#Winning in Corporate Real-Time Communications

Whether in a large corporation or a small organisation, internal communications in the work place tends to get locked into predefined information silos. The sheer quantity of data within a company makes it nearly impossible to share information, knowledge and experience with everyone. But innovation is the lovechild of collaboration therefore, it’s crucially important that information and exchange happen not only in small pockets within a company but all over.

Companies generally rely on email, face-2-face meetings and lunches when it comes to knowledge sharing but imagine adding a new dynamic social layer to the existing infrastructure! According to Tim Young, CEO of SocialCast, the solution for the information overflow problem is activity streams. activity streams unite people, data, and applications in real-time in a central, accessible, virtual interface. Think of a company social network where employees can exchange real-time information about their activities using a software system that unifies all company data and knowledge. Each employee can find data that he or she never knew existed, collaborate around this information and access it in a variety of ways (email, mobile applications etc).
SocialCast Features
The SocialCast interface makes it simple to share documents, presentations, photos and links with your network. You can post updates, questions or ideas for people to discuss and comment on. It has also incorporated the ‘like’ feature from Facebook as well as the @tag feature from Twitter. Another added feature is the flag option: flagging helps you keep track of your favourite posts so you can return to them easily. Other features include social media integration so you can see Facebook and Twitter updates within your activity stream. Its mobile applications enable you to access it from your BlackBerry or iphone (or Android phone) and the desktop application option allows for network updates without even opening a browser.

The premium Town Hall feature enables you to schedule company-wide, moderator-optional virtual sessions in an open real-time forum. Another premium feature worth mentioning is private messaging. You can also create a personal profile that highlights your particular skills and expertise including contact information. Additional features like photo galleries add a personal touch to browsing company profiles. SocialCast also incorporates features from LinkedIn by allowing you to form and join groups with the option of designating them public or by invitation. Network search options allow you to build custom streams that filter network messages by keywords and topics, with email notifications that alert you to updates.
SocialCast can be integrated with Microsoft Outlook, SharePoint, CRM and ERP systems, wikis, blogs and any HTML/Javascript compatible business system and it ensures the highest standards in privacy, security, data-retention, and also in terms of meeting IT regulations. It will even sync with LDAP and automatically provisions user accounts, removing former employees and importing employee contact information, job roles, and profile details into the network whilst keeping one set of login credentials across all of your applications. It also has a suite of analytics to measure ROI collaboration based on user activity patterns.
Tim Young and his team continue to innovate and create new and improved extensions for an already great product. I highly recommend SocialCast for any company looking to enhance internal communications, innovation and engagement.

Now here’s Charlie Sheen:

 

BlackBerry Predictive Text

I am not going to rant long or often but why does BlackBerry predictive text suck so badly? I am a fool in the first place for getting the BB Storm that was released last years by RIM the Canadian telecommunications and wireless device company.  The Storm was attractive to me because it boasts a unique version of the touch screen SureType.  It’s the touch screen that is not a touch screen.  It’s more like a screen with buttons hidden underneath it.  At first I liked it, but then I realised that my anti-buttons are not aligned perfectly. I took it back to the store and they graciously offered to send it to the manufacturer and give me the world’s crappiest phone in the meanwhile…thanks Vodaphone.  I didn’t want to be without my phone so I just got used to it.

I send a lot of texts and the phone gives me the oddest suggestions like “Blackbert predictive texy kinds socks” which was meant to read “BlackBerry predictive text kinda sucks”. Check out http://damnyouautocorrect.com for a list of funny iphone auto correct examples.

Now that my Vodaphone contract is coming to an end I am seriously considering getting an iphone.  I am Canadian and therefore partial to BlackBerry but the Storm model has features I don’t appreciate (euphemistic phrasing).  For instance, the camera function does not allow you to take a picture without the shutter sound.   Ostensibly the purpose of this function is so you can’t take pictures of people without them knowing…now tell me, where is the fun in that!!!???

Okay one last criticism…in life there are moments that are absolutely crucial, right?  Let’s say (hypothetically) that you’re having a very serious conversation with your boyfriend and there’s a miscommunication and you are just about to explain the misunderstanding when your phone freezes up?  I’m just saying.  This is a glitch that happens frequently with the Storm and requires the installation of updates to resolve completely.  Of course you can just pull the battery out as well, but then it takes ages to reboot!

Now here’s a funny video of a baby elephant wiping out in the mud: