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	<title>Post of site blogs "www.bitrixsoft.com" (www.bitrixsoft.com)</title>
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	<pubDate>Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:24:12 +0400</pubDate>

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      <title>Denis Zenkin: Advantages of merging the internet, intranet and extranet WCM layers</title>
      <description><![CDATA[<img src="/upload/blog/a3b/merge1.gif" title="" alt="" width="100" height="100" /><br /><br />Recently I came across a very interesting discussion in the Intranet Professionals group on LinkedIn where Margaret Pinchen, intranet manager at AB SKF, investigated the advantages of moving web communications tools to a <b>single platform instead of using different solutions for website management and intranet</b>.<br /><br />The conclusions would seem to be obvious. Surely there are a number of obvious advantages, which come with a single platform running the organization’s web applications. However, the main issue here is the <b>choosing the proper platform</b>, one that is capable of covering the whole range of requirements and natively designed for interlayer communications. Otherwise, the organization can face serious <b>integration difficulties</b> and reduce the chances of a successful platform implementation. <br /><br />Intranet solutions currently on the market can be divided into two parts: the ones targeting solely intranets (for example, <a href='http://intranetconnections.com/' target='_blank'>Intranet Connections</a>, <a href='http://www.orchidsoft.com/' target='_blank'>Orchidnet</a>, and <a href='http://www.interact-intranet.co.uk/' target='_blank'>Interact</a>) and the ones that are a part of a more comprehensive content management platform (like <a href='http://www.bitrixsoft.com' target='_blank'>Bitrix</a>, <a href='http://www.sitecore.net' target='_blank'>Sitecore</a>, and <a href='http://www.ektron.com' target='_blank'>Ektron</a>). <br /><br />The latter solutions primarily originate from the CMS market. The vendors started their businesses delivering customers website management systems and have since expanded their portfolio with customized products for launching corporate intranets/extranets. These products are normally built on the same content management engine and generally are a ready-made solution with pre-set structures and services adjusted for internal use.<br /><br />The intranet-specific products, on the other hand, were designed with a single purpose: to provide effective tools for internal collaboration and communications. They feature some integration capabilities like connectors with legacy software (ERP, CRM, PLM, etc.) and are powered with documented API’s for integration with other third-party applications. But unlike platform-based solutions, integration is more like an <b>option</b>, rather than a <b>ready-to-go function</b>. Most importantly, these products are not specifically tailored for website management systems. Organizations still needed to develop interaction pathways between these layers, which seems to be quite a difficult task. <br /><br />When developing intranet solutions, the platform vendors were <b>initially targeting tight integration</b> between the layers. Integration was not just an add-on for customers but a <b>major selling point</b>, differentiating them in the field of competition. For example, the Site Controller module in <a href='http://www.bitrixsoft.com/products/' target='_blank'>Bitrix products</a> allows launching of pervasive business processes encompassing the internet and intranet layers and enabling organizations to publish content automatically on their websites directly from their intranet after the content is approved by the parties involved. It also enables connection of remote offices and introduces an enterprise-wide content policy.<br /><br />There are a number of additional benefits to be gained by use of a single platform solution as opposed to using niche intranet solution.<br /><br /><b>Security</b><br />A platform introduces a single security policy that smoothes out the fabric of all web applications and brings more usability to the environment. Single sign-on, user access management, anti-* (anti-virus, anti-spam, anti-hacker) tools tremendously simplify and improve the protection and integrity level of the all-in-one solution. At the same time, even a tightly integrated intranet-specific product may experience certain security gaps like accidental content exposure and cross-application user permissions. These issues require the development of inter-layer security measures, which is a very challenging task with lots of rocks below the surface.<br /><br /><b>Manageability</b><br />A centralized administration console and unified backend allows orchestration of internet, intranet and extranet layers from a single location. This significantly reduces the probability of errors, supplies more management options (like unified business processes) and avoids extra expenses in the product integration process.<br /><br /><b>TCO/ROI</b><br />While it is hard to estimate the exact numbers of the key financial indicators of both approaches, it’s quite obvious that with a platform the organization escapes a number of extra expenses associated with integration, management, maintenance and training. Without doubt a  platform entails less risk and provides better business continuity and sustainability.