The talk went something like this: What is software as a service? Think about it as running the same software as you use on your computer at home, but faster and better because the computer you have at home is nothing like Blue Genie or the servers companies like VMware are using these days. See how much more you can do if you harness the power of web applications? As college students you are using web applications every day. Google docs, Facebook, Del.ic.ious (which none of them used by the way), Blogger, IM, and many more. These are all forms of SAS or hosted applications. Now what does that mean to help you communicate and collaborate with others? Let's think about it from a business perspective. As project manager, I need to work with people in remote offices, I need to find a way to bring everyone on the same page. Make sure they know what is happening and have access to information they need.
As students you can start to use these tools in class projects. Use google docs rather than passing a word doc around with a crazy version code. Use del.ic.ious to store links and resources to project research. If you put these tools to use, then once you get into the business world, you can create and use these same tools, but in a closed business extranet or intranet.
Then I exposed them to web project management applications to see how this was implemented. MS sharepoint, Basecamp, Whitepass from Cascade Web Development, and Vibrant Table Events. I think it really hit home when they saw how similar these tools can be. In the end it is all about working with people, finding opportunities to make them shine.
After attending your talk, I came away not only with a better understanding of the benefits and implications of web collaboration tools, but also with some very practical information!
ReplyDeleteCurrently, my fiancee and I are busy compiling lists to be used for our wedding; specifically, an invite list. To do this, we've been having to edit our Excel spreadsheet, attach it in an email and then send it to the other person for more additions. This process has been inefficient and downright annoying. In your presentation, you talked a bit about Google Docs, a real-time web-based document manager where various people can access and edit the same document without having to download anything or deal with various versions. As soon as I got home, I uploaded our Excel spreadsheet and immediately sent emails out to my finacee and our parents. Now, all of us can work together in this virtually seamless system to get this project completed!
I have to say it was a very exciting discovery and much thanks to you and your presentation for helping us make it!