Have you ever wanted to synchronize your work and home e-mails in one place? How about being able to facilitate complicated group work projects from home? These scenarios and many more are the cracks in our modern technology infrastructure. There always seems to be glitch or incompatibility that prevents the collaboration of data.
I use Outlook E-mail at work and at home and I am constantly frustrated by the lack of a simple synchronization agent. The only thing I’ve found that works at all is installing a Palm pilot on both machines and using the palm software to tie everything together. It works… somewhat. If you don’t mind duplicate calendar items and strange re-occurring appointments it is a solution. But a frustrating one.
A new company is on the horizon that aims to make technology synchronization and project collaboration a reality. Foldera is their name and their motto is “your work organized instantly.” Currently in beta, Foldera has brought some big names from the collaboration field into their fold. The goal of their proprietary software is to sort and file all of your different data into activity folders. This is done while you work, not afterwards as is the common practice now.
Everything related to your individual projects is organized into an activity folder which will be available online from any browser. This will allow you to seamlessly work from home as well as the office. You can even take your laptop to the local cafe and enjoy a latte while working on that complex group project.
Features include..
- Activity Folders
- Document Manager
- Task manager
- Calendar
- Contact manager
- Comments
- Instant Messenger
- Sharing Manager
Goal based collaboration will now be a reality. Managers and Administrators will be able to set rights and responsibilities in a project and allow required access in a secure online environment. Administrators will be able to view progress online and have instant communications available through built in e-mail and instant messaging. Project collaboration will become much easier and much faster.
The cost of the software is very attractive since it will be available for free.
As a person who manages multiple projects with many different participants this looks like the Web2 application we have all been waiting for. With big names like collaboration guru Michael Sampson coming onboard, the program is destined to be a success.
You can sign up to be a beta tester here. The Foldera Blog will keep you updated on the latest announcements. ZDnet blogger and technologist, Marc Orchant has a great article about Foldera on his blog today.This could be the next big thing in office software.
Stay tuned…
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John,
Thanks for your comprehensive and insight review of the forthcoming Foldera application. The whole Foldera team is working hard to ensure that we deliver something truly great in the collaboration space.
Speaking personally, I’m humbled by your words about my decision to join Foldera. Richard Lusk has brought together a great group of people with great ideas and great abilities to carry through — such as JP, Danny, Jnan, Oliver and others — and I feel that it is a great privilege for me to be a member of the team. I’m looking forward to combining my years of work in the field with the insights and perspectives of individuals such as yourself in the future development of Foldera Activity Folders.
Thanks again for talking about us. I look forward to hearing how you find Activity Folders once the beta accounts are released in early May.
Kind regards,
Michael Sampson
Global VP of Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Foldera, Inc.
P.S. I like your “thesis”. I read a similar one … I think in Fast Company last year … but here’s my paraphrase: “Courage is the willingness to start again every day”. I look forward to reading your articles in the days ahead.
Michael,
Thank you for your comments. I look forward to testing your application and putting it through its paces. As a technologist working in the education field, I can see many different applications for your software. I work with so many frustrated teachers and administrators who want to take work home and collaborate on weekends and in the evening.
Your software holds promise to fullfill this need. Please keep us updated on your progress.
Sincerely,
John Richardson
What a great idea Foldera is! I can see how terrific it will be for collaboration, but it looks equally helpful for the sole operator. One of my phrases to live by is “write it down!” but that means I have many places I’ve written things or otherwise recorded or saved information.
One problem people have with filed material is that if it’s not immediately active, it gets forgotten, even if it isn’t lost. I look forward to seeing how the Foldera interface can prod users into dumping not-so-relevant material when they see it carefully filed away for them. I also hope Foldera makes it impossible to name folders “Miscellaneous”!