<br /><br /><b>Support</b><br />With various products responsible for website management and intranet, an organization may experience difficulties getting quality technical support. Custom integration will inevitably lead to certain incompatibility issues that will require assistance from the vendors. The platform-based approach provides a single support source with a greater chance for successful problem-solving.<br /><br /><b>Learning curve</b><br />A single platform provides the organization with common application management practices. Content editors, system administrators, security specialists and users no longer require specific knowledge to operate in internet, intranet and extranet layers. The unified interface features the same usability experience and requires no additional staff training.<br /><br />The scope of advantages of the platform-based intranets make a convincing case that the future of the evolving Enterprise 2.0 market lies in the area of <b>comprehensive content management solutions</b>. Solutions capable of providing organizations with a comprehensive business communication system bridging them with customers, partners and employees. While a side-by-side comparison of product features between platforms and intranet-specific products may not reveal this very important point, implementation will reveal that platforms have the flexibility to create robust, all-in-one solutions, leading to better business results.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/unleashed/2119.php">More...</a>]]></description>
      <link>http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/unleashed/2119.php</link>
      <guid>http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/unleashed/2119.php</guid>
      <pubDate>Fri, 27 Aug 2010 11:10:44 +0400</pubDate>
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      <title>Vladislav Levada: Automatic Google Sitemap creation for your Bitrix site</title>
      <description><![CDATA[In this post we'll cover creating a Google Sitemap for your site automatically using a small script and the <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cron' target='_blank'>cron</a> utility<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/news/2111.php">More...</a>]]></description>
      <link>http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/news/2111.php</link>
      <guid>http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/news/2111.php</guid>
      <pubDate>Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:23:57 +0400</pubDate>
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      <title>Denis Zenkin: Study: Do Customers Care About Intranet Design?</title>
      <description><![CDATA[With lots of buzz surrounding intranet design, Bitrix decided to conduct a <b>quick survey</b> among its customers and determine their real-life preferences. We polled 32 organizations ranging from 100 to 2000 users and got rather interesting results.<br /><br />The direct answer to this post’s title is that they certainly do. The unexpected thing is that they do it in a <b>very specific manner</b>.<br /><br />It would seem that the larger an organization is, the more likely it is to launch a custom intranet design addressing its requirements in terms of usability, driving user engagement, and fitting specific business needs. However, only two (sic!) respondents said they decided to implement a <b>custom design</b> according to their corporate guidelines while others were <b>satisfied with the ready-made templates</b> and only leveraged the opportunity to make a basic customization by inserting their logos, slogans and color schemes.<br /><br /><img src="/upload/blog/fd6/1_.png" title="" alt="" width="350" height="298" /><img src="/upload/blog/5e0/2_.png" title="" alt="" width="350" height="298" /><br /><br />This fact clearly illustrates that small and medium-sized businesses concentrate on core intranet features. They do count every dollar invested in the solution and don’t worry too much how the intranet appearance may contribute to the business performance. They are unlikely to bother themselves with how the opening page looks, whether it should be scrolled down or not, or whether the intranet meets adopted design guidelines. <br /><br />In our experience, SMBs start with <b>basic features</b> like document sharing, internal communications, workgroup collaboration, time planning and calendaring. Later they expand their intranet practice with step-by-step adoption of more features, but they <b>rarely care about the design</b>! One of the respondents told me privately that since the intranet is for internal purposes it doesn’t need to be better than it is – there are no customers to attract. What SMBs need is to accomplish internal tasks in a way that brings  <b>real value to the business</b>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/unleashed/2109.php">More...</a>]]></description>
      <link>http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/unleashed/2109.php</link>
      <guid>http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/unleashed/2109.php</guid>
      <pubDate>Tue, 24 Aug 2010 15:39:41 +0400</pubDate>
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      <title>Denis Zenkin: Intranet as a Driver for Business Process Automation in SMB</title>
