New AlwaysOn Network, ERP CRM SFA BPM
I just wanted to announce that we started a new network for AlwaysOn Network Members to Blog about Business Process Management (BPM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Sales Force Automation (SFA) and all things pertaining to automating our business processes. A few topics that come to mind are:

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We Work Better Together
An old colleague once said, “we work together apart”. Joe Murgio was the founder of a very nice project management system called onProject. I was just reading about the major airlines planning to build airborne conference rooms for hundreds of passengers/delegates, how cool is that! The fact is, we work better when we are together and that means getting people together in groups large and small as much as you can. I like the flying conference center idea, but we need to make this level of collaboration happen now for all businesses rich and poor, large and small. The great common denominator and catalyst for countless success stories is the internet.

Web-based enterprise systems work. We just added our endorsement to an outstanding free download called CrossLoop. This is one of the companies headed up by the patent holder for the Universal Shopping Cart, Lee Jay Lorenzen. Lee is the CEO of company, Altura Ventures. This is one of the products that we can use in order to get as close as we can to being face to face.

Tomorrow night a number of us gather together for the Calgary DemoCamp. Meet like-minded people, make contacts, get the word out…….together. See this Blog for a summary of the DemoCamp.

Engineering Your Company’s Social Network
You don’t want it “too social” so it will take away from the purpose, you don’t want it too restricting, intimidating, or unfriendly to take away from the usefulness. I was inspired to write these thoughts because of the business I currently pursue and my recent readings of Mack Hanan and Paul Greenberg. My thinking as a provider of ERP, SFA, CRM, and Business Process automation is shifting towards the social aspects of these systems. The fact is, if you have a system that people will use, you will be a successful system provider, pretty much as long as people have faith in the system.

The ultimate goal is to provide a network that is lively, rewarding, interesting, inviting, captivating, and a hundred other positive words to describe the experience. Here are some thoughts on creating an ideal social network for your company. First of all, unless there is a better way we need to bring all the acronyms (ERP, SFA, CRM, and BPM) together in a way that doesn’t turn everybody off. You want to create a network that people embrace, and use, and constantly tell you what new features they want. According to a recent Blog by Kevin Roberts, “we are moving from what you need to what you want”. Here are a few thoughts on making that system:

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Southern Alberta Intellectual Property Network Conference, March 1, 2007
I attended the Southern Alberta Intellectual Property Network Conference, in the University of Calgary Dinning Centre. I attended the conference representing our company so I could learn more about the way people are collaborating with each other to achieve extraordinary research and development. I enjoyed most of the conference and learned a few things as well. After several years of building up our business and going through the harsh realities of business cycles both up and down, I found much more kindred spirits at Don Tapscott’s presentation in the Palliser Hotel, but that is fodder for another Blog. Following is a blow by blow of the conference from my point of view.

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