ZenBe has released a new product called Shareflow, which appears to be messaging similarly to Google Wave.  The concept is sound, and the Shareflow product ran smoothly in my tests.  It appears to be a more robust cc:betty – certainly a better interface.  Zenbe frames the problem and their solution well with this diagram below:

It’s a Google Wave light that is more Instant Messaging meets structured Wiki.  The tool is practical and will help users collaborate around issues.  The conversations are also organized and allows you to sort by user.   

Now allow me to put my CIO hat on (disclosure: I’ve never been a CIO or worn a hat with CIO stitched on it), and discuss the tool as I see it. 

The Good  

• Shareflow is easy to use and fairly easy to understand.
• It’s available today!
• The very good out of box experience with a clean intuitive interface will have you up and running in seconds.
• The mobile component is excellent and appears to be vetted out through various use cases they’ve conducted.
• If you are an existing Zenbe email user, you should be able to integrate Shareflow easily.  
• Zenbe uses Shareflow internally, so they understand the benefits, issues and can build those into future releases.  (you’d be surprised how many companies don’t use their own products or services)

The Not so Good or Needs Improvement

• Don’t use Lord of the Rings characters in your demo video, most IT decision makers in the Global 3000 won’t take the tool seriously.  I am willing to bet a developer conceived this demo and not someone in marketing.  Hey I liked the trilogy too! I just wouldn’t use it if I am trying to attract corporate users.  
• No reporting or dashboard views that provide aggregate views of all the flows.  Imagine trying to manage 1000+ flows on a regular basis.  Also, most enterprises will want to learn from these flows and adjust workflow strategies accordingly.  
• It doesn’t integrate with a popular Enterprise email system like Outlook.  Hence the adoption will be much lower than Zenbe is anticipating.
• Develop and add case studies to the website so that prospective users understand how they can use the application.  

Summary and Suggestions

Shareflow doesn’t eliminate email and that’s the real challenge for Zenbe.  From the Zenbe blog:

“I still check my email first thing in the morning. We still email each other at Zenbe, mostly for one-on-one conversations. A lot of times I’ll get a useful email from someone and post it to Shareflow. From within Zenbe Mail it’s just two clicks, or if I’m using another email service I can forward the email to a Shareflow-specific address.”

It may be good for the smaller organizations who don’t have SharePoint, MindTouch or some other enterprise collaborative solution, but it won’t really crack the Global 3000 until there is integration with Outlook. 

If I were advising the company, I’d look to beach head the application in a small team or division in a prospective company then build case study examples for use enterprise-wide.  Maybe kick off a Shareflow trial in the R&D department to collaborate with manufacturing and engineering on the next product release. Next, if Zenbe won’t integrate with Outlook, I’d find a way to enhance Outlook in the enterprise with a long term objective of replacing it.          

Zenbe offers a starter plan, check them out.

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