Web 3.0 Collaboration Tools

Create Proposals Online

2009-12-16T18:25:03Z

There is a great service (still in Beta), called eintelli. It's an online tool for creating proposals. I've been looking for decent tool to use for a while, and early this year wrote about proposal collaboration software, Zapproved. Zapproved is an ideal tool for seeking proposal approval (hence the name), however, eintelli is the ideal tool for writing your proposal from scratch.

Eintelli, is one of the few vendors offering an online tool for proposal creation, at least from my research anyway. I found a lot of outdated software vendors that offered proposal software, however, I'm sure you can relate, purchasing software has lost it's appeal!

The idea of eintelli, is that you can create your proposal online, then send a link to your recipient to review, or you can export as a PDF. The PDF comes formatted (as a proposal should look), and the table of contents is automatically created.

Features for creating your proposal online

Create Proposal

Create media rich branded proposals, that can be stored online and accessed from anywhere

Publish your proposal

Allow your recipients to view your proposal online, plus add a level of security by opting for password protection

Proposal Intelligence

Built in business intelligence; tells you who has viewed & for how long

Proposal Templates

Create & save proposal templates that are specific to a product or industry your pursuing

Real Time Collaboration

You can invite other users to collaborate on proposals. The experience is in real time, so you can see your colleagues typing!

There is a host of other features, that support optimized printing of your proposal, request approval, feedback & more.

Overall, this is a very impressive online tool for creating proposals. At the moment, it is in Beta & offered for free, so you can't go wrong!

Google Apps Presentation

2009-12-10T14:57:10Z

Today I completed my first presentation on Google Apps! In the presentation, I discuss the benefits of cloud computing & why Google is one of the leading vendors to support software as a service (SaaS).

Full screen mode including my webcam video here: Google Apps Overview Presentation

Google Apps Overview

Google Apps empowers your business with Google Applications for your company domain. It features web applications with similar functionality to traditional office suites, including: Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, Google Docs and Google Sites, & the latest addition Google Video. Learn more about Google Apps for your domain.

Software as a Service:

As Google Apps is hosted in the cloud, and delivered as a service, you eliminate the upfront & on-going costs to support email in house. Also, as Google Apps customers, you automatically receive the latest updates, with no interruption to your staff's workflow.

Batipi Professional Services

At Batipi, we are helping clients make the transition to Google Apps. Our professionals service consultants work with your IT team to ensure a smooth migration & transition to Google Apps. We have customized support plans, specifically for administrators, or we can extend the support directly to your end users. Here's how we are helping clients today:

coordination of google apps pilot program
google apps account set-up & activation
data migration from exchange & other programs
configure add-on's (postini, outlook sync, connector for blackberry enterprise server)
administrator & user training
administrator & end user support
quarterly consulting on new features

Call us today, to learn more about using Google Apps, at your company.

Adobe Connect Pro vs GoToMeeting

2009-12-08T12:35:00Z

If your comparing Adobe Connect Pro and GoToMeeting, you should realize the full potential of Connect Pro, and why it is worth every penny more. In this review, 3 areas are covered:

Ease of use (how easy is it to get attendees into your meetings)
Flexibility & engaging experience (can you configure & personalize the service, & what tools are offered to ensure user engagement during your meeting)
Features for delivering training online (what additional functionality is offered to support eLearning)

Also, there are additional areas why Adobe Connect out performs GoToMeeting, I've highlighted these features towards the end.

Comparison of Adobe Connect Pro & GoToMeeting Corporate

Legend

yes - included with product

n/a - not available

weak - weak in comparison

Note

We deliver Adobe Connect Pro as a service, so our opinion is obviously favored to Connect Pro side. The comparison highlights some key areas why Adobe Connect is a premier service vs GoToMeeting & overall a better web conferencing technology. Contact us for a personalized demo of Adobe Connect Pro suite.

Ease of Use

When it comes to how quickly your users adapt and learn a new technology is determined highly by how easy the program is to use. More importantly with web conferencing technology, it's important to have a simple streamlined process for your attendees to join your meetings.

