The technology world especially the software product firms has exploded with humungous amount of innovation and new product creation due to the bottom-up approach by an always increasing number of startups. This destructive creativity has been possible due to a global collaboration between software tech community and the ability to create products in a boot strapped model. One of the legacies of a bygone era which still exits as a thorn in this process has been patents.

In an recent article by Prof. Wadhwa he discusses that the only beneficiary of this archaic system has been the legal folks. Companies still apply for defensive patents to avoid law suits from competing firms. IMHO this stifles innovation and reduces the confidence level of teams to continue to extend the boundaries of technology. Leading companies should look at fostering innovation rather than take cover under the patent system. Look forward to seeing a constructive discussion on reforming this system.

Things change and they change fast. Some of our bloggers earlier had shared their views on how tablet computing and more specifically Apple ipad will change the personal computing landscape. What we are seeing now is that iPAD is making its presence felt in businesses. Large organizations such as Wells Fargo, Mercedes Benz, SAP etc. have approved usage of iPADs in their organizations. Some of them even calling this as a revolutionary step towards achieving a sustainable office (Paperless office). As more and more business applications gets written for iPAD it will move from being just a productivity application to a realtime information dashboard.

Checkout these set of article at Business week.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/special_reports/20100707ceo_guide_to_ipad.htm

Related links:

http://injoos.com/blog/tech4professionals/2010/02/01/ipad-even-your-grandpa-can-use-it/

http://injoos.com/blog/tech4professionals/2010/02/06/the-dead-mouse/

File servers have been part of the business setup for a long time. For both small and large companies file servers have been a way to store important documents and provide access to team members. While discussing with the Process manager of a Business transaction processing organizations, realized the limitations of this setup. This organization was storing their operating procedure on the servers.

Who has accessed the document?

The process manager wanted to get an idea of how many people downloaded a particular document. He wanted detailed statistics on number of access and downloads by day. An alert that a particular document has been downloaded heavily would suggest to him that a process has not been understood clearly. Maybe it would be a good idea to do a training for all team members on that process.

Is the document useful?

Did the document serve the purpose it was written for is an important question for both the author and the team manager. To get comments on a particular document a procedure was devised in the firm by creating a sample response document which once filled by a user will have to be saved in a particular folder to be later acted upon by the process management team. Since this was a cumbersome and non transparent procedure it was hardly a surprise that there were very limited feedbacks.

Apart from this manager discussed other issues such as version management, easy edits, popularity rating, feedback, multi media files, etc. Lot of material for another blog post.

My suggestion to him was to move the documents to any application that provides collaborative workspace where all his requirements mentioned above have been addressed. Why a document management system would not solve his problem will be addressed in my next post.

We have lived under the shadow of Mircosoft for the last two decades so we always think of Windows as the default operating system for all personal computer, laptops etc. Barring a very select few who work in the technology alleys like Bangalore, Los Angeles, Boston etc. have tasted other operating systems. We have also got used to all the nuances which windows has taught us that it takes time for the computer to boot up, there are viruses to be managed, each application has to be started and most importantly once in a while the system can crash and reboot. Well imagine a world where your computer does not need a operating system. How would the applications run?, how would we create docs or send emails?, etc. Well that is very close to possibility with the possibility of Google Chrome Operating system. As far as a user is concerned he will not see any OS. What he/she will experience is a Google Chrome browser. So if you press the on button on your computer your browser should pop up instantly for you to surf the net.

Why is this significant? Here is what is happening:

If you are a startup or a small firm looking to seek the benefits of cloud based applications then read on. The fear of unknown is always there, but the benefits provided by today’s cloud based applications cannot be put down. The following list of must have applications is based on my experience of starting up Injoos and how we leveraged these applications to cut down cost and increase productivity (See “New Way to work” Video)

Business Email: You still cannot do away with the email yet. Using the new social applications you may stop sending emails altogether to your team members, but then you have external customers and vendors to communicate with. Why Google email (Google Apps)? It is the best email provider and can be configured to your business domain and most importantly is Free (The basic version is more than sufficient for a small team). It is based in the cloud and can be configured to any email reader like outlook, Apple Mail or Thunderbird.

Read the Blog “How to configure google email for my business”.

Team Collaboration Application: This is the second must have application and it combines all the tools you need to keep working with your team. Online File store, Blogs, Wikis, Web Conferencing, Micro Blogs, Calendaring, etc;, all in under one umbrella. Think of this as a social intranet for your small business living in the cloud. No more hassles of file access when you travel. Mostly importantly easily capture all your team knowledge in one place. Believe me you will need it! There are no leaders in this space and you can try out Injoos which provides the most comprehensive solution.

CRM: I am not so much of a fan of CRM apps, but if your business already is using one then look at switching to a SAAS provider. SalesForce.com is a leader in this space with Zoho the closest challenger.

Project Management: Again I believe in simple task tracking which we do with Injoos, but if you have to produce detailed Project plans and Gantt charts then Basecamp is what you should be looking at.

Internet Telephone: There is no need to spend on expensive dollars calling your colleagues and customers especially if it is a international call. With Skype you can have a online telephonic chat or video chat depending on your bandwidth. Alternate to Skype is Google Talk and Yahoo Messenger, but I feel Skype has the best voice clarity.

Here is nice video which simplifies the cloud jargons

I got introduced to TeuxDeux through a blog post and I thank the author for the same. I am always lookout for a better and simpler TO-DO App; something which works! I have used OS based apps on my Mac and iphone Apps and finally spreadsheets, but have always found that the simple paper based TO-DO pad works the best. Everyday morning put down the actions for the day and just keep scratching as I close them one by one. Feel satisfied on the achivement by end of day, depending on how many got scratched. The only problem is that the unfinished tasks may have to be carried over next day to a new page. Also what do I do with those Someday tasks? Well, insert them into a spreadsheet.

Having used TeuxDeux for last couple of days I would say has been a delight. It simply mimics my habit of using the TO-DO pad and scratching. Works of a weekly window and easy to enter tasks or drag them to another day. The tool has a nifty someday task section at the bottom. Only look at it when you need it. Brilliant! That it for the application!

I am waiting for them to introduce an iphone APP so that I can sync up on the move. But for now enjoy this simple but very effective tool. If you know of other simple online (Cloud based) TO-DO Apps, please comment on this Blog.