Introducing Collabworks
A Collaborative Idea
Four years ago, CollabWorks was started by Michael Grove, technologist and serial entrepreneur. Mike and a prominent group of CIOs from companies like Sun Microsystems, Sanmina, and Ricoh were frustrated over the lack of productivity tools for knowledge workers and problem solving in organizations today. Too often, a problem someone grapples with has already been solved by a peer. After many discussions and thinktank sessions, CollabWorks was launched with some of that CIO group remaining involved as advisers to the company. Since 2007, we have building towards our vision of several thousand enterprises collaboratively solving problems, sharing resources, and collectively working with vendors. It is a big inspiring vision but as we expected, its realization can be accelerated by the emergence of new technologies. Enterprise integration tools, social media, mobility, consumerization, and cloud computing all help advance the CollabWorks vision.
The “Virtual Enterprise” is identified
In 2010, we began to talk about what was next beyond Cloud Computing and launched what was then deemed the Virtual Enterprise. (See figure below) Our April event at the Computer Museum in Silicon Valley, an intense high energy exchange of ideas among thirty-five C-level execs, revealed a clear line of sight. The Virtual Enterprise is our future – it is just a matter of time. “Virtual” means the “freedom to optimize” resources. Instead of limiting our thoughts to technology, the real leverage is people – the knowledge workers exchanging information, sharing experiences, and collaboratively solving problems. While many of us recognized that most startups today are highly “virtual”, outsourcing all but core skills, we saw a real need for knowledge worker optimization at the enterprise: SMB to Global 2000.
Haas School/CollabWorks Study of SaaS in the Enterprise
In Fall 2010, in order to gather more concrete evidence to support the notion that the Virtual Enterprise was more than a concept we conducted a study. Through the wise advice and kind support of Homa Behrami, faculty member of the Haas Business School at UC Berkeley, and the counsel of Stuart Evans, Distinguished Service Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, we developed a research project in conjunction with the Technology Club of Haas School MBA students. During this eight month project, we interviewed one or more C-level executives at twenty-six well-known mid-market companies in three market segments – software, semiconductor manufacturing, and finance. In addition to interviews, several workshops and brainstorming events where also conducted and from that effort we concluded:
(1) Forces such as socialization, consumerization of the enterprise, and the fidelity of outsourced services are re-shaping how work is done;
(2) Knowledge worker productivity improvements are primarily driven by new uses of software and most of that software is being delivered as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS);
(3) The Virtual Enterprise model is emerging with all kinds of use cases, but executives are just beginning to understand the huge economic benefits and how to achieve them.
A Portal for improving Worker Productivity
Also in the Fall of 2010, we began to conceive of a management services portal that initially would allow both IT and BU executives to optimize and simplify the management of software used by their knowledge workers. Our goal: improving knowledge worker productivity. The result: CollabPort. The CollabPort software is a services platform, delivered in SaaS form providing one-stop manageability for the worker and the software they use. Decision making tools are included to help the IT and BU executive to:
(1) discover what SaaS applications might best fit their needs
(2) organize all existing SaaS apps by function and role.
In addition, the administration of all SaaS tools is automated allowing users a single sign-on for all their web apps and to allow the administrator an easy means to manage changes in usage and to protect the enterprise from potentially damaging loss of data. Through its research, CollabWorks discovered that the vast majority of SaaS apps being used do not use API standards and many have no API at all. To solve that problem, CollabWorks turned to its partner Kapow and together we offer:
(1) automated administration of all web based applications,
(2) connectability or integration of two or more apps, and
(3) an ability to change app vendors in a matter of hours, not weeks nor months.
The People Cloud
Just as the compute cloud has broken down barriers to computing efficiency, we believe a new kind of cloud, a "People Cloud" is emerging that will significantly improve workers' productivity. Just as SaaS and cloud computing go hand in hand, so will Worker as a Service (WaaS) and the People Cloud. Many things will be different but the broad analogy is applicable. CollabWorks is committed to embodying the People Cloud. What enterprises can gain from people clouds is enormous since the attributes of availability, optimization, and speed are the same between People and Computing Clouds and yet spending economics favor People by 25 to 1.
Join in our Collaborative Experience
Please join our experience sharing network of enterprises and participating vendors. Joining is free and CollabPort basic WaaS services are free with your agreement to participate.
