Productivity Hacks

What are the benefits of using Teamlab, an open source solution, for creating your corporate portal?

TeamLab is an online hub application that allows users to edit documents, manage projects, create tasks and send instant messages, all from an Amazon cloud-based platform. Project managers can enable and disable the various modules on demand, allowing TeamLab to be customized to the unique needs of each user. Other features include blogs and forums, image uploading, poll creation and a simple registration process.

The best thing about TeamLab? It’s free. According to Teamlab.com  the freemium open-source model is a business process management application designed for small and mid-size companies that need an effective platform for hosted project management. Supported operating systems include Windows Server 2003-2008, and Windows 7, Vista and XP.

TeamLab Development Timeline

First launched on July 7, 2010, TeamLab was developed by Ascensio System SIA of Latvia, a IT solutions provider. Founded in 2009, this fast-growing company also has offices in London, UK, offering most of their services and features for free.

According to their July 28, 2011, corporate blog, TeamLab now has over 115,000 worldwide users in 148 countries, representing a 300 percent increase over the past six months.

Current TeamLab Features

Improvements and updates to the TeamLab application are occurring frequently as the Ascensio developers respond to user feedback and beta test results. As of August 18, 2011, the following features are included in TeamLab:

• Project Management: Using the Project Management module, milestones can be created along with lists of active, completed and overdue tasks, and due date notifications. Tasks can be designed and delegated to specific team members, and discussions between team members are enabled. Managers can use the time-tracking tools to generate detailed project reports, and the access rights feature (for Premium subscribers) allows for the creation of different visibility levels for files, tasks, milestones and discussions.

• Business Collaboration: These features enable users to create and manage corporate profiles, manage internal announcements and develop polls. Photos can be uploaded to the cloud server and shared using the blogs and forums tool. There is also a wiki section to a create corporate knowledge base through the TeamLab portal.

• Document Management: These are among the most popular TeamLab tools, and let users edit, import, share and integrate documents directly on the TeamLab portal. Document version control is enabled through automatic file saving and organization, including the ability to restore to earlier versions sorted by date and time.

• Instant Messaging: TeamLab users can chat live with contacts through the portal, as well as integrate the corporate messenger with other desktop email clients.

TeamLab Security Features

All TeamLab portals are protected by HTTPS (HyperText Transfer Protocol), which adds an extra layer of digital data protection with SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) to personal data like passwords, login information, and all the content on the portal. SSL encrypts all communication within the TeamLab environment, making it virtually impossible for hackers to obtain any private business information through the TeamLab portal.

As of August 12, 2011, TeamLab is offering a free online diagnostic system that scans all applications and services automatically during system startup, with the goal of detecting and eliminating threats like viruses, trojans and damaged files.

TeamLab Premium

Launched on the first anniversary of TeamLab, TeamLab Premium is available for $49 a month. Along with the features included in the /freemium/ version, TeamLab Premium users receive:

• 10 GB of cloud-based storage versus 1000 MB in freemium model.
• 100 MB file size upload limit (up from 10 MB per file in the free version).
• User-controlled file sharing, private projects and access rights management.

Premium subscribers also enjoy faster upload speeds in comparison to the free model, and have priority access to customer support service from TeamLab.

Planned Upgrades to TeamLab

Ascensio System Limited has announced the following upcoming features for TeamLab:

• A full mobile version of the project module for Android and iOS devices, with the ability to email team members, edit tasks and comment on events, blogs and forums.
• Email integration via the TeamLab portal, including user-controlled tag-based message filtering.
• CRM support integration including sales and communication tracking, report generation and the ability to import data from Highrise.
• A calendar feature with customizable tracking, history logging and separate work and personal scheduling.

Other improvements to the application will include Gnatt charts for project management, currency conversion tools and customized contact and deals forms.

TeamLab User Reviews

Early users of TeamLab are impressed with the fact that 90 percent of the features are free, it supports multiple languages, and the portal is completely customizable at the point of use.