      <description><![CDATA[<img src="/upload/blog/61b/bpa.jpg" title="" alt="" width="150" height="112" /><br /><br />Modern intranet solutions have grown far beyond being just <b>simple collaboration and communication tools</b>. However, the sector itself is still too young to have developed a hard-and-fast list of obligatory features, and vendors are actively expanding their functionality by introducing more task-oriented tools. <br /><br />In fact, the industry is moving towards adopting the <b>full range of features</b> to provide customers a <b>self-sufficient platform for internal work</b>. Ideally, an intranet should serve as a universal interface with a full range of capabilities necessary to solve business-critical tasks. <br /><br />The latest trend in intranet development is powering the products with <b>handy tools for business process automation</b> (BPA). At first glance, including this feature may appear to be misguided. Large enterprises normally use legacy tools like Oracle BPM Suite, Microsoft BizTalk, or IBM WebSphere Process Server to connect various applications and services with business processes. Intranet-specific BPA can hardly replace these tools as the enterprise IT environment requirements overwhelms the functionality of intranets.<br /><br />The SMB case is different. The problem is that SMBs can <b>hardly figure out how to benefit from BPA</b>. There is a common perception about business processes in the SMB market. Many organizations believe that no software can really handle this duty adequately, and if it can, it would be so complicated and expensive as to make it untenable.  Both assumptions are no more than misperceptions inherited from the “good old times” of pricey customized intranets for large enterprises.<br /><br />But at the same time, implementing prevalent business processes inside the intranet allows SMBs comprehensive monitoring of employee performance, streamlining of workflow to a single platform, and better business visibility and transparency. What is important is that it doesn’t entail extra expenses for additional software acquisition and maintenance.<br /><br />Properly automated business processes give any organization a number of <b>business advantages</b>. They save employees time and thus increase their productivity; they let you orchestrate internal activity and control task performance; and they unify scattered collaborative efforts and communication tools, transforming them into a solid and interlinked system. <br /><br />BPA works as a <b>superstructure covering intranet activity and synchronizing people, teams and tasks</b>. Imagine the common task of invoice payment. Usually the procedure starts with printing the invoice, followed by filling out a payment request, getting a number of signatures, passing it over to the financial department and poking the responsible people to get feedback. Quite familiar isn’t it? And of course boring, and rather distracting for employees with more critical business tasks. Most importantly, one should always keep an eye on the process so as not to let it stall.<br /><br />With intranet intranet BPA in place, this procedure transforms into a <b>single action</b>. The employee simply invokes a ready-made workflow template that does the rest in fully automatic mode. It gathers the necessary approvals, sends notifications, lets you monitor the payment process at any stage and maintains a record for each and every action for future references. Moreover, one can easily alter the business process template with a construction kit to insert additional actions like sending outstanding job reminders or involving other people.<br /><br />The same approach can be applied to virtually <b>any routine activity</b> such as acquaintance with or approval of a document,  requesting a vacation or technical support, implementing specific tasks or reporting.<br /><br />There are a number of stand-alone BPA suites (like Magic Software’s iBOLT, Automation Anywhere Server and Network Automation’s AutoMate) but only a few BPA-enabled intranets. An illustrative example of business process automation can be found in the <b><a href='http://www.bitrixsoft.com/products/intranet/features/business_processes.php' target='_blank'>Bitrix Intranet Portal</a></b>. It is much easier and user-friendly than SharePoint as the product comes with a set of pre-installed templates and a construction kit to develop custom processes with simple drag-and-drop actions. A business process can be initiated both for documents and for routine activities, while responsible persons can monitor the progress and receive notifications. No less important is that the feature requires no specialized skills and can be handled by people with just basic experience in computers.<br /><br />I firmly believe that BPA will become an <b>essential part of SMB-oriented intranet</b> solutions. This is a major technology that allows organizations to put internal interaction under control and synchronize people and departments. As a result, operations become a <b>well-oiled machine</b> with smoother transitions, faster feedback and better-informed decisions.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/unleashed/2096.php">More...</a>]]></description>
      <link>http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/unleashed/2096.php</link>
