In southern England this morning at least there is some fairly heavy
snowfall. Based on recent experience this will mean many businesses
seeing staff working from home and meetings cancelled. This is often
equated to lost productivity.

I think different.

Just because you're not in the office doesn't mean your not able to be
productive. Here's a quick list of a few tools that may be very
helpful in keeping your appointments and goals for today on track.

Presentation - If you were due to deliver a presentation today but
cannot physically get there take a look at one of the following for
giving the presentation remotely:

Present.io - drop.io has dead simple rich web-presentation
functionality. no registration, no downloads, no installs. You can
upload your presentation files (documents, pictures, video, audio, and
more) and be giving your demo or walkthrough in seconds. With a free
conference call line and rich chat functionality, you have just what
you need

http://present.io

Google Docs - Viewing a presentation together is a breeze, as anyone
joined in a presentation can automatically follow along with the
presenter.

http://docs.google.com

Collaboratively finalising an asset such as a design graphic or
document proposal

Box.net - Turn any folder of content into a shared online workspace
and invite others to view, edit, or add their own files. Exchange
feedback using the commenting and discussion features. Create
wiki-style web documents to share meeting notes, ideas, and manage
projects. Keep workflow organized by assigning tasks to approve,
review or update files

http://www.box.net/strawberryway

Drop.io - Use drop.io to privately share your files and collaborate in
real time by web, email, phone, mobile, and more. Create each drop in
two clicks and share what you want, how you want, with whom you want.

http://drop.io

Google Docs - Coworkers can share the same online copy of each doc,
spreadsheet or presentation. All revisions are saved and recoverable.

http://docs.google.com

Cummunication - need to stay in touch but your colleagues aren't at
their desk phones?

Skype - Any size of company can use Skype to change the way they
communicate, collaborate and compete. Real-time communication tools
allow your business to work better, smarter and more efficiently.
Skype is a global solution that's easy to implement and manage all
your communication needs - employees work more productively, customers
can easily reach your company and your business stays ahead of the
game.

http://skype.com

TinyChat - Your webcam & microphone will just work, no fuss.
`Gathering friends for a meeting has never been easier. Enjoy high
quality live audio & video. Try it, you'll like it.

http://tinychat.com

So there you go, a few services which is by no means an exhaustive
list but these are possibly the quickets and easiest to pick up and
run with if you were to only use for today because of the snow.

By doing so there really shouldn't be any lost productivity.

NB we do see the making of snowmen as highly productive and so where
possible please step away from the internet and make one ;)

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Web based applications are key enablers for our business change and improvement work.

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This post is inspired by @seanprice who recently asked:

"How do you manage projects either single projects or mulitple at the same time either personal or professional ones?" (Twitter: http://twitter.com/seanprice/status/7314573214)

Firstly, systems. For me Drop.io and Box.net jump to the front of my mind.

As background, both Drop.io and Box.net are designed for simple sharing and collaboration. Drop.io is built around drops which are realtime repositories of content which can then be shared, embedded, commented, downloaded and much more. Box.net is visually more analogous to a traditional files and folders system with much the same features as Drop.io but via the OpenBox eco-systems of integrations allows for use within structured business workflows.

For example with Box.net it is possible to collaboratively author an agreement which, from Box, can be issued digitally via Echosign and the final signed copies be stored within Box making it a workflow hub. Other notable integrations include Salesforce, Google Apps, Zoho

With Drop.io the collaboration functionality is equally there but inherently being designed around the drop, the workspace sits relatively outside the wider business workflow.

And so to specifically answer @seanprice's question I would suggest that if for repeatable or always similar project workflows, especially within an established business environment of process and policy, the answer is Box.net. For everything else, be it small, larger, ad-hoc, personal or professional, then Drop.io.

The second part of the answer is processes. Which to follow / learn from?

Project management I believe has long suffered a schizophrenia of being about the personality of people whilst also having the cold regiment of repeatable, scalable process. Some project managers are successful for managing people, others for managing the process.

In context of the social collaboration environment business are moving in to, I believe the people principle of project management will take a lead over success through process. Especially when considering the versatile tools such as Drop.io and Box.net which do not need nor care for a set process.