According to an August 18 post on SoftwardReviewBoffin.com, TeamLab earned a five-star rating because of the variety of collaboration tools, ease of IM client use, and the fact that, “TeamLab is the only project management solution that includes fully featured online editing.”

On AppAppeal.com, an editor rated TeamLab four out of five stars, noting that, “TeamLab offers a unique solution that brings individuals together, no matter how many miles may lie between them.” This reviewer recommends TeamLab for freelancers as a simple, cost-effective (currently free) way to collaborate with clients, as well as small businesses looking for team management software. AppAppeal.com also suggests that schools and nonprofit organizations could make extensive use of TeamLab for work on projects and to facilitate effective communication among stakeholders.

Ryan Stubbs touted his approval of TeamLab in his May 18th post on Appstorm, where he writes, “TeamLab just ticks all the boxes for me.” He points out that all-in-one solutions are usually priced beyond the reach of most start-ups and small businesses, and other applications include features that typical users simply don’t want or need. Stubbs likes the fact that TeamLab has made disabling features “incredibly simple”, reducing portal clutter while improving usability.

::Start-Up and Small Business Applications::

TeamLab developers focused on making this application easy to use for both IT professionals and regular Internet users, with an emphasis on providing collaboration and project management tools for startups, small, and medium sized-enterprises. This product is unique in the way it combines a number of different functions in one user-controlled portal, increasing both security and ease-of-use. For managers and freelancers who require a comprehensive, stable and customizable solution for both projects and ongoing collaboration management, TeamLab provides a cost-effective resource.

While Teamlab is an excellent productivity application, what about solutions for personal productivity? Up Next:  “Using Pomodoro Technique and the Results Curve for Productivity”

The Totango Service

Totango [http://www.totango.com] is a new service launched on July 28, 2011, currently in a public beta, that allows users to track application events in real time for subsequent analysis. It is similar to Google Analytics [http://www.google.com/analytics/] but with the added ability for the user to control what data is collected and at which time intervals the recording occurs. Totango also enables AJAX tracking activity, and delivers the user a clear picture of application usage patterns as well as customer engagement levels. According to Totango, their mission is to help online companies build better customer relationships through the gathering and analysis of customer usage patterns of Software-as-a-Service, or SaaS applications. [http://www.totango.com/about.html]

Salesforce Integration for SaaS Applications

The Totango service is fully integrated with the Salesforce [http://www.salesforce.com/] Sales Cloud, making it a powerful tool for data generation to guide sales leads and activity. Totango analyzes real customer behavior within Software-as-a-service, or SaaS applications, making it easy to provide an immediate response to customer needs and achieve successful sales outcomes. Proactive account monitoring allows sales teams to develop valuable insight into customer usage and needs, and sales leads self-qualify through usage patterns that are automatically sorted by Totango.

Since users can specify exactly what goes into Totango using their own application, the data collection can be tailored to each users specific needs. This feature is what really sets Totango apart from page view metrics like Google Analytics, which are usually filled with information that needs to be filtered to be relevant to each users’ needs.

Using Totango

Totango is currently free in public beta, and implementation is simple once users sign up and obtain a Totango ID. No pre-booking or scheduling is required to record application events.

When users have a designated event they want to register for the SaaS tracking service, they simply create a HTTP GET to Totango and input basic information including username, organization and which event is being registered from either the client or call server side. Once Totango begins receiving data from the event, a string comparison is completed to support the best possible configuration. Within a few minutes, users will begin to receive information about their customer SaaS usage in real time.

Beta testers have reported that the service integrates well with no noticeable slowdowns on the server side. Real time displays of user activity stream onto the desktop activities monitor, and the numerous customer relationship management metrics within the system have practical and immediate applications for sales teams. Early reviews indicate that Totango may be the ideal tool for measuring trial conversion rates and timing sales to maximize profits on SaaS.