      <guid>http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/unleashed/2096.php</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 19 Aug 2010 14:13:05 +0400</pubDate>
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      <title>Denis Zenkin: Crossing the Cloud: a Way to Survive In the Evolving Enterprise 2.0 Market</title>
      <description><![CDATA[<img src="/upload/blog/023/cloud.gif" title="" alt="" width="150" height="100" /><br /><br />Back in the end of 1990s, I witnessed an extremely interesting metamorphosis in the anti-virus market. The way the things happened would have been perfect for inclusion in <a href='http://www.insearchofstupidity.com/' target='_blank'>Rick Chapman’s “In Search Of Stupidity”</a> bestseller. A dominant player in a European country which held as much as 90% of the market <b>lost its position to a minor competitor in only two years</b>. <br /><br />What was the reason for such a total transformation on a more or less mature market? While many opinions were expressed by the market analysts, they have at least one thing in common: the company was too <b>reluctant in covering new operating systems</b>. While it was stuck in the old DOS-era mind frame similar to the “640K ought to be enough for anybody” attitude (often misattributed to Bill Gates), the competitor started to actively expand on Windows and Unix platforms. <br /><br />Despite the evident market signals, the company continued to insist on the self-sufficiency of the DOS version. As a result, it has <b>lost the time</b> needed to deliver the high-demand version of its anti-virus to the market, while the competitor was successfully converting customers. Later, the Windows and Unix versions were ready but crucial time had already passed.  Now the company <b>controls not more than 10%</b> of the national market as is desperately trying to make ends meet.<br /><br />Similar things are happening now with regard to <b>virtualization technologies</b>. Virtual environments have become a major trend for deploying cost-effective solutions. Gartner recently <a href='http://eginnovations.wordpress.com/2010/06/18/virtualization-market-statistics-and-predictions-by-gartner/' target='_blank'>estimated</a> that 23% of the installed applications are running in virtual machines while this number will grow to 48% in 2012. IDC <a href='http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS22316610' target='_blank'>reported</a> that 18.2% of all new servers shipped in the fourth quarter of 2009 were virtualized.<br /><br />The flexibility in supporting this environment clearly corresponds with the software <b>readiness to work in corporate frameworks</b>. Very much like supporting various operating systems in the past, the more platforms you cover, the wider market coverage you have. <b>Failing to cope with this challenge may result in losing the market</b> just as in the example above.<br /><br />In fact, the term <b>‘cross-platform’</b> has apparently transformed into <b>‘cross-cloud’</b>, illustrating a software product’s operability in different virtualization environments and therefore its ability to cover new markets. <br /><br />With many virtualization platforms around (but a few dominating the market) it is quite difficult to develop dedicated versions for each. There is too much hassle in converting the distributions, testing the compatibility and properly configuring the settings.<br /><br />However, there is an <b>elegant solution</b> how a product can kill two birds with one stone, finding the balance between compatibility and productivity.<br /><br />Let me share the Bitrix experience. The company has recently launched its <a href='http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/news/224460/' target='_blank'>Cloud initiative</a> to deliver an intranet experience using a SaaS model. When evaluating the market opportunities, we decided to split the technical side of ‘cross-cloud’ support into two parts. <br /><br />Firstly, <b>native support for the major environments</b> was developed. The company released dedicated versions of the software for VMware and Parallels technologies. The virtual machines for these platforms come with a pre-set configuration that enables the solutions’ maximum performance and security. <br /><br />What about other platforms including Xen, Hyper-V and OpenVZ? Maintaining dedicated versions of Bitrix Intranet Portal for the whole list of environments causes too much trouble and requires significant development investments. At the same time, the market landscape is pretty mixed as hosting providers use different platforms to deliver services to the end-users.<br /><br />In response, the company crafted a specially-designed <b>RPM-distribution kit</b>, which contains all the necessary software and an installation script. Thus, a host can easily initiate a Virtual Private Server (VPS) on-demand and launch a fully configured and optimized Enterprise 2.0 solution in a snap. The RPM kit is based on CentOS Linux, which is compatible with the vast majority of virtualization environments including Microsoft’s Hyper-V (as a guest OS).<br /><br />I firmly believe that cross-cloud support will become a <b>major technology trend in the evolving Enterprise 2.0 market</b>. Intranets are now at the threshold of mass adoption with many small businesses preferring to use them in the Cloud. With this option, they can save up to 80% of implementation costs and avoid extra maintenance expenses. Importantly, cloud deployment minimizes concurrent risks of system downtime, data breach and data loss, as these issues are managed by the service/hosting provider.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/unleashed/2090.php">More...</a>]]></description>
