A few days ago I talked about the corporate world embracing technology in ways that fall outside of the normal gamer or blogger mentality. This is to be expected of course given their different needs and goals, and while continuing to think through the subject I wondered convergence theories were being applied in the enterprise world.
Convergence is the name applied when compatible technologies are brought together in a single device or software package. In the business world convergence takes on special significance when it can be proven to improve efficiencies or reduce costs. Enterprises are always looking for new solutions to age old problems.
It struck me while checking my email that in fact Intranets are an obvious example of technology where convergence is applied, and where enterprise wide advances are being made that actually drive development forward but are seldom talked about by bloggers like me.
Take for example a
content management system such as BoxesOS provided by EPAZZ, which is a commercial offering. I chose EPAZZ to use in my example because frankly many of the free scripts available that I would be able to install on my test server just aren't appropriate for a discussion about enterprise level Intranets (and Extranets). Also, EPAZZ provide extensive white papers and Flash demos from their front page and when push comes to shove, time is important, even for bloggers like me. If you're interested in knowing more about the EPAZZ product, they also provide a 30 day free trial online.
So, for my example I assume we're the IT department of a major enterprise looking to roll out a new content management system, we need to be able to provide both Intranet and Extranet services to internal departments, and while we're at it, we want to integrate calendar and email services. Then just when we start reviewing the options available, an instruction comes down from up above telling us to add compliance management to make it easy for legal to track who's read the latest briefing. After all they have too much work to do protecting the enterprise without having to count signatures.
I know it sounds unrealistic, perhaps a more realistic scenario involves staff training, which in large enterprises can be a major headache. It would be so much easier for most training departments to provide online training with automatic management allowing them access to exception reports instead of having to manually track every single member of staff.
You know I had a strange thought after checking out BoxesOS. Everytime I go to a government department or major corporation, the staff have an Intranet, but they still use Outlookfor their mail,and they have dozen other applications open, and it occurred to me there is a huge market for IT providers to quote on products like the one above.
