The Web Conferencing Blog

Breaking into the Collaboration Market is Not Easy

"Collaboration," is a popular buzz word these days. It does not matter what industry you are in, it does not matter if you are in the public or private sector. Collaboration is hot and transforming how people communicate and conduct business inside and outside the firewall.

Breaking into the collaboration market is another story. It's not as easy as you think...and it's even harder to get Collaboration right.

Take Google for example, a company that I very much respect and follow closely from an innovative market leadership standpoint. Almost everything Google does, they do it right and they do it well. However, with "Collaboration," Google has had its share of mis-steps. Who remembers Google Wave?

Google Wave was launched in May of 2009. Some said Google Wave was designed for complete world domination while others said it was designed as a Twitter Killer. At its core, Google Wave combined the best of email, instant messaging, media sharing and wikis to create a platform for real-time collaboration and communications.

It's clear Google was going after the $28B Collaboration Market (estimated by 2013.)

The RESULTS...

Google killed off Google Wave last week. As more people began using this new collaboration application, more people just got more confused on how to use it. Some users said, "overhyped disappointment," "dismal usability," and "humans may not be able to comprehend."

For all the companies out there...when it comes to your Collaboration Strategy do these three things and do all three of them right:

1. "Think Big," and take action now while planning for the mid-term and long-term. Make sure your Collaboration Strategy includes the following INTEGRATED components built on a standardized collaboration platform: messaging, team collaboration, enterprise instant messaging, video conferencing and web conferencing.

2. Take a Phased Approach to minimize risk and "Start Smart and Scale Fast." Start with one technology area like web/video conferencing and then expand into other areas like team collaboration, instant messaging, or document management. You can also just start with 1-2 business processes and then add others or just start with one business unit before a broad-scale rollout. Remember the "scale fast" part?

3. Save time and money and invest your dollars in companies with Market Leadership in the Collaboration Market, companies that have proven technologies and continue to innovate collaboration tools that are standardized on a unified collaboration platform. The companies with the strongest infrastructure will always be the most secure, the most reliable, the highest performing and lowest risk.

Web Collaboration a transformational technology that is changing the way people communicate and work together. Either stay ahead of the curve by embracing web collaboration technologies or get left behind.

Plain and simple.

Unified Communications and WebEx Connect

Unified Communications is about collaboration and collaborative business processes. It's about connecting PC's, laptops, mobile phones, IP phones, email. With the range of different operating systems, different open and private networks and complex business applications, they still all need to come together and work as a unified "workspace" so that any and everyone can collaborate quickly and effectively on any device. This is Unified Communications.

Cisco talks about the "Intelligent Network" as the platform to unify workspaces and deliver collaboration. The Intelligent Network is an OPEN platform that enables entry points for all devices at all levels to connect into. It's also a highly SCALABLE architecture that provides multi-layered SECURITY.

Similarly, the WebEx Connect strategy is about the workspace and unifying the knowledge workers, customers, partners and vendors within workspaces to communicate and collaborate together through instant messaging or real-time web meetings. The"MediaTone Network," is the heart of WebEx Connect. The ability to integrate 3rd party applications into the MediaTone Network is easily accomplished with OPEN API's or out of the box integration with applications like Salesforce.com, Siebel On-Demand, Litescape IP Telephony, Parature ServiceDesk AOL's Instant Messaging solution (AIM Pro Business Edition)or Dell's System Management solution.

The MediaTone Network is also highly SCALABLE as there are over 100,000 WebEx meetings per business day across 70 different countries. Last, the MediaTone Network has multi-layered SECURITY at the end user level, OSI layer, and is WebTrust Certified and SAS-70 Type I & Type II Certified.

WebEx is a leader in the Software as a Service (SaaS) space and has been for the past 8 years. Whether WebEx knows it or not, its overall messaging and value proposition has always had a unified communications feel to it. OPEN architecture, SCALABLE, SECURITY, bringing people, devices and data, such as voice, video, audio, email together to increase corporate productivity and mobility.

A few years ago, the term "convergent properties" and "convergence" were industry buzzwords. In my opinion, convergence has morph into Unified Communications. It makes 100% sense why Cisco acquired WebEx and why John Chambers, CEO of Cisco, has said multiple times that of the 130 acquisitions Cisco has ever made, the WebEx acquisition could be in the top 2 of all time.

Without Unified Communications or WebEx Connect, communications are misdirected and unproductive, decisions are delayed, business processes are stagnant, and corporate productivity and performance decline.

Thanks,
David Chao
The Web Conferencing Expert

WebEx Connect Podcast

A pretty good podcast on WebEx Connect:
WebEx Connect Podcast

Thanks,
David Chao
The Web Conferencing Expert

SugarCRM

SugarCRM is an open source CRM application built on LAMP stack: Linux OS, Apache server, MySQL database server, and PHP language. With their open source architecture, over 2,000,000 downloads of their solution have taken place! Though they are not the current market leader in the on-demand CRM space, they are creating waves because of their unique value proposition: flexibility, customization, integration, and of course, the fact that it is open source. They could give Salesforce.com a run for their money with the right mix of marketing and partnerships.

Speaking of partnerships...

About a month ago, it was announced that SugarCRM Professional would be available on the WebEx Connect Application Grid. (Today, SugarCRM serves over 800 customers in 40 different languages.) The key to success for any open source solution with a low price point like SugarCRM is VOLUME. What better way than to immediately tap into the WebEx Connect Application Grid that currently has close to 30,000 companies and 2-3 millions of users connected to it!

Integrating SugarCRM and WebEx provides customers with an end to end, on demand solution so they can effectively manage their customer relationships with a 360 degree view.

