Back in 2000 the web was generally used to present information.  Around 2002 a surge around content management raced towards the business world (although some would argue that ECM was an idea being seeded in the late 80s with some strong products appearing in the 90s).  Publishing became a focus around 2004 and more recently social networking functionality is the buzz.  However, how have we evolved as users of technology during the past 10 years or so?

In short, I would argue that human beings have not changed that much.  I would wager that most readers could accept the statement that technology changes more rapidly than human beings do (for the most part).  We are creatures of comfort and will generally seek the easiest way through a problem.

For example, most business people would rather not have to spend hours building a report, where the tool is on one system, the process on someone's hard drive, and the wisdom is locked in someone's brain.  I do not think that it's a stretch to speculate that many of you have wasted time looking for information and data you needed.

And then there's the idea of the Intranet.  My question is; how relevant is a corporate homepage to my day-to-day job?  Why can't our portal load my critical processes and applications in the place where I need them?  Why does the aggregation of business information take precedence over filtering the information I need?  And why can't I identify the trends relevant to me in my job quickly?

The failure to answer these questions comes back to an idea I've had for a few years now, and that quite frankly led me to start Collaboration Consulting Inc.  If Web 2.0 was about self-service web pages, and Web 3.0 will be about making everyone a data analyst, isn't it critical that we don't make the same mistake yet again?

If you're considering what your portal is to you and your organization I would stress that there is no time like the present to consider collaboration in the context of what people do. 

I will save a detailed explanation of the above model that forms the foundation of every engagement and client we support.  I will leave you with the following to contemplate; how clearly have you linked what people do (process), the information they need (content and audience), to prove the success (productivity) of your collaboration (or portal) investment?

Back in 2000 the web was generally used to present information.  Around 2002 a surge around content management raced towards the business world (although some would argue that ECM was an idea being seeded in the late 80s with some strong products appearing in the 90s).  Publishing became a focus around 2004 and more recently social networking functionality is the buzz.  However, how have we evolved as users of technology during the past 10 years or so?

In short, I would argue that human beings have not changed that much.  I would wager that most readers could accept the statement that technology changes more rapidly than human beings do (for the most part).  We are creatures of comfort and will generally seek the easiest way through a problem.

For example, most business people would rather not have to spend hours building a report, where the tool is on one system, the process on someone's hard drive, and the wisdom is locked in someone's brain.  I do not think that it's a stretch to speculate that many of you have wasted time looking for information and data you needed.

And then there's the idea of the Intranet.  My question is; how relevant is a corporate homepage to my day-to-day job?  Why can't our portal load my critical processes and applications in the place where I need them?  Why does the aggregation of business information take precedence over filtering the information I need?  And why can't I identify the trends relevant to me in my job quickly?

The failure to answer these questions comes back to an idea I've had for a few years now, and that quite frankly led me to start Collaboration Consulting Inc.  If Web 2.0 was about self-service web pages, and Web 3.0 will be about making everyone a data analyst, isn't it critical that we don't make the same mistake yet again?

If you're considering what your portal is to you and your organization I would stress that there is no time like the present to consider collaboration in the context of what people do. 

I will save a detailed explanation of the above model that forms the foundation of every engagement and client we support.  I will leave you with the following to contemplate; how clearly have you linked what people do (process), the information they need (content and audience), to prove the success (productivity) of your collaboration (or portal) investment?