52 Bicycles

The recent bounce from WebInno has gotten me thinking - what is the virtue of this “web 2.0″ business? I’ve thought the most creative element is breaking down barriers between the web and the desktop, through enriching applications. Part of this is in developing technology that takes advantage of the the newer, currently-hip (web and phone) environments. But a gigantic part is in extending data and productivity among multiple platforms - the application that is not “native” to any single setting, but accessible and usable and adding value from all.

I think this is the sweet spot - not a “native” application, but rather a cross-border cosmopolitan approach to productivity and information that orients not around a platform, but rather the user and the organization.(I think I wrote about this not too long ago.) I’d better think this is important - cross-platform, cross-technology integration is a central tenet of Element55.

I am reminded that if I presented about 10% of Element55, it might have qualified - the Blackberry module or the web services module both bring us this presence, not to mention the extensive use of machine-to-machine web services. But for my money, it is in the integration of these pieces with the desktop, and the legacy phone systems, and the knowledge management in the firm that combine to create the powerful propisition.

And I posit that it is those businesses that learn to cross borders and be technological jet-setters that will reap the greatest rewards, rather than those that have the purest “native” approach to anything.

Addendum: And I repeat my call for all new software businesses that do fit his criteria to strongly consider presenting at the next WebInno session - it’s a good crowd, and good feedback will ensue.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 21st, 2006 at 3:22 pm and is filed under Technology Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. Reddit This