[CompStrm Wiki] 'It would be possible to work from just one window'

[Bill la F. <laf...@ya...>]

From today's Economic Times (India)

Frank Luksic speaking to Gagandeep Kaur on
collaborative technology.

The demand for integrated, secure collaborative
software is driving the convergence of several markets
including collaboration, portal and content
management. In fact, according to analysts, this
combined market opportunity is expected to reach $13
billion by 2007. IBM’s director, workplace, portal and
collaboration software, Frank Luksic speaks to
Gagandeep Kaur on collaborative technology. Excerpts: 

How has collaborative technology evolved over the
years? 

One can say that collaborative technology basically
started with the emergence of tools like shared drives
and e-mail. It then progressed to work group with
applications like calendar and web meetings. There was
a shift from individual to enterprise productivity.
Now, we are experiencing another shift. The industry
is moving towards integration of the various front-end
collaborative tools. Enterprises want to bring
together the front-end to increase people
productivity. Firms are today looking for solutions
and collaborative software which help them in
integrating their front-end. 

What are the requirements of the enterprise segment in
collaboration software today? 

The enterprise segment today demands more
sophisticated tools. They are looking for better ways
to collaborate. They are no longer satisfied with just
e-mail or messaging. Enterprise segment is fast
realising that people productivity is linked to
processes and information and the next big wave of
productivity will come by bringing together processes
and information. 

The demand for integrated, secure collaborative
software is driving the convergence of several major
markets including collaboration, portal and content
management. In fact, according to analysts, this
combined market opportunity is expected to reach $13
billion by 2007. 

What is the next paradigm shift in this industry? 

Integration of all the front-end applications is going
to be the next paradigm shift in this industry. As
time progresses, there would be just one interface and
one would be able to do the entire office work from
one window. In the present scenario, people have to
open their mailbox and then based on some messages,
open other files, which are linked to that particular
project. This is going to change. It would be possible
to work from just one window. 

This concept is called contextual collaboration. There
is also going to be convergence of collaborative
capabilities. We are witnessing the beginning of
convergence among what had been separate collaborative
purpose areas. The future innovations in this arena
are also likely to be composite applications, which
basically mean that the products will have the ability
to combine multiple technologies into a single
application, which will provide significant business
value. Not only does it offer increased flexibility,
it also enables an enterprise to respond quickly and
cost effectively to their emerging business
requirements. 

So, in future, collaborative tools will merge with
intranet? 

Yes, the market is already moving in this direction.
Eventually, contextual collaboration will be a set of
network services available to all applications within
an enterprise and will no longer be something in a
separate and stand-alone platform. Instead, of people
swapping and changing from one window to another,
everything will be merged into one window. 

Can you elaborate on the concept of contextual
collaboration? 

It basically lets you organise, navigate, manage and
share information, like e-mails, calendar entries,
documents, e-meetings, around a particular activity or
project. For instance, whenever you see a name, you
can always see the availability of an individual and
always right-click to start a chat, write an e-mail or
perhaps even click to call them over your IP-enabled
phone. 

Contextual collaboration will let you group together
and manage all the varied information affiliated with
a project, chat logs, e-mail, documents, web content,
voice messages, meeting minutes, in one place. It is a
much simpler and more natural way to work. 

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