      <link>http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/unleashed/2090.php</link>
      <guid>http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/unleashed/2090.php</guid>
      <pubDate>Tue, 17 Aug 2010 11:43:52 +0400</pubDate>
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      <title>Denis Zenkin: Enterprise 2.0: securing the un-securable</title>
      <description><![CDATA[<img src="/upload/blog/5b5/securityguard.gif" title="" alt="" width="69" height="150" /><br /><br />Social tools in the enterprise environment can basically be divided into two categories: <b>internal and external</b>.<br /><br />Socially-enabled intranets bring organizations a plethora of advantages for unleashing the power of creative communities, capitalizing on the social dimension of employees and as a result improve their market position, offering products which better reflect market demand.<br /><br />By using external social media tools like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, the Two-Point-0’ed enterprise enjoys better interaction with opinion leaders, prospects and the entire community, increasing sales and getting valuable feedback.<br /><br />There will always be the difficulty of finding a <b>balance between business opportunities and the accompanying threats</b> that arise with each step in making the enterprise more social. Intranet security issues are normally solved in the process of software implementation. The case with external social media tools is much different. <br /><br />The cornerstone of an effective security strategy is based on a simple approach: <b>disable everything and then enable selected services</b>. Each service should be carefully evaluated as an integral part of the enterprise-wide security policy. In other words, the service must be evaluated in connection with other available services to understand the possible drawbacks which could later to be introduced in general security. In fact, this process reminds me of <b>combinatorial analysis</b> with generic summary and development of a general security policy.<br /><br />Each new social media opportunity entails a plethora of security issues that can lead to serious threat to enterprise security. The nature of social media-borne viruses, hacker attacks, spam, application vulnerabilities and malicious social engineering is a bit different and requires a major <b>adjustment of the security policy</b>. The most important points include:<br /><ul><br /><li><i>Web filtering</i><br />Adopt social media traffic filtering to block specific malware and hacking techniques <br /><li><i>Patch management</i><br />Track social media-specific vulnerabilities and update the patch management policy with appropriate measures to keep external social applications free from security drawbacks<br /><li><i>Service compliance</i><br />Carefully evaluate the weak points of external social media tools with other web services used in the company to avoid blended attacks<br /><li><i>Code of behavior </i><br />Develop an enterprise–wide social media policy to avoid unintended data disclosure or damage to the organization’s reputation<br /><li><i>Training</i> <br />Educate employees about the common security threats they can encounter with when using social media. <br /></ul><br />In his recent <a href='http://www.fastforwardblog.com/2010/08/10/plenty-of-angst-about-enterprise-web-2-0-security-anything-new-here/' target='_blank'>blog post</a>, Joe McKendrick analyzed the Enterprise 2.0 security challenges and concluded: <i>"Enterprise Web 2.0 adoption is so widespread and end-user driven that only end-users themselves can keep security in check." </i><br /><br />I admit that user education is very important as the human factor is the weakest link in the security chain. However, I <b>doubt</b> that an average user can be that professional in tackling the security issues effectively. On the contrary, the enterprise should be the driver of implementing proper security measures and conduct a comprehensive social media security policy. Specifically, the policy must <b>bring together new marketing opportunities and protection of digital assets</b> to capitalize on the social effect and minimize the threat.<br /><br />Well, the surest way to solve the social media security problems is just to block this tool. But following this logic, we’d end up sacrificing all other IT and return to the Stone Age. <b>Enterprises shouldn’t neglect the evident advantages of social media but rather update their security policies with proper tools and policies</b>.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/unleashed/2079.php">More...</a>]]></description>
      <link>http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/unleashed/2079.php</link>
      <guid>http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/unleashed/2079.php</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 12 Aug 2010 12:00:10 +0400</pubDate>
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      <title>Denis Zenkin: Intranet vs Enterprise 2.0 vs Social Software: an obvious case of terminological controversy</title>