So to answer @seanprice, the process for successful projects is to not rely on one. Instead focus on the facilitation of communication and collaboration. Within such an environment, inherently all the data needed to tweak and nudge productivity in the right direction, towards the team's common goal, will be available. Applications such as Milestone Planner from @socialoptic are a good example of this. The app is a gantt chart but the real feature of the app is bringing out the communication across the project team.
So for @strawberryway, the processes and systems, either personally or professionally for project management are:

Human and collaborative (for which Drop.io and Box.net are ideal).

For further reading:

Box.net for Project Management - http://www.box.net/solutions/project-management
Drop.io - http://drop.io/blog
Milestone Planner @socialoptic - http://socialoptic.com/

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The web is a phenomenal resource for businesses. Not just a place to have website, it's a place to organise and manage your business. With the wealth of 2.0 applications available, businesses can do so much more online now with greater productivity and less expense than traditional IT solutions. Some examples:

• Project workflow and collaboration with online workspaces
  • Box.net, Basecamp, Huddle.net
• Financial Management and Administration
  • Freshbooks, Outright, Shoeboxed
• Office productivity
  • Google Apps, Zoho, Tungle
• Event management and administration
  • Amiando, Eventbrite
• E-commerce
  • Shopify, Google Checkout
• Customer and community engagement
  • LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook (read social media)

There all of these solutions, ready for your business to take advantage of. Such web based applications remove expensive overheads of manual and paper based administration.

Further by being web based, software as a service, they're available to your business wherever your business is; not just when you have your computer with you.

We think the web for businesses is more than a website. To explore this further and take advantage of the opportunities for your business, please get in touch. 

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In the UK, as soon as next week, the Royal Mail will largely be on strike. The impact is that mail will be delayed. This will of course affect thousands of retail businesses.The rest of us though should be unscathed.

Why? We have great solutions such as Echosign and Right Signature which facilitate simple, paperless and legal document signing. With Echosign for example you can either upload your agreement; create it from within Box.net or Google Apps and then provide the email addresses of those who need to sign in which order and that's it. The document is sent. The recipient adds their details, clicks Sign and both parties have the final PDF in their Inbox for filing (in their document management tool such as Box.net of course). The time taken is as long as it takes to open an email and enter your details.

As well as meaning no impact from the strike, benefits include:

• No paper which is great for both the environment and your office stationary costs
• No postage which again is great for costs
• Quicker completion which means more deals in less time. Great for efficiency

Altogether, the obvious solution. 

So why be affected by the postal strike?

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For a long time there has been much hope, speculation and promise of the paperless office.

For most such a reality seems impossible. For others, with an open mentality towards Business 2.0 the promise has been delivered.

A couple of recent blog posts from Business 2.0 enabling solutions, Huddle.net and Echosign, give weight to the argument that paperless is upon us.

Firstly, Huddle.net have posted on the topic of The New Way to Work: Document Management Software and how solutions such as theirs replace the now 20 years old Microsoft Word. An excerpt: "Twenty years later, Microsoft Word remains dominant in the industry, as the most popular word processing application.  However, Word is still currently an offline tool. Two decades of development on Word have created a tool that still shares a lot with its predecessors. With the latest versions of Word, you can’t collaboratively edit documents with people in real-time, and you can’t access you documents from the web"

Secondly there is Echosign. Echosign offer one of the best solutions for e-signing. Their post is on The Cost of Not Going Paperless. They assertively state: "It's just too darn cost effective to be 100% digital and electronic.  So the luddites are going to have to pay."

Look at your business paper based processes; are you hindered by 20 year old applications? Do you afford higher costs as a business by not using digital?

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Today is the IBM Smarter Workforce — Government Leadership Forum event. 

One of the talks contained a suggested definition of  "Government 2.0" and with a few tweaks to the original (worth reading too) we feel this text goes a long way to defining Business 2.0 also:

"Business 2.0 is not specifically about social networking or technology based approaches to anything. It represents a fundamental shift in the implementation of business — toward an open, collaborative, cooperative arrangement where there is (wherever possible) open consultation, open data, shared knowledge, mutual acknowledgment of expertise, mutual respect for shared values and an understanding of how to agree to disagree. Technology and social tools are an important part of this change but are essentially an enabler in this process."

What are you thoughts on Business 2.0?

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