Professional 2.0

Recently, I have been testing a range of free collaboration tools (Microsoft's Shared View (public wait list), Live Messenger, Google Docs, Yugma, Skype and Unyte). I have also previously used paid services such as Webex, Live Meeting and Adobe Connect.

I have found the three critical aspects needed for a good online meeting with say 4 attendees to be:

1. Crystal clear audio and reliable voice communications
2. The ability to webcam with everyone at the start of a call and for key discussion points
3. A flexible content collaboration tool that can be used for presenting, editing and joint brainstorming

Whilst many free tools meet some of these challenges, few get close to a complete solution. And when you try to use a mix of tools then bandwidth needs rise and the ability of each tool to manage available bandwidth fails!

On the basis that one of the participants may have limited bandwidth - say 500 effective kbps- then I have found it unrealistic to try and run Voip, Webcams and Content sharing at the same time.

To overcome the bandwidth constraint, my recent online meetings have tended to reserve bandwidth for content collaboration and support calls with audio conferencing being provided by a dial up service (for the UK) like www.all-call.com.

We still have a little way to go before bandwidth and services is ubiquitous!

Office Live Small Business was upgraded yesterday by Microsoft. The entry level service is now free and greatly enhanced with the addition of business applications modules alongside a free domain and on-line web site design service.

Individuals and small professional service networks now have access to a powerful online tool that provides both a public facing web site and a secure password protected email, document management, applications and online marketing space that can be accessed from a browser. With support for the Firefox web browser the service is also now accessible by clients, associates and colleagues who may be on a Mac so is likely to attract a lot of interest from marketing and design professionals.

The service works easily alongside Office Live Workspaces (wait list in the UK)  - an online space for sharing personal documents and data lists. It is also now integrated with Shared View - Microsoft's online collaboration and screen sharing tool.

Whilst their are many browser based solutions for web site design, emarketing, contact management, document management and online collaboration, none are currently as comprehensive as Office Live Small Business.

With the added option to access a range of standard business applications (e.g. project manager) for free or invest in building or buying your own custom applications, this is great step forward for the professional looking for a simple and cost-effective solution to work online.

Would it speed up the provision of Professional 2.0 services?

Sure does. Microsoft gains access to Yahoo's content and community services (News, Video + Yahoo Groups , Yahoo Answers) and many professionals using Yahoo's Small Business services. Content and Community are critical parts of social network solutions based around Web 2.0 and will be key to online professional's networks. Yahoo gets access to Microsoft's strong profile in the professional services segment (Windows + Office software + Office Accounting 2008)  and can use its capabilities in online services, content and community to strengthen the Microsoft Live offering. Together, they could provide the Professional 2.0 type services that currently exist in a fragmented market.

So what could happen to the Professional 2.0 services they provide today?

Whilst Yahoo provides strong search, webmail, messenger and content services (flickr and delicious), it does not have a online website development and workspace/application service like Office Live. Yahoo does have depth however in its Small Business website software and services that would enhance an Office Live offering. Also, having acquired Zimbra, an excellent messaging and collaboration solution, these services could be integrated into Office Live to make it a complete solution for the the online professional.

Together, there is the potential to create a Professional 2.0 offering which combines WebPresence (Site+Blog) , Collaboration, Business Services and Community.

In developing web2consultant.com (my Professional 2.0 website) I have used a wide range of (mostly) free Web 2.0 tools. These may be gadgets / widgets that can be easily embedded using copy and paste functions as HTML code on a web page, services that can be accessed in the browser, software or a combination of two or more of these elements.

Whilst many of these tools are primarily targeted at consumers / non business groups, their features are often ideal for what an online professional needs.

I have set up a Toolbox section on web2consultant.com to showcase these tools "in action" together with brief overviews of their key features and relevant set up tasks.

So far, I have showcased around 20 tools related to the following areas:-

• Attract Visitors
• Publish Content
• Engage Visitors
• Interact Online

Each of these tools gives the online professional the capability to extend and make more effective their online capabilities.

Take a look around the Toolbox and rate / recommend the great Web 2.0 tools you use.

One of the key aspects of Web 2.0 that will have a major impact on professional services is the advent of "software as a service" solutions that allow individuals to access easy to use and functionally rich applications directly from the browser.

Today, typical browser based solutions for online professionals are as follows:

With only a sign-on id and password, an online professional can now access a range of powerful tools which do not need version upgrades, data back up or technical support.

In practice, I have found that power users can become frustrated by the response times and lack of functionality in online versions of email clients, Excel and Powerpoint equivalents. Another limitation can be the multiple sign-on IDs needed to work with a range of clients and colleagues in different technical / software environments.

Despite these factors, "software as a service" gives you considerable options on how to work with clients, stay up-to-date and access info quickly.

Increased bandwidth, better integration and consistent performance across different browsers will only add to the potential of these solutions and the advent of Professional 2.0

Intellectual Property (IP) and the ability to develop, monetise, protect and renew it lie at the heart of how valuable a Professional Services Firm / Individual can be. Firms protect the IP they have developed (methods, tools, software, etc) with clauses in engagement letters and contracts.

So what happens to all this IP when you move to web 2.0 and collaborate with others in forums, networks and communities? Well it depends on the Terms of Service that a particular site provides to you as you visit and participate.

Some like YouTube make it clear that while you retain ownership you effectively loose control over your IP in any content you post to Google + the YouTube user base and that it is your responsibility to make sure that you've not infringed anyone else's IP rights. "you retain all of your ownership rights in your User Submissions. However, by submitting User Submissions to YouTube, you hereby grant YouTube a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the User Submissions in connection with the YouTube Website......"