      <description><![CDATA[Barb Mosher from CMSwire announced the <a href='http://www.cmswire.com/cms/enterprise-20/does-your-intranet-include-collaboration-toolsfeatures-have-your-say-008279.php' target='_blank'>results</a> of their latest poll regarding the usage of collaboration tools in intranets. <br /><br />Frankly speaking, I wasn’t impressed about the whole idea of this poll as I thought the results would be very predictable. However, the actual findings were <b>absolutely surprising</b>. It turned to be that 16,3% of the respondents don’t have intranet in place, which is far more surprising taking into consideration that the CMSwire audience is extremely advanced in leveraging the advantages of Enterprise 2.0. At the same time approx. 17% said they do have intranets but they don’t include any collaboration features and they don’t have any third-party collaboration solutions in place. Finally, 13,2% said they rely on separate collaboration tools not linked to their intranets.<br /><br />I can admit the poll results <b>may not be reflecting the reality</b> on the ground.  The statistical base was only 1000 respondents and more research should be done on the audience to understand who actually responded to the question. <br /><br />Anyway, this quick poll got my attention for a different reason. When summarizing the poll results, Barb questioned the readership: “Do you hear the term intranet used when looking at social software solutions?” It made me think of a <b>common perception</b> leading to a misunderstanding of the meaning and distinguishing of the terms “intranet”, “Enterprise 2.0” and “social media”.<br /><br />With much respect to Wikipedia contributors I would like to depart somewhat from the common definitions and share my view on what is what based on my market experience. <br /><br />Intranet is basically a <b>practical tool that creates a unified workplace</b> for an organization supplying a number of benefits. In my opinion, the list of must-have features include <b>collaboration, communications and knowledge base</b>. <br /><br />The intranet lets organizations put the employees’ experience into a single database to <b>ensure knowledge continuity</b>. There should be a number of additional features in place to avoid knowledge from turning into a useless silo and converting it into highly-available database that allows employees to easily locate relevant data. The CMSwire poll shows that 30,2% of respondents are content to use this single benefit, ignoring  the others.<br /><br />Intranet collaboration is tightly associated with the knowledge base. Data in a centralized repository brings little benefits in the absence of <b>proper collaboration tools</b> which act as a superstructure, enabling employees to effectively work with this data. In fact the connection between data and collaboration tools can be made with third-party applications. However, is there any sense in extra software investments when  modern intranets are full of such tools? The only reason to work with third-party collaboration tools is legacy software. But in this case, the organization will inevitably meet with integration difficulties.<br /><br />Finally, communications. Along with instant messaging, web e-mail, and video conferencing, modern intranets now contain powerful social networking features to let organizations <b>harness the social dimension of creative communities</b> and convert alienated employees into a solid well-wired body. <br /><br />This is where the terminological controversy happens. People tend to <b>mix up social software, Enterprise 2.0 and socially-enabled intranets</b> while social networking is just a single intranet feature! Well, there are pure social-oriented software products like Yammer, but again – is there any reason for extra software investments in niche products when modern intranets normally contain these features?<br /><br />And now we have just one step left: to define what “Enterprise 2.0” is. At Bitrix, we understand E2.0 to be, actually,  … an <b>organization that has implemented a socially-enabled intranet</b>! Don’t blame me for contradicting E2.0 gurus. I just see there is a significant misunderstanding in terms that misleads people and confuses the organizations that are willing to Two-Point-0 their enterprise.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/unleashed/2077.php">More...</a>]]></description>
      <link>http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/unleashed/2077.php</link>
      <guid>http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/unleashed/2077.php</guid>
      <pubDate>Tue, 10 Aug 2010 19:42:47 +0400</pubDate>
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      <title>Denis Zenkin: Enterprise 2.0 Technology Patenting</title>