Future Applications

With the prevalence of SaaS usage either being maintained or increased by over ninety-five percent of organizations surveyed by the analyst firm Gartner, [http://www.documentmanagementnews.com/the-news/software-as-a-service/557-over-95-of-organisations-to-maintain-or-increase-saas-usage.html] SaaS applications have clearly gained widespread acceptance across a number of industries, including a rise among small and medium sized businesses. A recent survey by Goldman Sach [http://www.deskaway.com/blog/2010/02/15/44-of-saas-usage-is-for-collaboration/] reports that sixty-four percent of the companies they contacted use SaaS for salesforce automation, representing a large potential market for the Totango service.

Totango is excellent for tracking SaaS usage, but what about corporate portals? Next: “Creating Effective Corporate Portals using Teamlab”

Google Docs versus Office 365

The era of cloud computing has begun. Two of the largest players, Microsoft and Google, have service platforms that offer the ability to move away from office-oriented servers and place storage and collaboration online. With documents, emails and other communications online, users can access and share their business information from PCs, Laptops, tablets and smartphones. The efficiency of that type of access is unquestionable in the digital age, but saving costs and fewer IT headaches can also be much-appreciated bonuses. There are also communication services like instant messaging, PC-to-PC phone calls and other communication tools available. Google Docs and Microsoft’s Office 365 both provide options for storing some or all of your individual or business needs on an online productivity suite, but which is the more appropriate for your needs — Google, the golden child of the internet age, or the stalwart Microsoft that remains the most popular software for business use? The answer lies in which specific features and tools are essential to a specific company or independent professional.

Both Google Docs and Office 365 are web-based platforms, requiring internet access for functionality. Unsurprisingly, reviewers have reported that each works best with its own browser, Chrome and Internet Explorer respectively. Each offers real-time collaborative, web-based word processing, spreadsheet and presentation documents creation and storage. Each suite allows access to contacts via email, calendars, instant messages, and phone, which provides the ability to set up meetings, schedule appointments and share contacts. Both companies have made mobile phone accessibility a part of the planning, which is excellent news for those on-the-go professionals. Each company has a track record of rolling out improvements in response to the market, so users can expect popular functions to be integrated into each platform as time goes by.

The differences between the two productivity suites comes in the depth of the features, the level of connectivity and the costs of associated with each version.

• Document Features: One significant difference between the two services comes in the integrity of the formatting in documents that Microsoft provides. Google Docs have been available since 2006 but they still do not always maintain the specific formatting of individual documents from user to user, or when moving from your desktop to the online version. Colors change, fonts shift and other small errors of this sort continue to be reported by users. Information stays intact, but the look of documents can change from user to user. Conversely, Microsoft has seemingly solved the issue of document integrity. Although Google Docs are very similar to the familiar Microsoft Office suite, there is also an advantage to the widespread use of Word, Excel and PowerPoint in terms of learning curve. Generally, speaking folks who have worked in an office are already aware of the style and interfaces of the Microsoft offerings. Last but not least, Google Docs can only be worked on while online, whereas the Microsoft programs can be moved back and forth between online and desktop versions as long as the user has an installed version of the program on their computer.
• Collaboration: Google makes collaboration with others a quick and easy process. Users can chat and phone directly from any Google account. Google also makes the creation of groups an on-the-fly process for sharing or editing documents together, and doesn’t require lengthy set-up. On the other hand, sharing with Microsoft requires a Team Site, a lengthier process. Granted, not everyone has a Gmail account, but even that process is quick, easy and free. Also, reviewers have reported better mobile accessibility on the variety of Apple, Android, Blackberry and other mobile devices. Microsoft still works on those platforms, but has received its highest marks for the Windows mobile access which has a relatively low percentage of the mobile market. Yet, Microsoft enables better collaboration of a different sort. Lync enables multiparty online meetings, whiteboard sharing and videoconferencing. Those types of connections are not part of Google Docs, but with the widening use of Google Plus (not yet integrated with Docs), they may be in the very near future.
• Cost: Google Docs is free to any person with a Gmail account. Businesses can use the Apps at a monthly cost of $5 per user, or an annual subscription of $50 per user. Microsoft’s costs are higher, starting at a $6 monthly fee per user for organizations of 25 or less. The enterprise version which includes live tech support and the Office Professional suite can run as high as $24 per month for each user. Both companies guarantee 99.9% uptime with offers of fee credits for downtimes, but Google includes standard system maintenance in their percentage, whereas Microsoft does not. Both companies have many server locations to prevent long outages, but sometimes in business an hour can make all the difference in the world.

