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RE: Microsoft moves its Chatter-like OfficeTalk toward commercialization

MikeJWalker 1st Feb 2011

Hi MJ,
Check out a post that I wrote on this topic that contrasts a solution simular to OfficeTalk by a Micrsosoft partner. The same points generally applies in this case.

http://www.mikethearchitect.com/2010/12/enterprise-social-player-emerge-with-differentiators.html

Here is a snippit:
What is really great about this technology over SalesForce.com?s offering are these core differentiators:

Potential ? This is by far the most important aspect here. The potential of integrating a range of solutions rather than just one primarily is a huge differentiator. The information is king, not the enabling technologies. So if there are cloud platforms that lock you into just there information sets and not others it demishes the potential greatly. So solutions that embrace multiple information sets by other vendors like Microsoft will prevail.
Platform Independence ? I have the freedom to choose which platform I want to make social. Combination of vendors, platforms and repositories on premise or cloud based can be chosen. Just like with development technologies, we live in a hybrid world of a variety of different solution enabled technologies. While companies could make big bets on CRM solutions in the cloud we have to ask ourselves if we are going to put all of our socially aware capable solutions there? If not (and I believe this is the case), then we should chose solutions like Pulse that deliver that platform independence.
Avoidance of Vendor & Platform Lock-In ? With technologies like Chatter, you are locked-in to the Force.com platform. While you can integrate to it there is a great deal of flexibility that is lost. Additionally, if one day your organization chooses to move on to the next big technology solution that replaces this capability your feeds, functionality and data are locked in Chatter. Salesforce does have API?s to retrieve the raw data but context and all the application logic you have built will be lost.
Total Cost of Ownership ? Investment for a solution like Pulse is significantly lower if enabled across the enterprise and solutions. I don?t have to make a enterprise license agreement with one vendor to see the benefits of making my enterprise socially aware. This can be a multimillion dollar investment for an organization and is a tough sell for social capabilities, especially if it is the first foray into social.
Salesforce Inclusive Partnerships ? Salesforce just doesn?t have much love for Microsoft or any other vendor not part of the Salesforce buddy system. While this isn?t a reason not to choose a vendor it should be a strong warning sign. Like it or not Microsoft owns the enterprise productivity desktop market today. I can?t count how many business folks I talk to that live by Excel, Word and PowerPoint. As a vendor with such large potential impact on companies it is their ethical responsibility to be aware of this and to reduce the loss of productivity by acknowledging solutions in the MSFT productivity stake and not working against it.
In my mind those are the primary differentiators that really make this solution exciting. This post isn?t to do a formal comparison or to disprove the merits of the Chatter solution but rather highlight new solutions and their unique value proposition in making solutions socially aware.

Thanks!
Mike Walker