      <description><![CDATA[Recently I came across an extremely interesting <a href='http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=ELWRPQZZAO01TQE1GHRSKHWATMY32JVN?articleID=226600073' target='_blank'>article</a> in InformationWeek called “Mad Rush For Enterprise 2.0 Patents” by Alexander Wolfe with an in-depth overview of the latest patents issued to software developers in the Enterprise 2.0 field.<br /><br />As a passionate participant in this evolving market, I was more than intrigued to learn about the recent developments here and simple couldn’t refrain from expressing my opinion.<br /><br />Frankly speaking, I could hardly get my way through the patent descriptions. I totally agree with Alexander that the "patent-lawyer-ese" language used in the patent’s descriptions is a bit hard to follow and produces rather more questions than answers. However, my general impression can be better described as <b>astonishment and incomprehension</b>.<br /><br />My key finding is that the Big Boys’ patents described in the article could be divided into two parts. First, the “green button” patents for some insignificant features. Second, extremely generic patents that cover functionality already present in some way in existing Enterprise 2.0 solutions. While the first group is not so important for market development, the second one could pose a real <b>threat to the competitive environment and lead to serious misunderstandings in the future</b>.<br /><br />Product development requires continuous tracking of technology improvements in the industry. At Bitrix, we carefully follow other intranet products’ functions & features. This is not understandable, as it let us stay tuned to what is happening in the industry, evaluate the trends and provide our customers with solutions better reflecting current market demand. And, of course, it is essential to know where the competition is in order to stay a step ahead of them. <br /><br />I admit my "patent-lawyer-ese" is not good enough to understand the real meaning of the technologies described in the reviewed patents and requires a specilized dictionary. But I cannot stop thinking that the patents actually <b>disguise the commonly adopted practices</b> already presented in existing products or something that general that can be applied to virtually any technology to be developed in the future. <br /><br />A good example is the Vyew’s patent application entitled “System and method for a collaborative web-based multimedia layered platform with recording and selective playback of content”, which "illustrates an example of synchronizing and annotation of a drawing in a shared space through various input devices in accordance with an embodiment of the invention". If you are lucky to make it through this description unharmed, you could easily come to the conclusion that it can be applied to <b>virtually any multimedia feature</b> in intranet portals.<br /><br />Another example is OpenText’s ‘LivePlaces’ patented technology that is nothing more than rich user profiles floridly named "peripheral vision", i.e. a central status repository showing everything in one's collaborative workspace.<br /><br />Modern patenting reminds me of marking off squares on the surface of the moon and putting flags on them to show who can own what plots some hundred years after. <b>Any motivation for any organization to build a spaceship and technologies for colonizing the moon?</b><br /><br />Well, yes, we live in a cruel world. The world where “greed is good, greed works”.  A world that legalizes the ownership of future development by entities that have have pushy lawyers on hand and can afford investing money in the future patent wars. I doubt these patents are for actual product development but rather for increasing stock value and safeguarding patent security. <br /><br />I absolutely agree with Alexander’s response to one of the patents: <i>“You be the judge of whether this stuff is obvious from prior art. That's not really the point. (Because while it might be a point of law, it's not always an impediment to obtaining a patent, and only comes out, if at all, in the litigation wash afterwards.)”.</i> I am not a GNU fan, but I believe the modern patenting approach should definitely change, giving future development a fair chance and protecting software developers.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/unleashed/2075.php">More...</a>]]></description>
      <link>http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/unleashed/2075.php</link>
      <guid>http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/unleashed/2075.php</guid>
      <pubDate>Mon, 09 Aug 2010 18:10:32 +0400</pubDate>
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      <title>Denis Zenkin: Is Intranet Security a Myth?</title>
      <description><![CDATA[<b>Definitely not. But its press coverage may make one think so.</b><br /><br />Recently I was asked to produce an article about intranet security for an authoritative US magazine. I am far from being a newbie on the market and have a fair amount of first-hand knowledge about the extent to which <b>vendors neglect integrating security</b> features in their products, letting customers fend for themselves among third-party solutions. However, it was really amazing to discover how <b>little coverage</b> intranet security receives in media, on the web and in professional communities.<br /><br />Alex Manchester from <a href='http://www.steptwo.com.au/' target='_blank'>Step Two Designs</a>  quickly summarized my request to the Intranet Professionals group in LinkedIn: “I'd be very surprised, but also very interested, to see any responses to this.” As you may have guessed, I got a plain zero result concerning valuable information about intranet security statistics and best practices.