Cloud computing is certainly a promising business tool for all types of businesses, from the solo freelancer to the small family company to large-scale enterprises. The important factors to consider are the type of collaboration your company needs to get the work done. If it is only information and relatively small library of documents that need sharing, then Google can provide a low or no cost option. Alternatively, if full-fledged collaboration with professionally realized documents is in order, then the Microsoft costs are worth the investment. In any case, every productive professional should start exploring and testing the cloud computing options and test its potential for getting the job done.

Many companies who consolidate to the cloud with Google Docs may want to look into “Using Totango to Track Real-time Usage of SaaS apps!”
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What does Office 365 offer me?

With the release of Office 365, Microsoft has provided the most commonly used office software in the world in a cloud-based format. Beyond the familiar Office suite, the included elements of Exchange, Sharepoint and Lync make this collection of services a genuine and economical alternative to running a server. The monthly cost varies from $6 to $27 per user, but also includes regular updated versions of the software, thus saving companies or independent professionals the cost and aggravation of new versions every few years. Microsoft also guarantees 99.9% uptime, offers business class security and will undoubtedly continue to make improvements to hold their edge in the business environment. Look over the Office 365 offerings and decide if this new cloud service can be a leap forward for your freelance or company needs.

• Email and Calendar: The Microsoft Exchange program provides access to email, calendars, and contacts from PC or Mac computers, the web and even mobile phones. The cloud Exchange server provides 25 GB of email space for each user, and has the familiar Outlook interface. The Forefront Online Protection protects from spam and viruses. The online calendar makes scheduling a simple straightforward process with your work colleagues’ schedules accessible.
• The Office Suite: Office 365 includes the familiar programs Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft OneNote, and Microsoft PowerPoint in full-fledged web versions with collaborative abilities via the SharePoint platform. More than one user can work on a document in real-time, as well as utilize a document library for easy access for everyone. The cloud server makes these documents available on many mobile devices and promises to maintain formatting as users move from web, to mobile, to desktop. Critical data is protected with multiple data centers and a strict privacy policy.
• Communication: Through the Lync platform, users can enjoy instant messaging, video conferencing, and PC phone calling. Creating meetings or sharing your ideas via a whiteboard, even with individuals outside your business, can be a simple and easy process. Users can also easily create and maintain a public website with simple tools. Upgraded options are available, such as Access services which give you an online database that can track inventory, customer or vendor records, or a catalogue of products. There are also workspaces for blogs, wikis and even video files.
• Cost: At present, Office 365 has three tiers of subscription. Professionals and small business of up to 25 users can utilize the platform on a month-to-month basis for $6 monthly fee and includes online support. Mid-sized business to enterprise level platforms cost $10 – $27 per user, depending on the specific configuration. This level offers IT configuration and 24/7 IT support. There is also the option of Kiosk Worker plans for only $4 – $10 for more limited access. There is also a plan for educational institutions that is priced according to the configuration.

Office 365 represents a carefully considered business solution for all levels of business needs and has taken into account the evolving digital needs of the modern-day professional. So far, the reviews have been mostly positive, with a few hurdles reported for mobile access and during initial set-up. With Google and Amazon also pushing the envelope in the cloud computing world, Microsoft will likely keep pace or even exceed the possibilities set by the competitors. For the end-user, these cloud platforms have the potential to provide significant cost savings and freedom from the day-to-day IT headaches of backups of email and data files.

Next: “How does Office 365 Compare to Google Docs?”