At the other extreme, many sites clearly display All Rights Reserved, Copyright or the © symbol. Whilst the legal status of these descriptors varies by country, under the Berne Convention, copyright for creative works does not actually have to be asserted / declared - they are automatically in force when the work is created by an individual or a Firm.

So what happens when we have mashups and communities that depend on sharing, re-use and re-mixing? Enter the world of Creative Commons - a set of standard licenses that a Firm / Individual can select from to grant permission as they see fit.

With this mind, as an online professional, some of the questions you need to think about are..

• Which elements of your site / blog are covered by which type of license?
• Would your activities benefit from letting others re-use your content?
• Have you chosen the right license for a particular piece of content?
• How to publish content which is a mix of All Rights Reserved and Some Rights Reserved?
• What do you include in your Terms of Service?
• Are you happy with the Terms of Service of the communities you participate in?

Yes  - we will have to rethink a few things!

p.s. The tagline is borrowed from Michael Wesch's great video on Web 2.0. Although it is hosted on Google, I have Michael's permission to re-use on my site (subject to the credits shown). IP 2.0 in action! If you've not seen it yet you are missing something.

The tools and services available to help you be an on-line professional are extremely powerful and flexible - although they can take a little time to get familiar with. This power and flexibility combined with continuous updates creates a real learning challenge for professionals used to a relatively fixed working environment. In addition, the many generations that make up the knowledge worker population have been exposed to very different sets of technology developments. At one extreme, individuals have just got to grips with email and a browser - at the other is the Myspace, widget, click it and see what works generation!

From my time with Web2Consultant, my take on the key IT related Skills needed to be an on-line professional are as follows:

This list may be quite a challenge for the professional used to being provided with a secretary, a telephone and a dictation machine!

Let me know which of these you'd like more info on and I will cover in future blogs.

A mass of different collaboration and communication tools exist today to support the on-line professional. Individuals and virtual teams can communicate on-line through email, IM, web chat, VoiP and webcam. There are in fact so many channels that maintaining a master contact list is a real challenge even if you stay tuned to just one device! The term Unified Communications is now being used by Microsoft to describe this multitude of means to interact and the functions needed to allow seamless usage of contact and other key communication functions like on-line presence indicators to show if you are available to talk /chat, etc.

At the same time, collaboration tools that provide on-line document / application sharing, slide shows, team wikis, workspaces, sharing bookmarks and other information sharing functions (e.g. giving control of your desktop / cursor to others) are now available to all who are prepared to invest a little time in their personal technology training. Two examples - Skype users can try the Unyte add-on under Tools / Do More or you can try Microsoft's Shared View beta, part of their free WIndows Live and Messenger services.  

The real challenge for professionals is to choose the right tools for the right context so that you can quickly move from divergent ideas to convergent discussions about the merits of options 1, 2 or 3. These really are new Professional 2.0 skills

In my first post on this blog, I explained how the concept of Professional 2.0 included the key aspect of on-line presence.

And by presence, I mean all the Web 2.0 tools and services that can be used to let a professional show their expertise, availability, credibility and credentials to an on-line world. It also means taking direct responsibility for these elements rather than leaving them to out-of-date brochures and other proposal documents produced by someone else. This entry will cover these key elements of a professional on-line presence using a few examples from my personal web site and other links.

A multitude of user-driven tools now exist to let professionals present their expertise on personal web sites and blogs. As well as rich interactive text with relevant pictures / links, professionals can use podcasts to let potential clients listen to past presentations, slide shows to explain key concepts, video hosting sites for a full conference experience and even live webcam feeds for a real-time web conference. See the slide show using pictures I have on my personal web site for an example of what takes about 10 mins to put together.

In the area of availability, on-line presence indicators from Skype can show if you are on-line, busy or back in a few minutes and you can also share your diary on-line with some/all contacts to make sure that key meetings are arranged quickly. You can even include a web chat service like Meebo to let possible clients make contact with you directly via your web site before sharing contact details. See my make contact page for how these tools look and work in practice.

And if a client wants to stay in touch with what your latest thoughts and ideas are, they can access your blog entries through RSS feeds so your latest input is in their browser favorites (IE7) or even a folder in the latest versions of Outlook.

To make progress on the above, professionals will have to come to terms with new ways of presenting their ideas and insights in an on-line world, learn a few new techno skills and make the transition from text to text plus pictures, sound and motion.

But the potential benefits are significant

- a wider audience to showcase your expertise to

- a better forum in which to outline complex concepts, and

- a way to build credibility in major topics by being thought leaders not followers.

Most requests for help from clients currently begin with a face to face meeting where a detailed description of a client's problem / issue is explained, followed by follow up calls and emails. Taking what are often pre-defined perceptions of the issue, the approach needed and even maybe possible solutions, the professional responds with a classic proposal letter.

Working as a professional in a Web 2.0 world is very different.

Using on-line collaboration tools like desktop sharing and cursor control, proposal discussions are more creative and dynamic. With the real-time exchange of ideas, examples and other information in a rich user environment, the context of a problem / issue is constantly challenged and refined.

Dialogue is expanded into new areas of discussion and by beginning to work together on the issue, the client gains a real appreciation of whether or not the professional concerned really can provide the assistance needed.

The result - better context, more creative input earlier in the process and a real chance for professionals to show clients how they can provide the assistance needed - in summary Professional 2.0.