Feature	Acrobat Connect Pro	GoToMeeting Corporate
Universally installed client: No waiting for attendees to get set up as the Flash Player is already installed on over 98% of all systems	yes	n/a
Customizable URLs and persistent rooms: Create personalized, re-usable URLs for persistent meeting rooms, reducing prep time for recurring events.	yes	n/a
Multi-language Capability: Choose from many languages beyond English	yes	n/a
Multi-platform support: Attendees are supported beyond Windows and MAC	yes	n/a
Multiple Deployment Options: Choose between hosted and on-premise deployment options	yes	n/a

Superior Flexibility & Engaging Experience

The ability to fully customize the interface, whether that is changing layouts, or adding corporate branding contributes to a greater personal experience with the software. With greater personalization, users are apt to use the technology more.

Feature	Acrobat Connect Pro	GoToMeeting Corporate
Meeting Windows Flexibility: Create multiple meeting windows or pods of any kind and easily move or resize your meeting windows for a custom room layout that keeps participants engaged	yes	n/a
Meeting Room Templates: Pre-built layouts and content can be saved and reused	yes	n/a
White Boarding: Annotation tools simulate use of a whiteboard in a real conference room	yes	n/a
Video Support: Desktop video, multiple video sources, and recorded video without a third-party video client	yes	n/a
File Sharing: Participants can easily download files by accessing the file share panel, without presenter intervention	yes	n/a
Administrative Policy Settings: Add or remove windows or features, customize recordings, log chats, and designate room access for greater meeting control	yes	weak
Complete Branding & Personalization: Change the colors, layout, and more at any time	yes	weak

Advanced Training and eLearning Functionality

When it comes to training online, it is important to replicate learning environments that would typically take place in person. Group participation and the ability to create break out groups from within your web conference, encourages such an experience.

Feature	Acrobat Connect Pro	GoToMeeting Corporate
Advanced Content Management: Host and manage on demand content and track usage & viewing	yes	n/a
Breakout Rooms: Allow participants to meet in sub-groups for sharing, discussion and collaboration	yes	n/a
Pre-Built LMS Integration: Easier integration with your LMS using pre-built integration to SumTotal, Blackboard, and Plateau	yes	n/a
Track Adobe PDF Documents As Training: Trainers can define Adobe PDF documents as training courses that learners can obtain credit for reading	yes	n/a
Enhanced Online Training Reporting: Customize training reporting to provide meaningful data sets	yes	weak

Additional Adobe Connect Pro Benefits

Meeting Add-on's

As Adobe Connect Pro is extensible with a flash api, there is a growing add-on community that offers simple plugins to enhance your meetings. The add-on's are simple to install, and provide additional value to your meetings, beyond features that are included already. Currently, there is

Recorded Meeting Playback

With Adobe Connect, the meeting playback is extremely simple. You are presented with a URL that is ready for distribution. After clicking on the URL, a user watches the recorded flash presentation right within their web browser. There is no requirement to have windows media player installed & open, which is the alternative experience with GoToMeeting.

Multi-media & Content

The ability to upload & stream recorded video to your audience is possible with Connect Pro. There are a variety of file types that can be included into your meeting: Flash Video (SWF, FLV), Audio (WAV, MP3), Graphics (JPG, GIF, BMP, WFM, TIFF, EPG, PNG), PowerPoint, HTML, Printable Doc's (PDF, Word, Excel).

As video and other content is uploaded to your content library, it displays to your audience without any delay. With Gotomeeting, there is no option to upload content, and all programs or files would need to be open on your desktop, and shared through screen sharing. The problem is screen sharing increase the bandwidth consumption, which could result in dimished quality to what is being shared

There is a recorded webinar by Adobe, which talks about these comparisons in more detail. You can access the webinar here, however, you will need to login with Adobe credentials first.

We encourage your comments/experience on using these two web conferencing products...

Google Wave Makes Collaboration Simple

2009-11-13T13:39:06Z

I found a new invite in my email inbox this morning, to join Google Wave. Finally, a chance to check out this cool new service from Google. Let's see what all the hype is about! Google Wave is still in private beta, however, I'm able to give out 8 invites. If you would like an invitation, add your comment & I will send you one.

