Is Chrome Googles new Gold?

We said in our first consumerisation webcast back at the end of 2007 that the war was in in the browser space. Today that belief was reaffirmed as Google beta launched their first Internet / Application Browser - Google Chrome.

Chrome redesigns the browser from the ground up, and is aimed at creating a user experience which is more conducive to supporting the growing raft of Web Applications.

If you want to understand the technical features in detail you can check out this award winning cartoon. If you're interested in testing out the beta you can download it (at your own risk) here. Posts on your experiences please!

Is Email the new Snail Mail?

In Korea email use has been on the decline since 2004, in the US email amoung teens and young adults is down 8%. The reason? Children are comparing email to instant messenger and calling it 'snail email'.

Over the past two years, email has been increasingly bypassed in favor of simpler forms of communication. According to Alex Iskold "The increasing speed of our lives and global connectivity reduces the need for lengthy emails. If we're in touch more often, then we reveal less every time we talk". Shorter, more frequent exchanges are replacing the lengthier communication of the past. "The rise of services such as Twitter and in-house company wikis or databases (such as BaseCamp) means that businesses are not only looking for easier, more accessible means of communication, but also are looking to embrace web 2.0 technology as a means to better position themselves to succeed in a rapidly changing business environment". Iskold admits that email isn't going anywhere soon, but insists that its "days of unquestioned dominance are over". I know personally Instant Messenger plays an important role in taming email, but it still feel like if this is going to happen it's going to be years before we see signficant shifts. What are your thoughts?

Darwin & Self-Service

On a recent vist to one of our national businesses, I was pleasantly surprised to see 'Xobni' (pronounced Zob-Nee) http://www.xobni.com/ featuring on many non-IT desktops.

Xobni is a small plugin which runs alongside Outlook providing a people-centric view of your mail, and attachments. Xobni has some neat features, such as analysis of 'most frequently emailed', a league table of 'average email response time'. It's not perfect but it's an improvment over standard outlook. Xobni is proof that

• Users are getting smarter and are self-serving


• News travels fast unaided and only partially influenced by IT


• Even heavyweights like Outlook can benefit from consumer enhancement

In a similar vain - I received an email directly from a business users saying 'Can we do this already, everyone here is already using it' he was referring to http://www.doodle.ch/ a stark reminder that technology doesn't need to be sophisticated or expensive to be of value.

So, should we be listening more to what people are 'discovering' for themselves? If so how can we capture and share the knowledge? How should we deal with apps like 'Xobni' which touch core apps like Outlook? What role will IT play in the future - should we be saying 'no' to users or findings ways to share good news?

ps. Unsurprising ... Bill's got his eye on Xobni ....

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ePP

Word of the day is 'ePP' - Employee purchase programme.

There are a couple of flavours of ePP - in all cases, ePP offer some form of employee benefit typically discounted software or hardware. Some companies (such as BA) bundle their enterprise software deals with their hardware deals. e.g. Vista Ultimate + Office 2007 + Dell D630 + HP Printer. Discount rates are typically between 10% and 20% but can be as much as 35% off the retail price.


ePP isn't just a giveaway ... it also benefits the enterprise

Many companies (e.g. major airlines, and banks) are using ePP to drive home adoption. Why? - Think about it...

• Every copy of Office 2007, or Vista at home is building user experience - and reducing the adoption leadtimes when the products become released in the corporation. This in turn reducing training requirements ... and improves overall enterprise productivity


• Using ePP to re-enforce 'good behaviours' - e.g. a number of companies are providing 'free' antiviral products to help staff familize themselves with concepts such as viral updates and personal firewalls. Every home device which is secured and employee mind which more familiar with secuirty concepts benefits the enterpise.
  
• ePP is also a great peace offering, how often does IT offering something of real personal value. It's a fringe benefit offering real monetary savings for employees.
  
• Every Network ready home PC = One less the enterprise needs to provide, it also represents a chance to connect more of the workforce outside of the office without need to incurr provisioning costs

So why no ePP?

The real sticking point in the past has been around recovering licence keys and tax implications for software or assest when employees leave the company.

The good news is the new schemes in place today don't infringe on the enterprise - and therefore have no tax, or asset recovering implications - in the same that rental car and hotel chains offer employee weekend rate discounts to employees of large corporate accounts. What is important however is to ensure that employees are aware - that these purchase are independent - i.e. they are outside of the standard corporate support frameowork.

So ePP + Remote Access = Good news for consumerisation.