partners

Microsoft has been sharing more details about their upcoming release of SharePoint 2010. Last month they announced that Groove will be rebranded as SharePoint Workspace. This is surprising news given that Groove has been a well known alternative (P2P) file sharing and project collaboration platform. However, it reinforces the need for a strong desktop companion to web-based Enterprise Content Management (ECM) systems which:

• Reduces the pain of the upload/download cycles
• Supports offline access to content
• Enables collaboration with extended workgroups who may not have direct access to the ECM system

While SharePoint Workspace will be a great addition to the SharePoint suite in 2010, it will still leave several gaps to be filled:

• It only runs on Windows
• It only works with SharePoint
• It is a large software package to download and install
• It will only be offered in the high-end Microsoft Office Professional Plus package

Content Circles addresses these needs by supporting both Mac and Windows desktops, by integrating with SharePoint, Alfresco Enterprise, and Xerox DocuShare, and by being a much more lightweight download to install on each desktop. Content Circles is also a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) with a low-cost monthly or annual subscription so there is no large, upfront investment or IT support required before you can get going.

It is clear every ECM system needs a strong desktop story. For pure Windows shops, SharePoint 2010 with SharePoint Workspace appears to be a great solution. For everyone else, there is Content Circles.

When Content Circles was formed in 2007, our goal was to address some major gaps in the current state of Enterprise Content Management systems. In particular, these systems assume:

• ECM requires large expensive systems that are purchased, installed, and managed by central IT
• Users will adhere to a rigorous upload/download discipline for keeping the central repository up to date
• All users who need to collaborate on a project can access the central repository
• Users work primarily in the office and do not need remote access to their repository

The result of our efforts is Content Circles which was launched in January 2009. It is a Rich Internet Application (RIA) combined with a hosted web service in the cloud and provided as a subscription SaaS.
Content Circles enables:

• Collaboration in Circles where content is only shared with the specific members you have invited
• Uses P2P synchronization so no content is held in the cloud to further enhance content security
• Works across firewalls and cross platform so there are no barriers about who can participate
• Direct access to popular ECM systems including Microsoft Sharepoint, Xerox DocuShare, and Alfresco
• Online and Offline access to your content since you always have the latest copy synchronized to your desktop
• Automatic tracking and audibility of content so you know what everyone is working on in the Circle
• Instant messaging is integrated with the app so you don’t have to leave the tool to chat with other members

Everyone here was excited to see the announcement of Google Wave last week at the Google IO conference. Even though Google set out to redefine how email and instant messaging work, we find many similarities between Google Wave and Content Circles including:

• A Wave and a Circle are defined as a set of users working on a specific project who always need the latest state shared amongst all members
• Focus is on the workgroup and the work they need to complete rather than the constraints of a traditional ECM system
• Support for Mac and Windows based users
• Commenting and Instant messaging integrated with team collaboration around the documents
• Change tracking with the ability to track the history of project from the beginning to current day
• The results of collaboration in one Wave/Circle can be published to another
• We envision a rich ecosystem of extensions built on top of our APIs to expand the use of the system beyond the current implementation

The differences between our approaches include:

• Google Wave is a pure cloud / browser delivery whereas Content Circles is fog computing
• Google Wave has direct, character by character editing of shared documents by the multiple participants in the Wave
• Content Circles allows continued use of your desktop applications rather than having to move everything to the cloud and browser based interfaces
• Content Circles integrates with existing ECM systems to preserve corporate investments and allow access to historic content and ongoing projects
• Content Circles allows offline productivity since you always have your content with you and can synchronize updates when you are back online
• Content Circles is available today for production use

We look forward to helping users break out from the constraints of traditional systems and leverage the power of these innovative new systems like Content Circles and Google Wave to better address the needs of the modern workgroup. Together we can change the document collaboration world for the better. Catch the wave.

I can’t find my files.

