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Near-Time was mentioned in a CIO Insight article today. This quote sums it up nicely:
As the Internet blossoms into Web 2.0, some workers and managers are discovering new tools to cope with task and data overload: Flexible tools designed for the myriad challenges knowledge workers face, not just for routine tasks. Tools that help better manage and prioritize work, rally the strongest team members for each job and use talent most efficiently. Tools that help deliver work and gather feedback. And perhaps most critical, tools that let only the essential information through the floodgates, in the most useful format.
Thanks to new collaborative tools, these employees have the power to do their jobs in a whole new way—a way that makes the best use of their time and their company’s resources. It’s hard to fault them for feeling a little like superheroes, capes rippling in the wind.
Netscout’s June Nugent is interviewed about the NetScout user group and their use of Near-Time. Read the full article on CIOInsight.com
Far-flung teams prove to be some of the biggest fans of these new tools. Take the folks at NetScout Systems, which makes integrated network performance management solutions. The company, which has some 3,000 enterprise customers around the planet, needed something to help users help themselves.
June Nugent, NetScout’s director of knowledge resources, realized that members of the company’s user group—network managers— didn’t have much free time on their hands. They needed an organized information source that could evolve as fast as their business needs did. But Nugent wanted something that would complement, not replace, its formal service channel.
That led her to Near-Time, a hosted service that can be used to build wikis and blogs, share files, create podcasts and handle RSS feeds. Near-Time’s principals had co-founded Extensibility, an XML solutions provider acquired by Tibco Software in 2002. Near-Time’s plans for corporate users range from $700 to 5,000 a year.
All plans include an unlimited number of wikis, blogs and other content tools for an unlimited number of users, but the highervalue plans include analytics, storage, bandwidth and other features as well.
Nugent’s team has used Near-Time to create tutorials on best practices and to facilitate training. Instructors use the tool to post preparatory work for classes, and students use it to post questions after the classes. "The result," says Nugent, "is a richer communication channel with our customers."
It’s important for companies to create new, informal channels between them and their users, "in no small part to help the former see what the latter needs and cares about," Nugent says. The Near-Time wiki tool helps NetScout do just that. "We are definitely extending our footprint for training," she says.
Five Keys to Successful Use of Collaborative Tools (Gartner)
Don’t Allow Anonymity: Chances for polite, productive collaboration are greater if users’ names and reputations are on the line.
Managers Must Manage Collaboration, Too: Even in Wikipedia’s free-flowing editing environment, super-users occasionally step in to resolve problems.
Dole Out Responsibility: A wiki-work ethic won’t develop overnight, but you can speed the process along by giving users a clear stake in its growth.
Think Wiki: Encourage users to think about the many ways they collaborate—formally and informally—every day.
Think About What’s Not Wiki: Not everything your company does is a candidate for collaboration. Set appropriate boundaries.
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