Plebble.com – Customer Service e-mocracy

I read about Plebble.com in the Times yesterday.  The site’s aim is to provide a forum where users can share ratings and reviews based on good or bad service that they’ve received from companies.  This idea isn’t entirely new, but their approach is. 

The site founders used to work in the city, and Plebble has some similarities with the trading screens used to monitor stockmarket movements.   Their dashboard shows latest ratings, with best and worst performers listed based on user submissions, as you can see in the screenshot, 

They aren’t generating revenue from advertising, instead the intention is to charge business for access to data.  There are of course ways in which companies (or individuals) can skew the results by posting misleading reviews, but it’s an interesting idea, and the site looks really nice.

At various stages of my career I’ve been involved in lots of different Customer Service and Customer Relationship Management applications, and it’s one area where the Web 2.0 idea of a social network being used for customers to air their frustrations or praise has really taken off.  So I wish Plebble well, I hope it succeeds.

Technorati tags: web 2.0, social networking, dashboard

SharePoint, Web 2.0 and Social Networking

CIO.com has an interesting article titled Understanding Microsoft SharePoint in a Web 2.0 World.  It discusses the Web 2.0 “Social Networking” capabilities of SharePoint, which can provide a “Facebook for Business” when the My Sites capability is put to good use.  When I demonstrate SharePoint, the My Sites capability is something lots of people get excited about (although not everyone – some people still find the thought of introducing it very scary).

I think if implemented properly, this type of Social Networking capability can add real value for organisations where knowledge management and discovery are important.   The article also mentioned NewsGator Social Sites for SharePoint, new to me, but definitely worth a look.  I’ve only ever thought of NewsGator as a company involved in RSS feed readers, but I can see that Social Sites could prove very useful.

You can get more information on Social Sites by registering here, and there is a short video demo available as well.

Technorati tags: sharepoint, web 2.0, social networking

SharePoint and Office Integration

One of my clients asked for my opinion of Office 2007 recently, and in particular why they should bother to upgrade when Office 2003 seemed to cover everything they wanted.  For me, I think the most compelling upgrade area is the much much tighter integration with Office SharePoint Server 2007, and certainly, if you are using, or planning to use SharePoint, you should take a close look at the Office 2007 integration features.

To get you started, I would recommend a look at the white paper Microsoft Office Programs and SharePoint Products and Technologies Integration – Fair, Good, Better, Best.  This will give you a very good comparison of the way in which Office versions 2003 and 2007 work with SharePoint.

And my own favourite integration features:

Integration of SharePoint workflows, particularly with Word 2007, so that a workflow can be started from inside Word, or an approver or reviewer can update the workflow once a document is open.

SharePoint 2007 slide libraries and their integration with PowerPoint 2007.

SharePoint Excel Services and Web Access and the whole area of publishing workbooks and parts of workbooks online.

All of the BI improvements in Excel 2007, which make it an excellent client for SQL Server Analysis Services.

Blogging directly from Word or OneNote 2007.

Smart Client Authoring with Word 2007 and the Web Content Management features of SharePoint 2007.

Technorati tags: Office 2007, SharePoint

Windows Live Writer Resources

I use Windows Live Writer to publish content here.  I’ve tried other blogging tools, and the blogging options in Word 2007 and OneNote 2007, but for me Live Writer works best.  Also, I like the various Plug-ins you can download from WIndows Live Gallery.  Live Writer is also a great tool for posting to SharePoint blogs, and if you are using these on your own intranet, or indeed on public sites, I would definitely recommend it.

In the past week I’ve seen a couple of posts which contain useful “how-to” videos for Live Writer.  First, on the Writer Zone blog you can find a set of Writer VIdeos, covering topics such as Getting Started, Basic Authoring, Pictures Videos and Maps etc.  Then on the SharePoint Team Blog, Mike Gannotti has posted screencasts on Using Word 2007 or Windows Live Writer to post to a SharePoint blog.

So why don’t I use as SharePoint site for this blog you may ask?  Well, WordPress offer their blogging service for free, it’s extremely reliable, and they use the excellent Akismet anti-spam technology.  But I have been looking at hosted SharePoint services, and things may change later in the year…

Technorati tags: Live Writer, SharePoint, video

Bamboo Nation – Excellent SharePoint Posts

Bamboo Solutions specialise in web parts and solution accelerators for SharePoint.  They have several products which address some of the shortcomings in “out of the box” SharePoint, including Calendar Plus which goes way beyond what you can do with the standard Calendar List. and List Rollup, which lets you roll up multiple lists across sites.   They also have a nice World Clock and Weather Web Part which is available for free from their web site.

Bamboo’s online store has recently undergone a re-vamp, and one of the improvements they’ve made is an area for each product where you can submit ideas for new feature enhancements.  They also have a blog called Bamboo Nation, and this is worth keeping an eye on.  As well as posting information and “how-to’s” for their own products, they also have some really good general SharePoint content.  Here are some recent favourites:

Utilizing Document Library Templates

How to Build Site Templates Using Relative Links Instead of Absolute Links

Here Quick Launch Bar, Quick Launch Bar. Here Quick Launch Bar. Now where could it have gone????

Well worth adding to your feed reader.

Technorati tags: SharePoint, web parts