Michael Sampson on Making Collaboration Work

Mobile and Wireless Access to Collaboration Systems: What's Happened?

Written for Messaging News Magazine, this article looks at the current state of mobile and wireless access to collaboration systems, at August 2009:

 

"Three years ago I wrote about the state of play with mobile and wireless device access to collaboration systems, such as instant messaging, collaborative workspaces, and customer relationship management (CRM). By “mobile and wireless device” I was referring to small form-factor devices, such as smartphones and PDAs, rather than their bigger brethren, the laptop. The general rule I proposed was “whenever a group of users make a system their habitat for collaborative work, mobile access will probably be required.” At that time I ultimately concluded that mobile and wireless access to instant messaging and CRM systems was pretty good, but access to collaborative workspaces was pretty bad. The purpose of this article is to review what’s happened during the past three years and give a state of play as of August 2009."

 

Read the article online, at messagingnews.com.

Socialtext Goes More Mobile

Review and commentary on the new Socialtext Mobile capabilities, released September 9, 2009.

 

"Socialtext released new mobile device capabilities today, with device-optimized usage from a BlackBerry, iPhone, or Android smartphone. Socialtext released "Miki", for mobile device access to a wiki workspace some three ago; this is an update and substantial revision to its capabilities."

 

Read the article online, at Michael's blog.

Sharing and Collaboration with Evernote

Analysis and commentary on the new sharing capabilities being added to Evernote.

 

"One of my long time favorite services—Evernote—has just implemented the first phase of its collaboration strategy. Until the last week of June, Evernote was solely a personal information management service, offering both a rich client for full online-offline access on various operating systems and devices, as well as a Web-accessible service. Even before the release of the new collaboration capabilities, Evernote was pretty fantastic ..."

 

Read the article online, at messagingnews.com.

RIM Innovates with the Storm

A review of the new BlackBerry Storm wireless phone and email device, the first Research In Motion device without a physical keyboard.

 

 

"Research In Motion (RIM) took the wraps off the BlackBerry Storm last week. The Storm is the latest device from RIM and it has no physical keyboard, a total departure from every other wireless email device from RIM. Obviously the Storm is designed to fight back against the mind share and growing market share of the Apple iPhone, which also has no physical keyboard, but which is drawing rave reviews in many quarters. Perhaps RIM-aligned customers will be less likely to jump ship to the iPhone now that RIM has an iPhone-like device on offer."

 

Read the article online, at Michael's blog.

 

Palm Foleo: Falls Short of First Base, Let Alone a Home Run

Comments on the newly announced Palm Foleo device, ultimately concluding that its market appeal is limited.

 

 

"With its 10-inch screen and full-size keyboard, the Palm Foleo mobile companion connects wirelessly with your smartphone to help you do more on the go. Unfold it, press a button, and it's on instantly—while just one touch brings your email to the big screen.1 Use your Foleo to view attachments, type longer emails, or to get a bigger look at web pages and photos you'd normally view on your smartphone.2 And with up to five hours of battery life packed into such a compact design, you'll do big things wherever you go."

 

Read the article online, at Michael's blog.

 

MindAlign Releases a Mobile Client

A review of the capabilities of the mobile edition of Parlano MindAlign, a persistent instant messaging product for enterprise customers.

 

 

"MindAlign Mobile is a new client for installation on BlackBerry (see below), Windows Mobile and Palm Treo devices. It connects to the MindAlign Server, and by default, displays the filters that the user has set up on their desktop. Because of the limited screen real-estate on the device, Parlano made the decision to display these filtered channels by default, and give the user the power to see anything or everything else if they wanted to. You can write into a channel when you're on one of these devices, thus being able to participate in ongoing conversations from anywhere."

 

Read the article online, at Michael's blog.

 

Mobile and Wireless Access to Collaboration Systems

As people shift their communication activities out of email and into collaboration systems, today's mobility offerings will need to mature.

 

"Wireless email is a done deal. There are many decent offerings on the market, there’s a current market leader (Research In Motion), Microsoft is integrating key capabilities directly into Exchange Server and Nokia acquired Intellisync to help with its integration of wireless email into standard and enhanced mobile phones. Wireless access to email is important, but it's no longer enough. As people shift their collaborative activity to other systems, inside and outside of the enterprise, wireless access will be needed. Let’s look at what’s involved."

 

You can download the PDF (3.6 MB, 48 pages). The article starts on page 26.