How to Become a WebEx Connect Partner

 

Thanks,
David Chao
The Web Conferencing Expert

WebEx Connect Strikes Again

The WebEx Connect Strategy is already gaining acceptance and traction in the marketplace with recent partnership wins with Business Objects, Mindjet, FaceTime, Spring CM, BMC Software, OpSource Optimal, DreamFactory, AdvenNet/Zoho, and SugarCRM.

The idea behind WebEx Connect is to extend the WebEx Network to 3rd party partners so they can instantly penetrate a population of 25,000-plus companies and over 3.5M WebEx users who understand WebEx, who understand the SaaS market. The ability to instantly market to this many companies without having to spend significant marketing dollars is of tremendous value.

It's an equal benefit for individual companies and end users to know that they can access readily available and out-of-the-box integrated technologies to help them optimize their business performance and efficiency. If you are a buyer or a seller of applications, you'll probably find what you are looking for through WebEx Connect.

I also came across an equity report from Brad Whitt, an analyst from RBC Capital Markets Corp. (November 10, 2006). One of his comments caught my attention:

How is Connect Different From AppExchange (Salesforce.com's Saas Platform)?

• "We struggle to find any significant similarities in the two strategies. WebEx provides a collaboration platform (essentially the glue that binds), AIM Pro and the 'killer app' - web meetings. AppExchange is not a collaboration platform and the core application is a database intensive SFA (sales force automation) tool. Unlike AppExchange, WebEx Connect is 'application agnostic' and open to working with on premise and on demand applications. Interestingly, none of the partners presenting at the WebEx analyst meeting see value in partnering with AppExchange."

With WebEx Connect, WebEx is truly extending the value chain across their customers, their customer's customers and 3rd party partners, creating a symbiotic environment where all parties need each other equally. Over time, I think that the WebEx Connect strategy will demonstrate WebEx's ability to make major contributions to their customer's business success and advancement of their customer's strategic initiatives.

Thanks,
David Chao
The Web Conferencing Expert

Unlocking WebEx Connect

WebEx has launched "WebEx Connect," which consists of the WebEx Connect Grid and the WebEx Connect Workspace. Via the WebEx Connect Platform, people are connected and integrated with their most critical business applications. No longer is there a disconnect among people, process, and technology.

The WebEx Connect Grid, provides a set of "connector" services so that any 3rd party application can be easily integrated with the WebEx suite of services. This platform benefits both partners and individual companies. Imagine if partners or ISV's could use the connectors to make their technologies accessible to the 25,000-plus WebEx customers? Talk about instant reach, credibility, and the potential for immediate breakthrough business results. On the flip side. imagine if WebEx customers could access any of these integrated technologies and select those that will enable them to be successful. If I need a CRM solution, I can choose between Sugar CRM and NetSuite among others. If I need a solution that will help my employees and client better visualize ideas and project plans, I can select MindManager 6.0 from MindJet.com

Here is another way to think about how impactful WebEx Connect will be. Just like you go to iTunes to download your favorite music, scrolling through the different genres of music, WebEx Connect is the same think but you are now shopping for applications. WebEx Connect is the technology marketplace for technology providers and buyers to connect and conduct business. Behind the scenes, WebEx is at the core of every single new business relationship that develops.

“By creating tight, two-way integration between multiple applications, WebEx Connect composite applications are the business equivalent of consumer mashups,” said Roopam Jain, principal analyst for conferencing and collaboration at Frost and Sullivan. "By merging business processes and data from several sources with WebEx collaborative applications, WebEx is eliminating the need to rewrite traditional software simply for the sake of being 'on-demand'.”

"Business Objects sees the launch of WebEx Connect as an excellent opportunity to take part in creating an online community that links people across the entire business ecosystem," said Steve Lucas, vice president of strategic markets at Business Objects. "Individuals can use WebEx Connect to build "mashups" by stitching together and customizing the business applications they need. By contributing the industry's leading business intelligence solutions, Business Objects is giving information workers an easy way to access and use critical data in the familiar environment of today's Web 2.0 applications."

Thanks,
David Chao
The Web Conferencing Expert

The Importance of Integration

I believe that one of the strategic IT objectives of all companies is to increase utilization and efficiency of existing infrastructure investments. Most companies have a hodgepodge of systems that each perform a unique set of functions. Sometimes these systems are designed to serve only the needs of either one region, one office, or one department. The problems that arises is a siloed IT infrastructure where multiple systems cannot work together. There is no standardization. There is no commonality that interconnects these disparate systems so they can act as one. This is where integration comes into play.

Imagine if you could better leverage your existing IT infrastructure. Imagine if you could log into one single access point and have the ability to utilize all systems or databases. No longer would you have to log onto one system to perform one task only to have to log onto another system to run a report. This is the beauty of integration.

The companies that provide integration capabilities or open API's are the companies that will develop the strongest long-term strategic partnerships while increasing adoption across the technology ecosystem.

When you take a close look at the Software as a Service market, companies like WebEx have a slew of partners with out of the box integration solutions, as well as, provides open API's for specific customization. The benefit is tremendous flexibility to pick and choose which of your existing systems you want to interconnect.

Increased asset utilization, greater productivity, reduced costs.

Partial List of WebEx Integration Partners:

• Mindjet: information mapping and brainstorming application
• Salesforce.com: CRM
• Viewcentral: event management
• Remedy: case ticket management for customer support or helpdesk
• AOL Instant Messenger: integrated enterprise instant messaging
• GeoLearning: learning management application (LMS)
• Learn.com: learning management application (LMS) 
• Xerox 
• SumTotal: Docent and Click2Learn merger, performance and learning management
• Plateau Systems: learning management

Thanks,
David Chao
The Web Conferencing Expert