SharePoint 2013 : Six Mobile Features for the Enterprise

Let’s face it, mobility should absolutely be on your radar if you’re an IT executive or decision maker. Whether your firm has a substantial investment in mobile devices for the workforce or you’ve adopted modern BYOD policies, you cannot ignore the impact of mobile devices on how we do business. Microsoft knows this, and has been hard at work to upgrade SharePoint’s plumbing in relation to the mobile experience.

The below list comprises some of the notable, new features Microsoft has developed for SharePoint 2013. This isn’t really a list for any particular type of user; it’s just a general overview of how Microsoft is adding to the feature set. The list is ranked based on my opinion of relevance and value to the organization.

1. Contemporary View

The first feature that will grab everyone’s eye is the new HTML5 view that is best suited for mobile devices. Think of it as a mix between the boring and lifeless classic view from SharePoint 2010 and the new metro look and feel for SharePoint 2013.

What you get is a clean and highly compatible UI that should work on just about any device supporting HTML5. A new site feature handles whether or not mobile devices are automatically routed to this view or not, so it couldn’t be easier to deploy for IT pros.

2. Device Channels

Here’s a gem for site managers and devs. You now have the ability to render content for the appropriate device without having to duplicate the content itself. This functionality lets you serve up the same content with multiple master pages, page layouts and style sheets. If all goes well, you should be able to support most of the mobile devices in your firm with a lot less overhead than with 2010. The current list of compatible mobile browsers is available on the Microsoft Technet site.

3. Better Office Web Apps UX with Touch Support on Tablets

Working with Office Web Apps on a mobile device in SharePoint 2010 left a lot to be desired. Editing documents was not really possible on many devices and browsers (without a hack), which left users with the ability to basically view only.

Flash forward three years, and the dominance of information workers working on the go has caused Microsoft to revamp their offerings. Unless you were living under a rock, you should already be familiar with the big push Microsoft is making for the new web-based versions of the popular Office apps.

The new UI sports bigger buttons, gesture support, context menus (rejoice!), support for touch, mouse and keyboard input, and many more cool features. I don’t expect the experience to be any different coupled with SharePoint 2013, so you can test drive the experience now with SkyDrive or Office 365.

4. Push Notification Support for Mobile Applications

Push notifications have become staple features for mobile applications and the devices that support them, so it’s not shocking that Microsoft is now supporting this with SharePoint 2013. This feature requires adoption though from 3rd party developers or internal custom development.

The end result is that your device will be able to receive notifications from SharePoint lists and sites. For instance, a new document is uploaded in a library that you’re following, and the notification service sends your device a notification. Simple, yet necessary for today’s mobile devices 

 

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Source : cmswire[dot]com

Ondango Receives US$500K to Scale Facebook Shopping Platform

Ondango, a third-party provider of Facebook stores, has secured a US$ 500,000 capital investment from a group led by London-based venture capital fund Connect Ventures. The new capital will be used to scale Ondango’s Facebook-shopping platform.

Based in Germany, Ondango provides a platform the company says allows users to set up a Facebook store in minutes, with no technical knowledge. Users pay a monthly fee and Ondango also says no e-commerce experience is needed to run a Facebook store on its platform.

According to Ondango, it will use the new investment to accelerate growth and scale its services for small- and mid-sized businesses. Specific areas where Ondango plans to focus improvement include driving traffic to Facebook stores and overall customer experience.

Not Waiting around for Facebook

A posting on DailyDealMedia credits Ondango for “subscribing to the theory of tapping into what is becoming known as Facebook commerce.” This refers to a Facebook commerce performed without the assistance of apps. While Facebook “flounders around trying to figure out how to best monetize its unofficial 1 billion users,” DailyDealMedia says third party providers like Ondango are trying to tap into its “massive user base.” 

Independent data suggests Facebook commerce, whether supported by Facebook itself or a third party, could prove quite lucrative. DailyDealMedia references Booz & Co. estimates that the worldwide market for social commerce will be US$ 9 billion this year and top US$ 30 billion by 2015. As DailyDealMedia understates, “It’s anticipated that Facebook could perhaps amass a rather large slice of that social commerce pie.”

Social Media Has ‘Science Fiction’ Potential

In a recent CMSWire column about the Social Media Intelligence Conference, Matthew O’Connell indirectly supported the notion of Facebook becoming a major direct e-commerce channel by discussing the “science fiction” potential social media has to change our daily existence.

The pervasiveness of social media on the internet is obvious,” wrote O’Connell. “Within a very short time, we'll be (social networking) in our Google Glasses, Facebook Phone, contact lenses (MIT has a patent on these) or brain implants, with less effort and easier access. By integrating this worldwide system of information seamlessly into our reality, we are on the precipice of an entirely new language; one of vision, intuition, transparency. In this world, we are everywhere at once without leaving our homes… The power that companies like Google and Facebook have is nearly unlimited.”

While O’Connell does not discuss social commerce per se in his column, clearly he is describing a world where social networking becomes a pervasive, everyday means of interaction with the world, and we all know how big a role commerce plays in our daily interaction.

Several angel investors, including Andy Goldstein, executive director of the Ludwig MU Entrepreneurship Center, have also participated in this round of financing. More than 400 Facebook shops use the Ondango platform, mainly in the music, sports and lifestyle market segments.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

Sitecore Invests in Komfo to Provide Social Media Marketing Tools

Sitecore has taken a large minority investment in Komfo, a Denmark-based social media marketing platform provider and member of Facebook’s Preferred Marketing Developer Program. The Komfo platform is designed to allow marketers to create and manage Facebook fan page conversations without needing additional resources.

Sitecore says it plans to integrate the Komfo platform into its Customer Engagement Platform to provide marketers with the same type of control they have within Sitecore-managed web properties within Facebook and other third-party social networks. Specific Komfo features include applications for preferred marketing goals and call-to-actions, communications tools, a performance dashboard and competitor benchmarking.

Marketers Prefer Facebook

While efforts to demonstrate the actual value of social media as a marketing tool have proven difficult, Sitecore is responding to a strong belief among marketers that social media, and Facebook in particular, offers marketing value.

According to a recent survey of more than 700 global marketing professionals by social media promotions specialists Wildfire Interactive, 97 percent of marketers believe social media marketing benefits their business and 75 percent intend to increase their spending in this area during 2012.

Furthermore, 88 percent of survey respondents see social media as a mechanism to increase brand awareness, and 85 percent see it as a way to engage customers. The most popular social network among marketers? Facebook wins easily, with 94 percent ranking Facebook as a top social media marketing channel, trailed distantly by Twitter (74 percent). 

Komfo May Help Sitecore Customers with 2 Key Fan Page Steps

In March 2009, Masahble produced a list of five key steps to creating a successful Facebook fan page that still rings true. With Komfo’s functionality, Sitecore may be able to better equip its users to perform at least two of these steps: creating contests that include participation and targeting the proper demographic.

In terms of creating participatory contests, tools that enable direct communication with consumers via fan pages are a crucial supporting element for effectively recruiting contest participants and managing a contest. And for targeting the proper demographic, a performance dashboard allows marketers to analyze the reaction fan pages create in different user groups, helping to determine what demographics provide the best results, while competitor benchmarking enables them to compare performance in different groups with chief rivals.

In conjunction with Sitecore’s investment, Michael Seifert, Sitecore founder and CEO, will join Komfo’s board of directors. Terms were not disclosed, although unconfirmed reports suggest Sitecore will spend about US$ 500,000 for one-third of Komfo.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com