Andrew Welch's Profile

Google Sites seems a clear competitor to Microsoft SharePoint, which has a rich set of collaboration tools such as wikis and blogs. He says that while SharePoint boasts more functionality than Google Sites, it could use the dose of simplicity that Google has injected into the collaboration space.

In most cases,
respondents gripe about a lack of integration between the
collaborative applications, which in turn frustrates end users

“Only 11 percent of them had some strategy around how
to implement these technologies with their existing
environments,”

while
collaborative technologies don’t always give the business
(or more specifically, your CFO) the hard ROI typically
demanded for IT investments, 95 percent of CIOs say they see an
increase in worker productivity

No longer content or able to wait for IT to solve problems, business units are increasingly comfortable in self-service IT techniques. 

An business problem that was solvable using older, heavyweight IT techniques for $1M could only solve problems where the return on investment would be greater than $1M.  If that problem can solved for $10K today using Web 2.0-style architectures, it opens up a whole new wave of IT value.

Rote business processes should be and will be automated extensively over the next few years, freeing up employees to be inserted into the most high-value processes that require human intelligence.

The new social, collaborative tools allow ad-hoc and emergent teams to network, form, and execute business processes as needed.

Even pessimistic prophets don't see today's silliness ending nearly as badly. Investments by venture capitalists, while at levels not seen in nearly six years, remain way below the peak.

today's start-ups generally aren't tapping the stock market for cash to fuel their ascent, partly because technological change has brought down the cost of creating a new Web company.

"It seems like we're in a bubble," says Mr. Hartenbaum, a venture capitalist, and he's betting on it: His firm, Draper Richards LP in San Francisco, has pulled back its new investing in Internet companies over the past three or four months.

he finds entrepreneurs recycling ideas that flopped in the last tech boom, such as Web sites that offer group discounts for consumer purchases or pay people to surf the Internet so they will look at ads.

Mr. Bautista cites the revival of work-force perks like free eats and gym memberships.

The froth indicator that tech veterans cite most often is the befuddling business plan.

Other prognosticators cite the burgeoning Internet-conference scene.

Among firms presenting there was ZocDoc Inc., which lets people make appointments with doctors and dentists online. The New York company has listings for only 2% of the dentists in Manhattan and no physicians, but it has attracted interested investors, says its CEO

"Second- and third-time entrepreneurs and venture investors who lived the late '90s get nervous when they see these telltale signs of a bubble,"

understand how similar groups meet / don't meet the needs already

crate a unique experience that really is engaging people

enable discussion board, the wall, photos, etc ...

read and respond to comments

be transparent about your role & perspective

only large brands and companies are able to afford creating sponsored groups. According to Charlene, the costs are usually in the six figures for a three month engagement. However, any company can setup a traditional group for no cost at all.

segments such as web office apps are still struggling to attract users. Just 2% of those survey had ever used a online database app, for example

those who used at least 1 web application regularly used web apps 40% of their total application usage time

Usage was even more pronounced among college students, where just 11% of respondents said they had never herd of web apps.

Macintosh licensing fees are cheaper

With one Xserve license, you can support unlimited numbers of users

The Mac desktop spawns fewer calls to the help desk

Mac users are more productive workers

Macs last longer

Mac OS is more secure

Windows adds anywhere from $1,300 to $4,000 to the TCO of each PC, based on support alone.

Mac is just as cost-effective as Windows to manage and administer

Add Macs while hanging on to your investments in other OSes

Macs are such good citizens in multi-OS deployments, there's no need to abandon existing investments in other systems by "ripping and replacing."

Observers are already noticing a lot more penetration among enterprise departments and SMBs, as customers grow more aware of the multiple financial benefits of Macs.