<br /><br />Most of the sources I found on the web were <b>outdated security tips</b> with no particular focus on intranets. What useful information was there? Well, yes, you must use a firewall, properly set up access rights, implement a security policy, etc. The advice was simply things one can actually get from numerous general security overviews but with <b>little help</b> for developing an effective intranet security system. <br /><br />I trust the Bitrix white paper <a href='http://www.bitrixsoft.com/download/files/Bitrix_Security_2010_White_Paper.pdf' target='_blank'>“Web security is within your reach: 10 ways to keep hackers in check and ensure safe web resources”</a> created by Marsel Nizam could be considered among the <b>best sources</b> of expert advice outlining the common approaches to secure websites and intranets.<br /><br />The other jaw-dropping fact is that there are absolutely <b>no reports</b> focusing on this issue. I spend several hours browsing the web trying to get at least some facts and figures. No stats at all. <br /><br />Perhaps, it would be a good idea for the <b>Enterprise 2.0 community to make up its mind and do some research</b>? As it requires input from as many sources as possible, vendors and consultants may join their efforts in gathering statistics from around the globe and get relevant results. <br /><br /><i>Any interested parties are kindly requested to contact me at dz at bitrixsoft dot com to discuss this initiative.</i><br /><br /><a href="http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/unleashed/2062.php">More...</a>]]></description>
      <link>http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/unleashed/2062.php</link>
      <guid>http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/unleashed/2062.php</guid>
      <pubDate>Wed, 04 Aug 2010 11:09:54 +0400</pubDate>
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      <title>Denis Zenkin: Generation Y: Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition</title>
      <description><![CDATA[<img src="/upload/blog/66d/baby1.gif" title="" alt="" width="68" height="100" /><br />In his recent <a href='http://blogs.hbr.org/hbr/mcafee/2010/07/millennials-wont-change-work-w.html' target='_blank'>column in The Harvard Business Review</a>, Enterprise 2.0 guru Andrew McAfee raised a vital issue about Generation Y and their opportunity to <b>revolutionize the future landscape of a workplace</b>. Mr. McAfee then immediately suffered an onslaught of really hard questioning as a hot discussion broke out in the comments section. <br /><br />The range of presented opinions was quite wide with some people arguing for Gen Y, some against and some preferring to stay neutral. However, Andrew and the majority of the audience concluded that “it’s safe to assume that the workplace will change them more than the reverse.”<br /><br />I find it irresistible to express my vision of what Enterprise 2.0, and true social enablement, will lead to, as the borders among companies, consultants, partners, contractors, and even clients continue to fade.<br /><br />Established corporate environments <b>definitely mold new employees to a fair degree</b>, forcing them to <b>adjust their preferences</b> and style of work to conform to the adopted rules and procedures. This will definitely result in a tough clash between conservative and liberal powers, perhaps resembling teenage rebellion. The most ambitious and passionate persons will <b>refuse to conform to the ‘backward’ state of affairs</b>, fleeing and gathering around into more compatible companies and businesses. <br /><br />This will inevitably lead to <b>antagonism between the two HR-models</b>, the ‘Y’ one being more successful in launching new ideas and technologies. The Ys will be quicker and more relevant in decision making, <b>instinctively  understanding market demand</b> by virtue of being ‘kindred spirits’ with the target audience. I am pretty sure that we will have the pleasure of seeing the competition switch from vendor-based companies to generation-based. The question “what do you do” is doomed to transform into “are you one of us?”. Sounds like truly an inquisition! <img src="http://www.bitrixsoft.com/bitrix/images/blog/smile/icon_smile.gif" border="0" alt="smile:)" title="" /><br /><br />In fact, this trend has <b>already started</b> as we see Millennials very successful in new technologies. Sometimes they even succeed in growing into large multinationals like Google without significantly transforming their workplace approach or being swallowed by the Big Fish. <br /><br />As time passes, the new model will strengthen its pressure and ‘backward’ organizations will leave the quotation marks behind, progressively stepping aside and conceding the market to more aggressive and customer-oriented businesses led by the youngsters. <br /><br />I trust large organizations understand these generation gap opportunities/threats and the evolving Enterprise 2.0/social media adoption clearly illustrates the shift in workplaces. ‘Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition’ is not the case here anymore. <b>Businesses are aware and already moving forward to take advantage of the young employees</b>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/unleashed/2061.php">More...</a>]]></description>
      <link>http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/unleashed/2061.php</link>
      <guid>http://www.bitrixsoft.com/company/blog/unleashed/2061.php</guid>
      <pubDate>Tue, 03 Aug 2010 11:50:29 +0400</pubDate>
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