JotSpot to Spawn Google Sites - Can it Make Intranet CMS Dinosaurs Extinct?
A well linked to post over the weekend was Andrew Miller's notes on a Google Apps presentation. The main presenter was Scott Johnston, former VP of Product Development at JotSpot - one of my favorite Web Office apps that was acquired just over a year ago by Google, but has yet to be turned into a Google Apps product. Well apparently JotSpot is being integrated, according to Miller's notes.
JotSpot is/was a very flexible wiki-based product, which had spreadsheeting and other office functionality. Miller reported that it will spawn "Google Sites" in 2008, which "will expand upon the Google Page Creator already offered within Apps." It will be based on JotSpot collaboration tools and will allow businesses to set up intranets, project management tracking, customer extranets, and "any number of custom sites based on multi-user collaboration."
This sounds like an ambitious product and one that may potentially crack open a lucrative market in businesses: intranets and extranets.
For a long time the cash cow of large and complex CMS (content management systems) like Interwoven and Vignette, intranets have been crying out for a web-based collaboration makeover. Blogs, wikis, start pages have all been tried before, but all fell short due to security and workflow issues. So on the one hand you had too much complexity (Vignette et al), but on the other too much simplicity (blogs, wikis).
Perhaps JotSpot is the product that can bridge the gap; and be the foundation of a true collaborative intranet. They certainly have the product and brainpower behind it to pull off that vision.
I'm only speculating at this point, as we know virtually nothing about what Google is hatching - other than what Andrew reported. But it's very tempting to think that Google can 'solve' the long-standing corporate intranet problem!
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No doubt, an easy to use, affordable, immaculate and web 2 compliance CMS is needed for the end customer and it seems JotSpot and Google are determined to bring that desired system on-board soon!
Posted by: market research company | December 3, 2007 3:32 AM
The company intranet/extranet is no doubt ready to be nuked. Most companies look at their Intranets, their CMS, Sharepoint, etc and shake their head in comparison to the ease and functionality they find in the consumer space. Intranets never delivered as the collaborative nucleus they were pitched as in the 1990s. We certainly have clients ripping them out in favor for our products.
That said, the requirements are vastly different in this part of a company. It's one thing to offer companies lightweight "Microsoft Office" and quite another to wrap all of this up into a single environment (and if Google Intranet is the North star, we're all in trouble).
Beyond the full collaborative feature-set required, most companies need you to marry with a lot of their current systems and home-grown code. And then there's the deep security, permission, and performance requirements. Not to mention an entire department that will want the code on premises.
I'll be interested to see how Google can pull all those things together with the Jotspot wiki. Especially for larger companies.
Posted by: Sam Lawrence | December 3, 2007 5:22 AM
I love it. I was just about to point out that Jive Software has been fighting this fight for some time now when I realized that Sam beat me to the punch this morning. What time is it in Portland, Sam? :)
If RW/W readers aren't familiar with Jive's work, particularly Clearspace X, I encourage everyone to have a look. We have been using Clearspace X for only a few months now and are already seeing tremendous benefits for our internal and external communities. The application offers a level of simplicity that is most commonly seen in the consumer space while also meeting the must-have requirements for the business community.
The biggest single question mark for these types of applications seems to be whether or not a simple, web-based tool for content creation and management can break into a heavily-regulated, corporate environment such as a bank or insurance firm. Quite rightly, these organizations come with extremely inflexible and serious requirements for corporate records management, content retention, risk management, auditing and corporate good governance.
Creating a fun, light and easy-to-use web tool for content creation and collaboration is one thing. Making it fit into this inescapable corporate reality is another.
Posted by: Dave Slimmon | December 3, 2007 6:34 AM
I think google will make it happen
Posted by: Maplist | December 3, 2007 9:13 AM
After what happened with SalesForce, I don't see serious Enterprise customers trusting their most sensitive data to 3rd party handlers. There is a serious risk for adding your content to a pool of sensitive content. If you were a hacker, would you target a single company, or a 3rd party supplier for thousands of companies?
Posted by: Justin Kistner | December 3, 2007 9:53 AM
Richard,
This is helpful information, but your blindspot is showing. How could you write this: "So on the one hand you had too much complexity (Vignette et al), but on the other too much simplicity (blogs, wikis)" -- as though SharePoint doesn't exist? JotSpot/Google will be a tough challenger but SharePoint owns this intermediate space today. Are you completely unaware of what is actually going on in most business environments?
This omission aside, Read/WriteWeb is generally an excellent tech blog.
Posted by: Michael Cullina | December 3, 2007 10:37 AM
Michael, I did overlook SharePoint -- but I've always found it to be overly complex too.
And fyi I am very familiar with the business web environment, having worked as a web manager for a number of years (managing intranets and internet sites for corporates).
Posted by: Richard MacManus | December 3, 2007 11:33 AM
Michael,
Do you see the et al after Vignette? That means and others. You know, like SharePoint. Just thought you would like to know.
Posted by: John Galt | December 3, 2007 12:02 PM
I'm not going to be chest-pounding and snarky about the possibility that GotSpoogle (JotSpot + Google) is encroaching right up on our turf ( our = BricaBox.com ). It kinda scares me a little bit. Of course it would!
Posted by: Nate Westheimer | December 3, 2007 4:54 PM
Google will make it happen and they'll make it big.
It amazes me how great Google apps are.
Adam
Posted by: Pick Up Artist 4 Life | December 3, 2007 5:48 PM
Surprisingly I am reading a second entry towards the coming of Enterprise 2.0
Joe McKendrick, on ZDNet discusses the adoption of Facebook as he intranet by a corporate.
Posted by: Rohit Rai | December 3, 2007 7:07 PM
@Rohit, enterprise2 has been here for some time and jostling to be the sharp end of Web2 ( I am so sick of typing the extra .0)
look up serena software, they use fb as a quasi-intranet, ad they pioneered the idea of "Facebook Fridays"
Posted by: Derek | December 3, 2007 10:33 PM
The last thing I want is for my internal clients making intranet pages. They dont care about size, functionality, usability & speed. Even facebook with a restricted design still gets overloaded with information. Most facebook profiles are overloaded with applications.
Most of my internal clients think that making the font at least 72pt means that people will read it. When in fact its rather difficult to read something at that size.
While there are some clients who do get it, most don't. You will need a specialist to design the communication of information to get the best results. Even then I've have come across horrendous designs by designers.
However, I can see it might be useful in an enclosed team environment as a dumbed down wiki. But whats wrong with using folders with security settings, you can browse images and documents using your explorer window? Im sure they can make this more interactive over time. Oh wait, pretty sure OS X Leopard does this!
People just don't know how to use what they have!
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Posted by: personal loans | December 25, 2007 6:04 PM
They better launch this new product at the beginning of 2008, since apart from e-mail, I find Google Apps pretty lackluster. Google Page Creator, which hopefully will be fully replaced by JotSpot app, is especially lackluster!
Posted by: Mindaugas | December 26, 2007 11:03 PM