,000
  
• Cisco - 10,500
  
• P&G - 10,000
  
• Shell Oil - 7,500
• Wescon Credit Union - 38 (I included them just to show that it's not all about multinationals)
  

Also consider that the professional networking site LinkedIn (what I fondly refer to as Facebook for grown-ups) has 20 million members. Now let that all sink in and think about it for a minute...

34,000 IBM employees created their own customized workspace on Facebook. A workspace that is highly accessible, is easy to use, enables participation and of course collaboration with their peers. More impressive is that 34,000 of them self organized to create their own IBM community. No one told them to do it or how to do it. They just did it.

Now, what if you could harness that same collaborative power within your organization? Think of the competitive advantage that could be created. Think about the impact on: innovation; a Six Sigma initiative; a customer service strategy; driving more profit/attorney; speeding a merger and acquisition process.

Universal Collaboration is the next generation of UC, driven by the combination of Unified Communications and Web 2.0.