NEWS
It may have only been launched a few months ago but Google's Wave collaboration platform is already attracting attention from businesses, according to one of the key architects of the service.
Lars Rasmussen, Google's software engineering manager and co-creator of Wave, said unlike typical Google services, Wave has stoked early interest among both consumers and enterprises.
"Google is a company whose products usually start by capturing the imagination of consumers and then business gets interested but we have already had an enormous amount of interest [from companies]," Rasmussen told the SAP TechEd conference in Vienna yesterday.
The service, announced earlier this year, allows multiple users to chat and work together in real-time within a window Google is calling a 'wave'. In the window, people can exchange real-time IM, photos, videos, maps and documents.
Rasmussen predicted businesses will use Wave to collaborate on writing documents, decision-making and co-ordinating department workflows.
"If you have five people working together on a blog post you are amazed how quickly it can be done," he said of Google's own experience with using Wave.
Wave's real-time collaboration between business could reach a point where delicate matters such as contract negotiations could be settled using the platform, Rasmussen predicted.
(Screenshot: Rafe Needleman/CNET)
However, according to Rasmussen, it's Wave's ability to handle custom apps that opens up the most interesting possibilities for businesses.
"There are a million tools that I use at Google that I would like to see integrated with Wave," he told the conference.
"Our recruitment process system, expenses system or complaints tracking system, I would love for somebody to write an application to make these collaborative.
"It could really speed up that work and that's where the real value lies for the enterprise."
Rasmussen envisages that...
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Comments
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1. Stef Shoffren at Avanade
On first glance, Google Wave is customisable, easy to use and visually pleasing, essentially everything you’d look for in a collaboration platform.
However, it’s highly unlikely to derail SharePoint’s dominance in the enterprise space. Being such a new development it’s almost impossible to compare the two at this stage.
SharePoint has richer apps, a proven heritage and a partner engagement model more substantive than anything Google Wave can muster at present.
Any immature technology needs to lay foundations before it builds an enterprise following. Google Wave is trying to emulate the Microsoft model by providing a framework platform, and expecting others to fill gaps. But, at present, there are too many gaps to fill to make it instantly usable– a factor paramount for enterprise take-up.
Mobile workers, geographically dispersed employees, or staff situated in areas of low bandwidth will find it difficult to participate in conversations. You need to be online constantly to contribute.
Implementers of Google Wave should seriously consider the security implications of deploying within an enterprise.
With IM, blogging, Twitter and email, we are used to typing, checking, then hitting ‘send’. Google Wave dictates in real time, like a stream of consciousness. Once a comment has been made, whether innocent or malicious, the information is in the public domain, leading to a potential security risk. After time, users will learn to exercise self-restraint in their posts, but until then, the platform may reveal more secrets than a conversation by the office water cooler!
Google Wave will invigorate the market though. And Microsoft, HP and EMC will have to take note if this becomes the killer app for a new generation of Millennials.
2. Loz1
Interesting to see how this fares alongside Microsoft's social media innovations in Outlook 2010