My files, such as a design document, usually start on my hard disk. Then I email the document for my colleagues to review. After several revisions from my colleagues, I share the file online to a centralized server for the project that I am working on. My files usually have 3 different versions, and reside in 3 different locations. My CFO keeps even more copies, like for my expense reports. He usually keeps my scanned receipts on his machine and an additional hard copy. We can’t find our files.

Content management services and workflow systems are supposed to address my needs to find my files easily, and allow me to keep my content in a single location. I don’t mind following the steps to use a content management server and track my documents, but most of my colleagues don’t want (to be more precise, hate) to do that. They send their large file revisions back to me as email attachments, forcing me back to the email world. And if I store the file in the internal content management repository (such as SharePoint, Documentum, or FileNet), everybody hates me because my colleagues prefer email attachments.

Content Circles connectors allow us to move online content (from a CMS such as SharePoint) back to your machine, bring your document back to one location inside Content Circles, and keep better track of your files. Content Circles still allows you to have files in multiple locations, such as to copy document from Content Circles to your local hard drive, SharePoint, or FTP server. When you make a copy, for example an FTP server, Content Circles remembers the location and shows you a link to that location. Once you have a new version of the document, the link will show up as "outdated", and a single click can update the outdated version with your latest version, for example replace the version on the FTP server.

When I ask my colleagues to review my document, I do not need to worry about security because only members of a circle can access my content. My colleagues might still resist using Content Circles, but if they receive the files from my circles, it is just 1 click to open the document, and a click away to save a new version. They can certainly export the content, make the changes, and send email attachments, but I bet they would rather just click open and save instead. They can find their files easily in Content Circles.

In addition, Content Circles tracks whether a user opens or receives a file. You can keep track of your document and review whether your colleague has received your document or not. Obviously Content Circles can’t tell whether your colleague actually READ the document, but at least you get the sense that the file was delivered.

It saves me time to find my files and keeps me from getting sidetracked when there are more important things for me to attend to.

For the past decade, I’ve been working on content management systems (CMS), credit card payment systems (PCI), human resources systems, and customer relationship management systems (CRM). Most of them require a centralized server (either in the cloud or on an enterprise server), a thick client in some cases, and a series of technical requirements to make things secure. All these systems are trying to achieve a common goal – sharing information securely to allow collaboration.

In the CMS world (like EMC Documentum, Alfresco, and Xerox DocuShare) use SSL encryption to secure the transmission of the content. There are options in these systems to encrypt the content, but the content is still stored on the system. Eventually someone, such as a site administrator or content administrator, has access to the content and can potentially view the content. For instance, with a human resources management system, it is always a challenge for a manager to store employee information because the site administrator (usually not the manager) would have access to all the information.

In the credit card payment world, PCI compliance is strictly enforced - no customer credit card information can be stored. Every transaction in the payment system masks the credit card number, leaving only the last 4 digits, and ensures no one can get access to the credit card number. This is definitely a good solution for credit cards, but unfortunately it doesn’t work well if you want to share a secure word file with your insurance agent. It will not be human readable if we mask your presentation (well, unless your agent is a machine).

The common practice some users utilize nowadays is to zip up the content and encrypt the zip with a password. This makes transmission and storage secure, but the user still needs to send out the password (usually via email or IM), which is frankly the least secure of all. Or the user uploads the zip and encrypt content into the centralize system, such as Microsoft SharePoint. This approach involves multiple steps, and a user usually gives up using such a system to share information, switching back in few months with their favorite and most comfortable approach: email with attachments.

After more thought, we believe the most secure way is never store your content anywhere outside of your control. You only give specific people permission to your content and as long as you have secure transmission, the result is full control of your information - always.

A couple of colleagues and I have developed the best solution - Content Circles. We never store your content in the cloud and you have full control over who can access your content all the time. Your machine is source for sharing the files with other members of the circle. Sending large files or attachments is not an issue, because unlike email, the content is never stored on any server including the mail server. Content Circles also has connectors which help you to download, update, or publish existing content easily.

Agree or disagree? Please don’t hesitate to write a comment.