Webby Business Trends
Something to keep your eye on is developing out of next generation IT and
web-based tools-corporate portals and project management automation software.
Take a look at Plumtree.com to get a sense of what I’m talking about.
Plumtree is taking the Yahoo concept of "portal" (a one-stop shop web-entry
point) and creating a virtual space tailored for the corporate user. Plumtree
allows users to build a personalized web-based desktop (note that this
desktop exists On The Net, not just on one’s personal computer) with a range
of software tools and what they call ‘gadgets’ to help users do their jobs
better. Plumtree is providing web-enabled Intranet space for big clients like
Ford.
The reason I group project management automation software and corporate
portals together is that this is a new class of service (that comes with a
subset of products, i.e. software) that acknowledges that the web/Internet is
simply a content-neutral delivery system. Look for more and more ways that
the technology of the future will 'dematerialize' work -- that is, it changes
procedures in the real world (physical meetings of project teams, for
instance, paper faxes of documents, and entire business processes like
planning and procurement). In the project management category, take a look at
the offerings of Documentum (they are linked on the Plumtree site as one of
their partners), and ProjectXpressIT (a CommerceOne partner at
ProjectXpressIT.com)
This revolution is just beginning.