Google Wave Explained

Google Wave from Wikipedia standpoint is a personal communication and collaboration tool. It is designed to merge e-mail, instant messaging, wikis, and social networking. Google explains a wave as being both conversation & a document, where you can discuss & collaborate together using richly formated text, photos, videos, maps & much more. The much more part is where developers come in (similar to the iphone apps). Google Wave is open source, so expect a ton of applications that you will be able to "one-click" add to your wave, in the near future.

There is no limit to the imagination, as to how you can use Google Wave. It is a communication tool. So the next time you send your colleagues an email, you might think, hmmm...maybe we can do this better in a Wave. There is also a very nice playback feature, which shows you exactly who said what & when. Do you ever get lost in a thread of emails, or even miss a reply? I think this is part of the frustration, why Google Wave was developed.

Google Wave Solutions

Some suggested examples from Google, when to use a Google Wave:

Organizing Events

Keep a single copy of ideas, suggested itinerary, menu and RSVPs, rather than using many different tools. Use gadgets to add weather, maps and more to the event.

Meeting Notes

Prepare a meeting agenda together, share the burden of taking notes and record decisions so you all leave on the same page (we call it being on the same wave). Team members can follow the minutes in real time, or review the history using Playback. The conversation can continue in the wave long after the meeting is over.

Group Reports & Writing Projects

Collaboratively work in real time to draft content, discuss and solicit feedback all in one place rather than sending email attachments and creating multiple copies that get out of sync.

Brainstorming

Bring lots of people into a wave to brainstorm - live concurrent editing makes the quantity of ideas grow quickly! It is easy to add rich content like videos, images, URLs or even links to other waves. Discussion ensues. Etiquettes form. Then work together to distill down to the good ideas.

Photo Sharing

Drag and drop photos from your desktop into a wave. Share with others. Use the slideshow viewer. Everyone on the wave can add their photos, too. It is easy to make a group photo album in Google Wave.

Google Wave Demo

This is a great demo of Google Wave. Learn more about some of the suggested solutions, and what you can do with Google Wave.

I'm still trying to confirm or verify if Google Wave will be included as another app for Google Apps customers. If so, this would a compelling reason to evaluate Google Apps for your business. Contact us at Batipi, to learn more about using Google Apps within your business.

Office Collaboration

2009-11-10T14:25:22Z

If you have not already discovered Google Apps, and prefer using Microsoft Word applications, you should try the plugin for Microsoft Office, called Docverse. This instantly turns your Microsoft Office applications for Word, Excel & PowerPoint, into an office collaboration tool.

The plugin works similar to Google Docs, and allows you to collaborate on documents with your colleagues. Updates and edits made by your colleagues can be seen in real time. Also, a version of your file is stored on the Docverse cloud server, so you can access your files when your on the run.

Here is an example of how Docverse integrates with your PowerPoint...

As you can see, you can easily add additional editors, leave comments, receive updates when your shared document is updated, and keep multiple versions of your Word, Excel, or PowerPoint file in sync with Docverse online.

For single user access, Docverse provides you with a free account, which could be ideal to keep your office files synced with an online version. If you want to start collaborating with colleagues, then you will probably need their team edition, which is $49/month. This lets you collaborate on 500 documents, with up to 10 users. They also offer a 60 day free trial.

Live blogging for online events

2009-11-09T13:20:12Z

I saw this live blogging service on Dragens Den the other night, it's called ScribbleLive. It can be used in a variety of ways, one in particular I find would be useful, would be to cover a live Q&A from your webcast event. The great part is you do not have to login to ScribbleLive to take part, they allow you to embed your live blog on your website. There is one example of this, on The Score website, which uses ScribbleLive as a live blogging tool, so viewers can interact with each other, while watching a hockey game. Basically, the same concept could be applied to your organization, business, blog, school, or even students, as the application is currently offered for free. Lets hope they still make this application accessible to all, after the dragens have their 2 cents.

ScribbleLive has full integration with Twitter, so you can have all of your comments posted to Twitter, but you can also pull in comments that might be relating to your event. The Admin interface provides you all of the tools to make this happen. Here is a short example, I started a live blog, added a few comments, & uploaded a couple pictures (from ScribbleLive & from email). Also, I tested their auto-post feature from twitter, essentially, this lets you search for a keyword, in this case it was "collaboration", and have the comments automatically included in your feed. This is the concluded summary of the live blog...

