Surely one of the coolest and most talked-about events at last week’s Enterprise 2.0 conference in San Francisco was the demo of Google (Nasdaq: GOOG)’s new collaboration platform, Google Wave, during Wednesday morning’s plenary session.
But is this ingenious real-time collaboration environment too clever for its own good?
There’s no denying the wow-factor of Google Wave. It brings together the best elements of instant messaging, social networking, and digital whiteboarding to create an online conversation space for business. People can bring information, application data, and rich media content together seamlessly by dragging them into the Wave discussion panel.
This was especially impressive when Google demonstrated how it was possible to bring SAP business objects into the Wave environment as visual representations of processes. Participants in the Wave conversation could discuss and interact with the process diagram, adding to it or correcting the work of their colleagues, while defining a workflow for a common task -- for instance, a mortgage loan approval process.
The juxtaposition between SAP’s structured view of everything and Google’s radical, freewheeling approach to collaboration was a bit jarring, but the demo made its point. Underneath Wave’s pretty interface is a robust platform for integrating disparate application data in a true collaborative environment.
By the end of the presentation, it was clear Google had hit the sweet spot for this particular crowd of social computing gurus and early adopters. The functionality and contextual nature of Google Wave satisfied many of the concerns and requirements that analysts had been articulating around enterprise collaboration for more than a decade.
But to me, the real question about Google Wave is not its technical excellence, but its practical path forward in the enterprise. It reminded me of one of those rock bands tagged as a “critic’s favorite” that nevertheless never quite catches on with the general public.
That’s because Google Wave doesn’t simply augment and improve the way people work: It reinvents work processes fundamentally. To take advantage of all the cool capabilities of Wave’s real-time collaboration environment, you really have to live in Google’s mindspace. You have to embrace the idea of sharing and collaboration at the very center of the work process, and allow the values of organizational productivity to completely subsume the individual work product. How many people work like that?
Google says it’s been using Wave internally for months to great effect, and I don’t doubt it. Smart young innovative companies that thrive on disruption and have cultures that encourage an aggressive competition of new ideas will love, Love, LOVE Google Wave, in the same way that college radio stations love wry and jagged alternative music.
Will Wave break through to the “Top 40” world that most businesses inhabit? That depends largely on its fervent enthusiasts.
People gained familiarity with social computing tools and technologies on the consumer Web first, then brought those skills with them to work. As far as I know, there is no analog to Google Wave on the consumer side. No one will come to work knowing how it works or what to use it for.
Google Wave strikes me as posing a vexing training challenge: It’s too superficially simple and too profoundly complex. It has to spread through mimetic adoption, where someone sees a colleague doing something and figures out for themselves how to use that feature in their own work scenario. And because it’s collaborative, you need a critical mass of users before it’s really worth adopting.
So where do the early adopters come from? And how do they spread their knowledge? And how does that critical mass build? Unlike other big collaboration vendors, Google doesn’t already live in corporate data centers, and its productivity tools don’t live on many enterprise desktops. There’s no built-in constituency to leverage in the uphill battle toward adopting an unfamiliar and disruptive new tool.
Given the thought that went into the design of the product, maybe Google has cracked this nut as well. It wouldn’t be the first time they’ve outsmarted the market.
But if Wave crashes, that won’t surprise me, either. It also wouldn’t be the first time the cleverest kids in school outsmarted themselves.
Google is one of the leading companies which could never be missed out when we speak of innovation. They were always on pursuit of the latest technology innovation thus this is one of the so called successful company which is globally competitive. Newest technology breakthrough always came from Google. Anyway with regard to financial issue have you heard the newest mortgage term? Mortgage companies, banks, and other real estate loan lendershave begun offering a 40 year mortgage option. On paper, they offer lower monthly payments –but the borrower pays far more in interest than on a 30 year loan. So if a person thinks that a little extra money per month, amounting to little more than enough for a trip to the movies a month, is that worth it rather than not shelling out an additional $50,000 or more on interest for a mortgage.
Its true that handling wave is a piece of cake for most techies present here, but it might not be the same for the corporate world indulged in commerce. There are people who still struggle to find a place for Wave in their life. But wasn't it the same during the introduction of the internet or the email which Wave intends to replace?
