ReadWriteEnterprise

SnapLogic has launched its "snap" store - a service that uses a RESTful architecture to integrate third-party applications into enterprise environments.

A RESTful architecture allows companies to leverage light weight, web oriented architectures to bring data in from any source.

How do you connect to Twitter and understand its value and performance? That's part of the challenge for any enterprise considering how to adopt social technologies to connect with customers.

This week at Sugarcon we heard a lot about how to manage a social CRM envrionment. Increasingly, companies are turning to API's for integrating third-party applications like Twitter to better connect and interact with customers.

For the past few days, we attended SAS and SugarCRM user conferences in Seattle and San Francisco. These are just a few of the observations that comes from conversations with developers, business managers, product managers, entrepreneurs and executive management.

At both companies, you see the influence of social technologies in the discussions and what their partners are offering.

With this social wave comes a variety of new methods to crack the biggest nut: "The most effective way to organize, discover and share information." We've been pounding on that last issue for the past week. We have numerous examples for how web applications can be aggregated into environments like SugarCRM but its the complexity of organizing that data which becomes the biggest challenge.

Sugar CRM is launching a new user interface as part of Sugar 6. It comes with a focus on what is becoming a prerequisite: an emphasis on speed, search and deeper integration with third party applications and mobile devices.

The speed issue is one that SaaS providers always seek to mitigate as they want the service to seem as responsive as if it were worked on the desktop.

SAS introduced a social media analytics program today that will compete against the major metrics players such as Radian 6 and WebTrends. The new service shows once again how blogs and social networks are deeply influencing marketing, customer support and product groups within the enterprise.

The SAS Social Media analytics service is different than many of the social technologies we look at in our coverage. It's a hosted service that SAS builds for the client. The client develops the parameters for what they want to analyze. Rules are established that then server as the framework. Results are viewed through a web page that SAS sets up for the client.

Google Docs now includes co-editing features, similar to Google Wave. The feature is one of several new updates to Google Docs that includes faster online access to documents and better formatting.

The new features provide capabilities that enhance Google Docs on platforms such as the desktop or laptop. But the stark difference between apps and traditionally crafted web pages is evident as Google seeks the best way to present Google Docs on mobile devices.

The enterprise may now have what they have wanted for the iPhone. But now they have to decide if such a locked down device is control they want secede to Apple

We expect that Apple's tight control over its hardware, software and content will not stop an enterprise from purchasing the device. But it may cause some to pause and consider a smartphone with the Android OS - built on an open-source model with many of the same enterprise features that will come with the iPhone OS 4.

In our post last week, we spoke with Ken Westin, CEO of ActiveTrak, who said the iPhone OS lacked multi-processing, SSL VPN, an and relied too much on MobileMe, making it troublesome for IT administrators. ActiveTrak allows for devices to be tracked if lost or stolen.

A Google executive told an audience of managers from several federal agencies yesterday that they should expect Google Buzz to be in their enterprise GMail accounts within the next few months.

This is the first time sine the launch that we have heard a public statement about Google Buzz entering the enterprise. It comes as Google Buzz asked users once again again to double-check that Buzz is set up just the way they like it.

Dion Hinchcliffe announced this morning the sales of his successful practice to the Dachis Group, one of the largest services organizations in the field, focused on building social technologies in the enterprise.

In recent months, the advent of social technologies catered to the enterprise has shifted into high gear. Hinchcliffe said in an interview yesterday that the opportunities presented to Hinchcliffe & Company have scaled in the past few months.The Dachis Group will help meet those opportunities.

The App store for iPad is live and it includes a number of apps for business use.It's a mixed bag, with media publications alongside apps from Cisco, LinekdIn and Box.net.

We got a demo of the Box.net app, and it provides a glimpse into how the iPad changes the customer experience, compared to the iPhone or a laptop.