9:52 AM: batipi watching the live event
9:54 AM: davidcorcoran watching the live event too
9:54 AM: hanneklintoe @Claus @marks Collaboration, tick. Confusion and queueing, no thanks. The World 2 - Google Wave 1
9:55 AM: archivesinfo An old article, but still timely "The Collaboration Imperative" bit.ly #librarians #archivists #curators
9:55 AM: BambooNation #SharePoint Server 2010 Beta Review; Standardizing Online #Collaboration Tools; Bye Bye #Browser? tinyurl.com #Microsoft
9:56 AM: adahdavis Arguing About the Collaboration Toolkit: Cisco's Enterprise Collaboration Platform bit.ly
9:58 AM: frankietrouble is prepping for the collaboration with Jane Doe DJ at Barsoma Wednesday night for Head Vs. Heart. fb.me
9:59 AM: Lotus_DE MacOS X als Plattform für Enterprise Collaboration: IBM Vortrag auf der i-meeting '09 von Torsten Hoffmann bit.ly @hofster
9:59 AM: myvocal Collaboration Done Right bit.ly
9:59 AM: David Corcoran
10:01 AM: PLM_IC Cisco Adds Social Software, Hosted E-mail to Collaboration Lineup bit.ly
10:01 AM: enterprisetwo Cisco Breaks Down Barriers to Business-to-Business Collaboration; New telepresence, unified communications, enterprise s url4.eu
10:02 AM: divaschematic Oh gads, I hope there's a full Gaga and PSB collaboration soon.
10:02 AM: frankietrouble is prepping for the Jane Doe DJ | Frankie Trouble! collaboration at Barsoma Wednesday night for Head Vs. Heart . fb.me
10:05 AM: batipi
10:07 AM: DESULU Voc@loidM@ster祭り3　作品しちょー
「12 colors」ProjectDIVAx765pro Collaboration CM
www.nicovideo.jp
10:08 AM: Cisco_Mobile REMINDER: #Cisco to #Webcast #Collaboration Summit Today tinyurl.com
10:08 AM: NeuroNow $6-Million NIH Grant To Study Rare Brain Disease: Brown University, in collaboration with two other institution.. bit.ly
10:08 AM: bdescary Google Apps, la collaboration à la portée des TPE et PME | rezopointzero.com bit.ly

In this case, I just grabbed the embedded code from ScribbleLive for the above concluded event. You can also include embed code for live events, to include on your webpage as well.

Live Blogging Features

Usability

No registration required for your users to join a live blog, they simple sign in with their existing social network id (facebook, twitter, ect)

Updates in real time

Updates appear in real time on your screen, no requirements to refresh your screen

Cross Platform

Works on all browsers, MAC, PC & Linux

Desktop Notifier

Latest feature, offering you a desktop application to monitor your live event directly from your desktop

Supports HTML tags

You can copy and paste an html embed code from any website into your live blog, for example from Youtube, you can drop a video to be watched directly into your stream

Translation

Offers on the fly translation in English, French, Italian, Spanish & many others. A user automatically receives the comment translated into their preferred language

Upload Multimedia

Add images, video, record a comment via your webcam & automatically post into the live blog

Post via Email

Allow your users to send comments, pictures & video to the live blog

Add Live Blogging to your website

Copy the event embed and you can have the ScribbleLive experience on your web site in seconds. You have control of the background colour, the text font, size and colour for your content, comments, and meta data, link and divider line colour and style, avatars on or off and the size of your embed.

Ask us about adding ScribbleLive to your next custom webcast from Batipi.

Building The Future Of Collaboration

2009-11-05T12:48:16Z

There is an interesting report conducted by Forrester, and commissioned by Adobe, on the future of collaboration. The study surveyed knowledge workers about their requirements, habits, tools, concerns, & desired improvements when working with others to achieve business goals.

