Top 10: Enterprise collaboration software

2021. Microsoft launches Google-Wave-like collaboration service Loop


Microsoft is bringing back Google Wave, the doomed real-time messaging and collaboration platform Google launched in 2009 and prematurely shuttered in 2010. Microsoft Loop is a new app for real-time editing-based applications that allow users to collaborate on documents. Loop allows you and your team to see and group everything important to your project, making it easy for you to catch up on what everyone is working on and track progress toward shared goals. Loop Pages - are canvases where you can organize your components and pull in helpful elements like links, files, or data in ways that suit your specific project needs. And on page, document or in chat you can embed Loop Components - lists, tables, notes, or for example customer sales opportunity from Dynamics 365.


2018. IBM sold Lotus Notes/Domino, Websphere Portal and other software to HCL



IBM is selling its legendary enterprise collaboration software Lotus Notes to Indian firm HCL for $1.8 billion. These products were a big part of IBM’s enterprise business for a long time, but last year Big Blue began to pull away, selling the development part to HCL, while maintaining control of sales and marketing. With the development of the platform out of its control, and in need of cash after spending $34 billion for Red Hat, perhaps IBM simply decided it no longer made sense to keep any part of this in-house. As for HCL, it sees an opportunity to continue to build the Notes/Domino business, and it’s seizing it with this purchase. HCL is far more interested in Notes/Domino than IBM has been for a decade. They are investing heavily, trying to rejuvenate the brand. Notes and Domino are still in use in many corners of the enterprise, and this is especially true in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa). This move makes sense for IBM, which is moving in a different direction as it develops its cloud business. The Red Hat acquisition in October, in particular, shows that the company wants to embrace private and hybrid cloud deployments, and older software like Lotus Notes and Domino don’t really play a role in that world.

2017. Facebook Workplace gets desktop app



Facebook has launched official desktop PC and Mac chat apps with screen sharing — two features users have been begging for. Right now, they’re only available for Workplace, Facebook’s enterprise collaboration software that competes with Slack and other business apps. Workplace has over 14,000 businesses on board paying $1 to $3 per user, and recently signed up Wal-Mart. Screensharing could help Workplace attract more clients and disrupt the clunky screen sharing of alternative apps like Skype and WebEx. It’s clear that Facebook is applying its rapid development style in an bid to conquer offices with an all-in-one collaboration app while competitors only offer a piece of the puzzle.


2016. Google Apps rebranded as G Suite


Google rebranded its online office suite Google Apps for Work as G Suite. Google says the new name better reflects the mission of helping people everywhere work and innovate together, Blah Blah Blah... So at first sight it seams that Google marketers have nothing to do except changing titles. But from the other side, this move shows that Google is again interested in Enterprise collaboration market, and may be soon we'll see the real innovations in its office suite. In particular Google promises more machine intelligence features, for example the ability to interact with Drive, Docs and Spreadsheets with natural language commands and queries. The pricing of G Suite remains the same - $5/month per user.


2012. Microsoft SharePoint adds Firefox and Chrome support



Recently we noted that for a long time there is no news about the progress of the enterprise software superstar - intranet system Microsoft SharePoint. And today the news appeared: SharePoint 2010 finally adds full support for the third-party browsers: Firefox, Chrome, and partial support for Apple Safari. Developers say that the limitations of these browsers didn't allowed to use all the bells and whistles of the SharePoint interface before. Wow! That's a really huge achievement of SharePoint developers. There is still no word about support of mobile platforms (except Windows Phone). But there is a word about social features. Jared Spataro, Microsoft's senior director of SharePoint product management recently said that they were carefully studying the opportunities of social networking technologies for enterprise collaboration and Microsoft's approach will be to increase enterprise social features in SharePoint. Looks like SharePoint is really in crisis.


2010. Cisco Quad - enterprise social software + video



Late last year, Cisco introduced the social intranet system with a long name Cisco Enterprise Collaboration Platform and this solution hit the Top 10 Enterprise 2.0 products in 2009 by ReadWriteWeb. Now Cisco starts selling the system under the new name - Cisco Quad. The functionality of the system at first glance seems to be traditional for enterprise social software: user profiles, personal start pages, microblogs and communities (for group collaboration). But of course, Cisco added to the system its main feature - video. From anywhere in the system, where user's avatar appears, you can see his online status, send him an instant message or start a video conference. And, of course, Cisco Quad is closely integrated with Cisco Webex web conferencing service and Cisco Unified Communications . ***


2009. Novell Pulse - Google Wave for enterprise



Novell was formerly #3 after Microsoft and IBM on the enterprise collaboration market (with its email system Novell GroupWise). When intranet solutions became popular, the company unveiled with some delay Novell Teaming, which it positioned as a Sharepoint  alternative. But this system hasn't become very popular. So now Novell hurry to be among the first vendors to provide modern enterprise social systems with real-time capabilities. The new Novell hope is Novell Pulse, that looks very similar to Google Wave and also is able to work with this Google product. Novell Pulse - is a unique tool, as it provides a combination of microblogging, social networking and next generation real-time messaging. ***