Every Friday I’m going to attempt to summarize any relevant news in the future of work/collaboration space. I’ll provide the name of the vendor, a short summary of what the announcement or piece of news is with a link to the original, and finally a short POV. I can’t cover every single thing that comes out but I will do my best to provide as much relevant content as I can. If you have something you think I should include then please send it over and I will decide if it’s something I can add.  Ideally I’d also like to see the product which means we can schedule a demo or just me access so that I can take a look at it.

See the rest of my Friday Vendor Roundups

mindjet logoMindjet and Spigit merge

Mindjet and Spigit are merging to become a single company.  The Mindjet name will stay the same as the 100 Spigit employees fold into the new entity.

Link to announcement

My POV

This is one of those acquisitions that makes complete sense but also one that I didn’t see coming.  Spigit does a great job of helping organizations manage the ideation and innovation process and Mindjet does a good job of giving employees a platform where they can brainstorm and map out their ideas before they enter that development.  As far as I know both companies were doing relatively well but they saw an opportunity to combine their products to build a complete innovation and ideation management platform.  Both companies have great teams and I’m looking forward to seeing how they integrate their products and build them out.

attask logoAtTask releases new “Documents”

The new documents update allows employees to manage what AtTask calls the end-to-end documentlife cycle.  This includes organizing and visualizing, collaborating and sharing, proofing and reviewing, approving and distributing, and storing and reusing.

Link to announcement

My POV

While most vendors offer somewhat similar features when it comes to document management, I don’t believe that others are as thorough in addressing all of these features around documents.  AtTask is a relatively new vendor on my radar but they are putting together quite a good project and content management product.  I’m looking forward to getting more familiar with the product and the the team in near future.

Harmon.ie releases Office 365 and Sharepoint for Android devices

harmon.ie logo

Harmon.ie established partnerships with Good Technology, Airwatch, Citrix Ready, Samsung KNOX, and MobileIron to provide employees a full featured app to access Office 365 and Sharepoint from their mobile devices (Android and IOS but IOS has already been out).

Link to announcement 

My POV

This is certainly a positive announcement since security is always a top issue for many companies.  This basically means that employee who rely on Office and Sharepoint can now access anything and everything need from their mobile devices.  I’m not 100% clear on the details though because as far as I know, most enterprise collaboration vendors also allow for and provide secure access to Office and Sharepoint through their applications and many of them work with vendors such as Good Technology and Airwatch.  Either way it’s clear that most businesses to use Sharepoint and Office 365 and empowering that mobile workforce by allowing them to use mobile apps to access people and information is always a good thing!

box_logoBox adds new productivity features

Box announced a few things at their recent Boxworks conference including: Notes (designed to be a Google docs killer), a preview experience (a beautiful new way to see your content), new admin tools, and the ability to add meta-data (for developers).

Link to announcement

My POV

The big announcement was the introduction of Notes which is designed to act just like Google docs which means you can collaboratively create and edit documents with other employees.  I’m certainly a big fan of Box and the work they are doing.  Do I think the new features are groundbreaking or earth-shattering?  Absolutely not but I do think they are closing the gap around working and collaborating instead of just managing content and storing information.  I fully expect them to continue in this direction.

tomfoolery anchorTomfoolery launches their Anchor product on Android, Adds Box and Dropbox integration

Well the title says it all!  Tomfoolery originally launched their product on IOS devices and are now unveiling their Android app to connect and engage the mobile workforce.  Box and Dropbox integrations are available across all their supported devices.

Link to announcement

My POV

Most people have never heard of Tomfoolery or their product Anchor, and that’s because the team behind it is small, the product is new, and there isn’t a lot going on in terms of marketing.  However, Anchor is perhaps one of the most beautifully designed mobile apps for collaboration that I have seen on the market today.  Their main target market is definitely not the enterprise but I think they can make a dent in smaller and perhaps (later) some mid-size organizations.  Box and Dropbox are the two most popular document management and collaboration platforms so integrating with them is certainly a good idea, as is adding the Android app.  They have a unique opportunity to enter the market by providing something that really rethinks the way work should be done.  As of now the app is free.

 

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