The study focused on 5 key areas of collaboration in the workplace:

Knowledge Workers Need For Real-Time Collaboration

Findings show that work with dispersed teams is on the rise, and quite simply "email" does not meet our needs as an effective tool for communication & collaboration. Here are some interesting percentages from the study:

Daily (35%) or weekly (34%) collaboration is common for the majority of respondents.
73% of knowledge workers in large enterprises (5,000+ employees) collaborate with people in different time zones and regions at least monthly, and 24% of them do so on a daily basis.
Telephone is used by 87% and, when possible, face-to-face meetings for 77% are the primary means of collaboration.
Email and attachments used by 77% comprise the primary mode of collaborating across
boundaries of time and location.
Speed & efficiency of collaboration (68%) and reduction of paperwork (68%), are the top benefits sought when looking for improved ways to collaborate with others

The Web 2.0 Gap Between Tool Availability And Adoption

As we have seen better tools for communication & collaboration, the adoption rates for these tools still remain low. The ultimate tool for collaboration, has yet to emerge. The survey shows the following percentages for using new technologies:

Video Conferencing only used by 11%, IM used by 25%, & team sites used by 17%
Social Networks used by 7%, Blogs (5%), & Wiki's (4%)
Confidence in the ability to improve collaboration is much higher, reaching 42% for video conferencing
Confidence in using newer technologies is highest among younger workers

Challenges In Gathering Information Quickly, Accurately, & Efficiently

In the study they talk about how increasingly distributed collaboration & team work requires knowledge workers to gather information from others. The challenge is 63% of workers say they collect they same multiple pieces of information, from a number of people about once a month or more.

Email (73%) and telephone (59%), are the most common methods for data gathering, but present some clear challenges:
- Email creates extra work
- The telephone is time consuming, & does not document results
Knowledge workers would would like current tools to:
- Be faster & more efficient (66%)
- Reduce the need to re-type gathered information (55%)
- Reduce paper (51%)
- Be more engaging (47%)

The Increasing Need To Create Compelling Communications

The respondents feedback supports the requirement to have more compelling & effective ways of communicating:

45% of knowledge workers need to create high-impact, engaging communications, once a month or more. While 76% of these communications involve combining multiple documents of different file types (text, images, photos, graphics, videos, forms, technical docs & more), to tell a story, make an impression, or making a convincing argument
Most of the communication created are customer focused (47%)

Securing Sensitive Information

With increased collaboration, companies are more often exposing confidential & sensitive information. The survey found that knowledge worker behavior & attitudes are not in tune with enterprise IT concerns:

More then half surveyed indicate they create & share sensitive information or documents every two or three weeks
To secure shared information, knowledge workers use PDF's and passwords - US based workers are far more likely (58%) to use software controls to protect sensitive information, compared to Europeans (38%)

Access the full report on Building The Future Of Collaboration.

Adobe is putting on a Webinar to discuss this report on the following dates:

Building the Future of Collaboration Webinar

Sessions 1 will be on Thursday, December 3, 2009 10:00 - 11:00 a.m. US Pacific Time

Sessions 2 will be on Thursday, December 10, 2009 10:00 - 11:00 a.m. US Pacific Time

You can sign-up for this upcoming webinar here.

Universal Telecommunications with Adobe Connect Update

2009-11-04T14:31:25Z

Adobe announced yesterday, new features included in Adobe Connect Pro 7.5, one of which allows you to connect & stream any conference call or VoIP based phone service into your meetings. The Universal Voice feature enables telephone audio to be recorded within your web meeting & broadcast over VoIP, so your participants can listen to the audio without having to dial in.

More updates to Adobe Connect Pro 7.5...

Webcast Module

A new webcast module will accommodate up to 80,000 users to join your online events. Within the webcast interface, you can deliver rich media, slides, video & interactive Q&A.

Secure Desktop Sharing

Allows administrators to have more control over what can be shared during meetings at your company

Universal Voice

The new universal telecommunication option allows you to integrate any audio conferencing provider into Connect Pro. Plus you have more flexibility to broadcast your audio from a panel of speakers to an audience listening over computer audio (VoIP).

Upload PDF

You can now upload and share PDF documents into a shared pod within your Adobe Connect meeting

Connect Pro Mobile

Coming soon, the ability to join a Connect Pro meeting from your iphone or ipod touch. Users from these devices will be able to see what is being shared, chat conversation, & video from the presenters camera.

