Microsofts Development of Social Computing Products - Essay Example

Microsoft’s Development of Social Computing Products Name Institution Instructor Course Date Microsoft’s Development of Social Computing Products Since the early years of 2000, social computing has proved to be one of the most dynamic and innovative trends of web. Wikis, blog, micro-blogging, social networks as well as other activities usually engage people in collective activities through the internet (Foley, 2008). This has changed traditional business models and created new ecosystems of people. In other words, it has changed how people administer their daily activities and how they relate to others. Social computing capabilities are very central in the world we are living today which is characterized by global knowledge economy and new business ventures. Social computing can provide communication among people across very vast distances hence narrowing the geographical distance between them. This helps in creating a social capital upon which each and every business should participate effectively. The benefits of social computing as far as helping realization of goals of organization are many. One of them is that social computing provides a natural way of capturing and sharing tacit knowledge (Rosenberg, 2004). This aspect is very crucial for the continuity and competitiveness of any business. Other than that social computing helps in finding as well as engaging experts both from inside and outside the organization so as to generate ideas which can lead to the business growth and development. Social computing also helps attracting and retaining young talent through providing people with familiar infrastructure to make a perfect blend between work and life. The success of social computing normally depends more on the use of underlying technology. This includes well implemented social applications on the web or business are some of the ways of ensuring its success. While Frond-end design may be necessary factors as far as realization of social computing benefits is concerned, this may not be sufficient for any business to prosper. This is because businesses have got other concerns which go beyond the promotion of community and content creation. Very few consumer web 2.0 products have proven to meet these required criteria for successful social computing (Foley, 2008). This can be associated on the way such products are designed. While the world is rapidly moving towards embracing technology, it is quite saddening that some organizations are still living in the darkness as far as opening up to the world of technology is concerned. Such organizations would do any thing to ensure that they block the access to some social networks like facebook or twitter which are very common among the customers. This attribute can be seen attributed an attitude of not valuing input of technology in our day to day life. Microsoft Corp has not been left out when it comes to tapping in the new benefits that technology brings and its wide use in businesses (Butler, 2005). Its appreciates the fact that technology has become part and parcel of the world we live today and as a result, businesses have not been left out when designing products which could perfectly fit them and serve their needs. Microsoft Corp which is widely known for designing of software and general IT applications has come up with products to help in the social computing process. The Microsoft office systems and the Microsoft office sharepoint server are some of the applications-developments that Microsoft Corp has come up with to help in implementing the whole concept of social computing (Butler, 2005). This forms the platform for using developer techniques and tools so as to reduce the delivery time and costs of custom applications and integration. Microsoft Corp has configured and designed the underlying technologies in new ways so as to support the changes in the business requirements. This ensures that the company is able to deliver up to the expectations of their customers who in this case are the businesses. Other than that, the product design of the company mirrors developments in consumer Social Web, within the enterprise in line with evolution of business needs. The company designs the application to allow individual users to be able to personalize as well as customize their personal experiences without the use of any technical programming skills (Rosenberg, 2004). As a result, business groups can actually deploy and manage their social environment such as blogs, forums, Wikis, rich content services and communities without necessarily engaging an IT resource or support. This can be done as fast as possible to comply with the rapid changes in the business world hence end up saving much on time. Without these applications, People can actually manage their own privacy which is very critical when it comes to business. They also can share settings so as to balance professional work conduct, transparency and personal expression on a manner which is appropriate to their organizational culture and work style. For a more extensive integration, customers usually have unlimited access to global ecosystem of developers and partners who customize social computing solutions with the aim of meeting specific needs as well as integrating capabilities from other platforms or business systems into a SharePoint environment so as to ensure that there is a consistent experience for information workers. Microsoft normally delivers social computing technologies through core products which are in the company’s enterprise software portfolio. Thu is includes Microsoft Office Share Point Server, Windows Server and the Microsoft Office Systems (Foley, 2008). However, it is the central; mission of the company to embark on a continuous investment in developing these platforms. This is because the company appreciates the fact that the world of technology is rapidly moving and so are the businesses demands changing day by day. In order to remain relevant and highly competitive, the company should ensure that it invests heavily on development of its products to meet the changing demand of the clients. Customers input cannot be overlooked in the product development of the company. Their input on both consumer and enterprise sides of the global business normally inform the product map for the social computing (Weeden, 1998). This ensures that the capabilities evolve content to meet the needs of business leader, IT managers, information workers and consumers. The Company has implemented social computing as an integral part of business productivity as opposed to a separate silo of servers and application disconnected from other data center technologies. From the users’ perspective, it means that the social capabilities usually appear within the context of familiar environments such as