Not all companies from the early 90's agreed with the idea of spending a share of their profit on creating a www.company.com of theirs. But eventually we entered an age of Web 2.0 where our favorite bakers have their websites. The success of Wave solely depends on the adaptability of the majority with the new technology.
The current preview structure of Wave is a bit complex, though some changes can make it as simple as a web-based email, and still as efficient as Wave itself. Well, I believe that Google will work upon the simplicity soon.
I have invited you. Keep in mind it probably won't show up right away. Google Wave said:
Invite others to Google Wave
Google Wave is more fun when you have others to wave with, so please nominate people you would like to add. Keep in mind that this is a preview so it could be a bit rocky at times.
Invitations will not be sent immediately. We have a lot of stamps to lick.
". . . Otherwise you'll find yourself looking back, repeating the depressing mantra: "those were the days!". Sorry but the days are NOW."
I completely agree with you. Here and now is the one only moment that counts. Innovation is another key word that can't be forgotten. Good quote!
"The day you stop learning is the day you die." -> Once I met a neurologist who was very keen on learning new things. He was learning a new language, how to use his computer more efficiently, he was an avid reader and one of the most interesting persons whom to talk with I have met in my life. He was a great philosopher too and at the time I met him he was also studying Legal Medicine. He loved knowledge and enjoyed learning new things. He used to say that it's by learning new things how the brain cells keep active and young and that that was one of the secrets of having a young and active brain: keeping the brain cells busy. He was 85 and a great inspiration to keep this quote alive.
When reading about your experience with Wave I get more excited about it. I will be waiting for the invite, if you remember. :)
"I don't know who to attribute this to as I heard various renditions of it, "The day you stop learning is the day you die."
- I did some searching for this for a good 10 minutes and it seems everything that came up for attributing the quote was "Unknown". I fully agree with you, and of course that individual who originally came up with that quote.
Here's another one (more of a mantra) that I enjoy:
"Innovate or die"
Those of us online had better stay on top of new technologies by seemingly innovative companies, even if they seem futile or uninteresting. Otherwise you'll find yourself looking back, repeating the depressing mantra: "those were the days!". Sorry but the days are NOW.
I finally got more use out of Google Wave today. I added a group of people to a public, and then to a private conversation. Posted some pictures and played with the fonts. Nothing spectacular, but it was fun to see what else I can do on The Wave. ;-)
The first from Charles Darwin, "An organism when confronted by a change in its environment has three options: adapt, migrate or die."
I don't know who to attribute this to as I heard various renditions of it, "The day you stop learning is the day you die."
There are a lot of technologies that may not apply to us individually. Since I live in an area that has a lot of water, desalination technology doesn't apply to me. That doesn't make it a fad, or crazy science it's just not applicable to me. I get a lot of snow, snowblower technology means a lot to me. It wouldn't be applicable to someone in Mexico City.
Google Wave is a technology that will either apply to you or it won't. I've seen Twitter bashing on this board. I took a youth group on a 1000 mile journey this last summer, Twitter worked real well for us. One text message and every parent that cared to subscribe knew where we were.
If the tech doesn't apply to you don't bash it, just move on to the next thread.
"It's good to hear a positive opinion on the potential of Google Wave. As everything else, it takes a little time to adapt to changes and learn about something new. Isn't that what evolution is all about?"
I couldn't agree more! They will be adding new features and working out the bugs - people shouldn't be so quick to judge. Had Google not launched Wave as a beta some of the same people complaining about its lack of useability would be complaining that "Google is a terrible company for not launching this soon enough!". Some people simply cannot be pleased when they're stuck in their comfortable little community bubble called Facebook.
"Is this what you've seen? --> http://wave.google.com/help/wave/about.html#video"
Yup, it sure was!
"Everything depends on what you do with the Wave or what you want it for. It will serve to some people's purposes and it will be useless to others, probably."
- Agreed. I plan to use it mostly for testing out with friends and colleagues and for connecting with business customers... I have found little useful with Linkedin and my customers so perhaps this could be a positive opportunity.
"I am still waiting to have a Wave account, Nathan. I can tell more about the experience then. So far it's all based on theory, but I do like it and I am also confident in its potential."
- Susan, as soon as I get invitation privileges (if I remember) I will send you an invitation. :-)
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