This week in links - week 42, 2008

"Gartner Identifies Four Disruptions That Will Transform the Software Industry", Gartner:

Technology changes that have been centered on SOA migration have now been augmented to include business process management, device portability and mashup-capable content. By 2010, Web mashups will be the dominant model for the creation of composite enterprise applications.

“Most current software is focused on general enterprise needs rather than user-specific needs,” Ms. Genovese said. “The opportunity for business and IT leaders is to understand how the individualization of work will affect businesses, critical processes, innovation and interenterprise collaboration. End-user preferences will decide as much as half of all software, hardware and service acquisitions made by IT.”

“Market excitement over Web platforms, SaaS and other IT utility services will only intensify, and this will increase business buyers’ appetites for these new options and services,”

"Cisco and WebEx Combine Strengths to Launch New Enterprise 2.0 Collaboration Platform"by Bill Ives:

Cisco has launched a new collaboration platform with its acquisition of WebEx: Cisco WebEx Connect, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that integrates, presence, instant messaging, web meetings and team spaces with traditional and web 2.0 business applications. I recently spoke with David Knight, the Product Manager for this new collaboration effort. He said Cisco WebEx Connect is designed to combine the flexibility and reach of Web 2.0 with the security and management of enterprise networking. This new cloud-based platform will be the foundation of Cisco’s collaboration strategy and will be the first solution Cisco has launched since announcing its collaboration strategic direction.

"Social Networking Belongs in Business" by Dean Thrasher:

It’s odd that it’s taken so long for social software to make inroads in the business world. Social networking has a natural home in the enterprise because the relationships there have a purpose.

I think it’s inside the firewall that the social networks really come into their own. Rands explains the importance of the corporate social network by contrasting the official organization chart with the culture chart. The boxes and arrows on the org chart barely scratch the surface of what’s going on within most companies. Knowing who’s connected with whom, what they do and how they do it… now that’s valuable insight.

"SharePoint: It’s Not a Gap, It’s Room for An Ecosystem"by Craig Roth:

There’s an old coding joke: when presented with a bug in your program you try to pretend it is intentional by saying “It’s not a bug, it’s a feature!” I’m reminded of that when told about the rich ecosystem Microsoft has nurtured around SharePoint 2007.

If you’re in charge of an enterprise-wide SharePoint plan or a specific SharePoint site, you don’t care if a gap in SharePoint is intentional or not. The task for you is to quickly assess what users will need from SharePoint and to set expectations up front that SharePoint out of the box may not get them there. Determining what combination of built-in SharePoint capabilities, partner products, community-provided bits, and custom in-house coding will be required to deliver the expectations of the users will help paint a realistic picture of the time and resources needed.

Well, there's some food for thought. Have a nice weekend!