Microsoft office systems application, SharePoint workspaces and desktop gadgets (Christian, 2010). Looking at it from an IT perspective, it means that they can be managed by the use of the same IT skills and administration tools as the Microsoft back-office products that the organization already owns such as windows Server, Active directory, Microsoft Sharepoint Server, directory service, Microsoft exchange server and Office communications server. One thing which is quite evident in the world of social computing is that new applications will continue emerge. Some will have very obvious business value while other may require ingenuity in order to apply to the business environment. Looking at it from a broader perspective, you will find that services which are delivered on the consumer Web will come and go or even change their features and terms based on various factors (Rosenberg, 2004). These factors may be beyond the control of even the largest business enterprises that use them as a substitute for internal systems. Most businesses therefore cannot actually afford to stay at the technology’s bleeding end. Enterprises which are seeking the benefits of social computing in order to support organizational productivity, knowledge transfer and other compelling scenario should be ready to look for a platform which is extensible by design with future enhancement roadmaps, which are developed and supported by an industry leader who is credible. Important to note is that there are computing products offering innovative capabilities to suit specific usage scenarios. However, each new set of practices come with additional cost and flexibility to the IT system and the user as much as it raises the entry cost of participation by an individual worker. These products may therefore not serve the intended purpose in the business world since it is the desire of any business enterprise to keep the operating costs at the minimum costs possible. The products designed by Microsoft Corp therefore stand out from the rest since the have proven to the very easy to use as well as cost effective. Microsoft prioritizes an integrated nature of the user experience in the filed of design of social computing solutions through making collaboration natural and fluid for people who are aware of the essential information in productivity software. Through that, businesses are able to reduce any form of disruptive friction associated with the implementation of new processes (Christian, 2010). To achieve this kind of consistency and integration is very critical in any work place where people exhibit varying degrees of familiarity with social computing tools and practices. When the Web2.0 application made a debut in early 2000, the first people to adopt millennial generation members who grew up with internet and who could comfortably embrace the rapid innovations coming along with such innovations (Foley, 2008). A few years later, this has changed and social computing is no monger seen as a reserve for a few. Its wide adoption rate has brought about a generation which understands that benefit of such a move and that is why a company like Microsoft Corp has not faced a lot of challenges in its business venture on social computing products. The social computing tools which Microsoft Corp has come up with function well because they try as much as possible to engage the user (Butler, 2005). For instance, the “publish to blog” or “ save to workplace” item which appears in the file menu of Microsoft Office Excel or Microsoft office Word may seem like just a simple features and yet it facilitates a continuous work process as opposed to forcing people to save ,open another application, change context and collaborate. Integrating social computing capabilities into Sharepoint workplaces through enabling wikis, blogs, RSS, interactive polling and rating as well as other features does not pose as a mere move of IT architecture but its rather a deliberate effort aimed at simplifying and contextualizing an set of complex capabilities of workforce which is already overwhelmed by the new demands of production, new data as well as new business challenges. Microsoft Corp has a very big vision for social computing and this is the main driving force behind its efforts to embark on constant products development. This vision so as to enable a full range of spontaneous and collaborative conversation around data, ideas, documents as well as project while at the same time maintaining the necessary framework of IT governance and business management (Christian, 2010). The company’s vision is grounded on four pillars which include, consistency and context for information workers manageability and integration for information technology Visibility and Governance for the business Scalability and extensibility for the future. Microsoft which employs about 100,000 people worldwide has e created an internal pod casting system by the name of “Academy Mobile” to share tacit knowledge via the use conversation and audio clips. Through this technology, the field sales force is capable of downloading pod casts to their mobile devices (Christian, 2010). This allows them to receive communication from the executives and information concerning new technology. This also helps them to receive the relevant training from experts without necessary having to go congregate at central training centers. This is aimed at ensuring that the employees of Microsoft stay at per with technology and what is happening around them because this definitely translates into better services to their clients of social computing. We have seen the social computing products that Microsoft Corp has come up with. Also we have established that the company is in a constant move towards innovation of these products ad services towards meeting the changing needs of their clients which is attributed to the rapid changes in technology. Microsoft has been able to take pride in being a leading company icon providing social computing products which has revolutionized the manner in which business is conducted. Their products are not complicated and hence do not require too much IT expertise and this is why they are attractive to clients. References Butler, M. 2005. Enterprise Social Networking and Collaboration. Boston: Martin Butler Research. Christian, G. 2010. Beginning SharePoint 2010 Administration: Windows SharePoint Foundation 2010 and Microsoft SharePoint Server. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Foley, M. 2008. Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft Plans to Stay Relevant in the Post Gates Era. Chicago: John Wiley and Sons. Rosenberg, R. 2004. The Social impacts of computers. London: Emerald Group. Weeden, C. 1998. Corporate social investing: the breakthrough strategy for giving and getting corporate contributions. New York: Berrett-Koehler. Read More