View the Adobe Presenter presentation here about the 7.5 update. Also, you can find the whitepaper here on Adobe's vision for unified communications.

Video Conferencing vs. Travel

2009-08-18T14:06:37Z

I was just reading an article from Small Business Labs, about saving time, money & the environment, all from considering video conferencing over travel. There are three points that are made in the blog post, that definitely resonate, and provide motivation for any company to consider:

1. Video Conferencing Saves Time:

According to the Travel Industry Association of America the average business trip last 3.3 days and the average business traveler takes 5.4 trips per year.

2. Video Conferencing Saves Money:

According to American Express, the average business trip costs $1,110 in T&E expenses.

3. Video Conferencing is Green:

The Nature Conservancy recommends video conferencing as one of their top 10 tips for saving the climate. Jet's are heavy emitters of CO2 and produce 12% of all transportation related greenhouse gases.

Now it's probably not realistic to assume that all business travel will cease to exist starting tomorrow, however, with all the benefits for video conferencing over travel, it would be hard for companies not to take seriously. If you consider the first point, and the average business trips we're reduced by 50% and supplemented with video conferencing, the effects from this decision could be felt throughout the company and our environment.

Obviously, I have a biased opinion, as my intentions are to sell you our video conferencing service. Never the less, it is nice to read articles about the benefits of video conferencing over travel, as it reminds me of the impact this solution can immediately have all around you.

My pitch...

I would consider our video conferencing service from Batipi, for the following reasons:

Powered by Vidyo (the latest in video conferencing technology)
No hardware installation required
Pay one low monthly subscription
Available 24/7
Minimum requirement: Webcam & desktop microphone or USB Headset

Adobe ConnectNow

2009-08-01T01:14:00Z

Adobe ConnectNow is an entry level version to the Adobe Connect Pro Suite. The web conferencing tool is free for up to 3 users. Adobe ConnectNow can be an ideal solution for impromtu meetings to share your screen, or start a video conference. It also has an impressive interactive white board, which can be used to mark up web page content.

Adobe ConnectNow Features:

Adobe ConnectNow gives you access to a secure, personal online meeting room. Use your meeting room to collaborate with others on the web in real time. With ConnectNow, you can share and annotate your computer screen, send chat messages, and communicate using integrated audio. You can also broadcast live video, share files, capture meeting notes, and control an attendee’s computer remotely.

Meeting Room Overview:

A. Menu bar B. Screen Sharing pod C. Attendee List D. Invite Participants E. Share Screen F. Upload a File G. Share Webcam H. Share Microphone I. Set-up Phone Conferencing J. Webcam pod K. Chat Pod L. Shared Notes pod

In Adobe ConnectNow, shared pods work similar as with Adobe Connect Pro, you can minimize, move or rearrange each pod to adjust your meeting room layout.

Impromptu Meetings

One of the features I like the most about Adobe ConnectNow is the ability to have a custom url. This way you can easily share with others where to "meet you" online and view your screen share for further explanation. The impromptu meeting is essential to collaboration. Adobe ConnectNow makes it easy to bring everyone on your page.

Let me explain further, join my screen share...

Instead of trying to explain how something works over the phone, use Adobe ConnectNow to easily send a link to the person your speaking with, and share all actions on your screen.

Adding a visual element to your communcation, can make all the difference in getting your point across. You can also have your participant share their screen & even take control of their mouse to troubleshoot for them. I'm sure everybody has family members that could benefit from this feature!

Time to show your face!

Also included for free in Adobe ConnectNow, is the ability to share your webcam with up to 3 people.

The phone is easy, however, adding live video to your conversations, can improve overall communication. Moreover, body language is essential to effective communication, so why not turn on your web cam in your next meeting, and start speaking clearly!

You can find a recorded demo on how to show your webcam or share your screen, here.

Adobe ConnectNow is great for individual meetings & impromptu collaboration. However, if your evaluating a web conferencing solution for your business, then I would encourage you to contact us at Batipi, about the benefits of using Adobe Connect Pro.