Too often we tend to think of enterprise applications and Web 2.0 social applications as separate, disconnected universes. Enterprise systems — even those delivered as SaaS offerings — exist inside the firewall, or behind great cloaks of security, and are set up to execute transactions, not to enable ad hoc interactions.
Social networking apps, on the other hand, exist on the Web and are open to pretty much anyone with a pulse and a cell phone. Users exchange (sometimes all too personal) information freely and share ideas as they occur.
But must these two worlds remain quite so separate? What if, besides entering orders, approving invoices, and scheduling production, users of enterprise applications could also easily and quickly use a cloud-based social network to quickly pull together a team and solve a problem, aided by data from the enterprise application?
This is what SAP has in mind with a new cloud-based collaborative decision-making tool called 12sprints that the company recently started to preview. I got a demo of 12sprints from SAP Senior Vice President for Emerging Technology David Meyer, and I have to say it’s an interesting, though not fully executed, idea.
Basically, 12sprints is a cloud-based platform that can be used to pull together teams and solve problems, in the same way Facebook is used to pull together communities that share opinions and information about things like music and fashion.
Once you’ve defined a problem you’re trying to solve — an unexpected spike in demand for your product in Asia, for example — via e-mail you convene a team of five to 30 people that might include supply chain planners, distributors, and suppliers. You then select from a series of potential decision-making methods, such as strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis. Members of the group can make suggestions and comment on others’ suggestions using instant messaging. And everyone can come to a consensus using tools such as pro/con tables. Once a consensus is reached, 12sprints can be used to communicate it to the community.
12sprints lets you distribute documents and other types of information to the community. This is where integration between social networking and enterprise apps comes in. Right now, 12sprints only allows you to upload PDF documents and other types of content using tools such as iPaper from SAP partner Scribd . Over the next year, however, SAP will roll out integrations that will allow content generated by its enterprise applications and business intelligence clients to stream documents, reports, charts, and other kinds of data directly into 12sprints.
SAP is also working on tools that will let users create templates for their own decision-making methods. And the company is working on tightening up security and auditing and storage of 12sprints collaboration threads.
SAP plans to roll out 12sprints as a product during the first half of this year. A free, limited-bandwidth version will be available, with tiered pricing based on usage, Meyer says.
SAP isn’t the only vendor working on such cloud-based collaborative decision-making tools. IBM has previewed a tool, dubbed Vulcan, which is based on the Lotus Notes client and does similar things to 12sprints. Google’s Wave environment is playing in the same space. And, of course, Microsoft’s SharePoint is probably the most well-established brand in this market.
I can see these types of tools becoming well-accepted among manufacturers who, on a daily basis, need to respond quickly and collaboratively to exceptional situations such as disruptions in demand or production. This type of tool would also be useful in spreading best practices among plants in a global network.
At the very least, however, tools like 12sprints should go a long way toward erasing the false separation between enterprise applications and social networking platforms.
Where the Enterprise and the Cloud Meet
Too often we tend to think of enterprise applications and Web 2.0 social applications as separate, disconnected universes. Enterprise systems — even those delivered as SaaS offerings — exist inside the firewall, or behind great cloaks of security, and are set up to execute transactions, not to enable ad hoc interactions.
Social networking apps, on the other hand, exist on the Web and are open to pretty much anyone with a pulse and a cell phone. Users exchange (sometimes all too personal) information freely and share ideas as they occur.
But must these two worlds remain quite so separate? What if, besides entering orders, approving invoices, and scheduling production, users of enterprise applications could also easily and quickly use a cloud-based social network to quickly pull together a team and solve a problem, aided by data from the enterprise application?
This is what SAP has in mind with a new cloud-based collaborative decision-making tool called 12sprints that the company recently started to preview. I got a demo of 12sprints from SAP Senior Vice President for Emerging Technology David Meyer, and I have to say it’s an interesting, though not fully executed, idea.
Basically, 12sprints is a cloud-based platform that can be used to pull together teams and solve problems, in the same way Facebook is used to pull together communities that share opinions and information about things like music and fashion.
Once you’ve defined a problem you’re trying to solve — an unexpected spike in demand for your product in Asia, for example — via e-mail you convene a team of five to 30 people that might include supply chain planners, distributors, and suppliers. You then select from a series of potential decision-making methods, such as strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis. Members of the group can make suggestions and comment on others’ suggestions using instant messaging. And everyone can come to a consensus using tools such as pro/con tables. Once a consensus is reached, 12sprints can be used to communicate it to the community.
12sprints lets you distribute documents and other types of information to the community. This is where integration between social networking and enterprise apps comes in. Right now, 12sprints only allows you to upload PDF documents and other types of content using tools such as iPaper from SAP partner Scribd . Over the next year, however, SAP will roll out integrations that will allow content generated by its enterprise applications and business intelligence clients to stream documents, reports, charts, and other kinds of data directly into 12sprints.
SAP is also working on tools that will let users create templates for their own decision-making methods. And the company is working on tightening up security and auditing and storage of 12sprints collaboration threads.
SAP plans to roll out 12sprints as a product during the first half of this year. A free, limited-bandwidth version will be available, with tiered pricing based on usage, Meyer says.
SAP isn’t the only vendor working on such cloud-based collaborative decision-making tools. IBM has previewed a tool, dubbed Vulcan, which is based on the Lotus Notes client and does similar things to 12sprints. Google’s Wave environment is playing in the same space. And, of course, Microsoft’s SharePoint is probably the most well-established brand in this market.
I can see these types of tools becoming well-accepted among manufacturers who, on a daily basis, need to respond quickly and collaboratively to exceptional situations such as disruptions in demand or production. This type of tool would also be useful in spreading best practices among plants in a global network.
At the very least, however, tools like 12sprints should go a long way toward erasing the false separation between enterprise applications and social networking platforms.