The explosive growth of online social networking, high-speed Internet access and increasingly ubiquitous mobile applications and devices are making software as a service (SaaS) – utilizing off-site, third-party services for content management – a mainstream enterprise solution. To illustrate what this is, here are just a few brands offering products for online data management:
A Google account gives users access to, for example, Documents, Blogger, Gmail, AdSense, Analytics and Buzz for collaboration and socialization with nearly all the familiar features and advantages as their installed desktop counterparts, yet are independent of the user's operating system.
Apple
MobileMe, an updated version of the .Mac service, offers online storage, email, calendar, gallery and sync across devices. Although lagging with iWork.com (e.g. the user can only store and share data via upload), Apple has clearly pushed the envelope with the game-changing iPad and iPhone; users have access to a range of apps for for file exchange, IM, blogging, and more.
Microsoft
CEO Steve Ballmer announced that Microsoft's employees will be doing the majority of their work in the cloud environment; in a recent presentation Mr. Ballmer states that "the inspiration for what [Microsoft is] doing now starts with the cloud."
(Source: InfoWorld.com, March 8, 2010)
Case Study: Inmagic
Inmagic offers a cloud computing and social networking enterprise solution with it's flagship product, Presto, which provides a platform for organizations to utilize a suite of content-management tools, helping team members to work within a "community." In this interview, CTO Phil Green explains how SaaS works behind the firewall:
1. Working exclusively "in the cloud" – creating, sharing and managing data offsite with third-party hardware and software as service [SaaS] – is becoming an increasingly popular choice for organizations. What services does Presto provide as an enterprise collaboration solution?
Presto is available through a cloud-based service hosted and supported by SAVVIS Communications Corporation, a leading provider of managed IT infrastructure solutions. Presto lets organizations save the capital expense of expanding their data centers, buying hardware, licensing software seats, training IT personnel, or supporting ongoing maintenance and management.
2. Presto is being used by NASA, Pfizer, Exxon Mobil and the Parliament of New Zealand. Obviously their data is extremely sensitive; how secure is Presto?
As with many of our customers, there are often restrictions, regulations, and constraints which prohibit a social free-for-all, or a Wikipedia-like environment where anyone can deem themselves an expert and update content. This has been the bane of existence for many enterprise social networking strategies.
Presto, on the other hand, mitigates the free-for-all and gives a designated administrator control over who, when, what, and how contributions are made to the knowledgebase. This allows individuals to work within the constraints of their organization's culture and processes.
Presto is chameleon-like in its ability to fit into any organization's structure and culture – whether their “social security” boundaries are high, low, or somewhere in between.
3. In a Feb 16, 2010 article on ITBusinnessEdge.com you suggest that organizations can enable collaboration among employees behind a firewall. Describe how Social Knowledge Networks meet this challenge.
Social networking is largely defined as bringing consumer-based social media technologies into an organization. For instance, it might include using blogs, IM, Facebook, Twitter, and other similar tools inside the company to facilitate communication, collaboration and sharing among employees.
Although value is derived from connecting people, greater value is derived when social media tools are integrated with content. Social Knowledge Networks (SKN) connect people and content, making communities, including corporate ones, more effective, agile, and cohesive.
4. What kinds of data and content can be shared across the Presto platform?
Both structured and unstructured content can be shared using Presto, including data from network drives, Document management (DM) systems, Digital asset management (DAM) systems, SharePoint applications, Wikis, Web sites, RSS feeds, and external content such as subscriptions, journals and external research information.
5. Many users may, of course, be already familiar with popular social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn, or with business applications like Jira. What is Presto's interface like in regard to learning how to navigate, contribute and distribute content?
Presto is an application that enables business staff to build and manage SKNs. Business groups can create and manage knowledge networks with little or no assistance from IT while retaining control to make changes as necessary. For data integrity preservation, user-level security ensures information access and input rights are in accordance with organizational requirements.
6. Email, FTP and reliance on compatible computing platforms is the way many businesses communicate internally; what are the advantages of an intra-organizational social network?
Because users can connect with other members of the community and learn from their expertise, an organizational “social intelligence” is created, thereby making critical content more accessible, actionable, informed and extendable. Through Presto, content is more accurate and reliable because it is augmented and informed by the users via the “wisdom of the community.”
(Source: Interview conducted via email with Phil Green, March, 2010)
The Social Network Model for Business
Overtly appealing aspects of cloud computing are:
- With IT infrastructure maintenance being the provider's responsibility, the user does not maintain the platform hardware or software;
- Cloud computing* is scalable, designed to expand to meet the growth demands of the individual or organization;
- It's virtually OS-independent: regardless of the user's desktop operating environment the service can be used through a browser or mobile application.
Another computing revolution is taking place now: as desktop machines and mobile devices are morphing into gateways for working in the cloud, major players are creating new strategies for online content creation and management.
*The entire outline for this article was created and edited using Evernote.
Edmund O'Reilly - Originally from New York, Edmund moved to Australia in 2006 and works as the Creative Director at a multimedia agency in North Sydney, ...
