Sharp-eyed visitors to this blog may have noticed a new RSS feed in the side-bar – from pwcom. This is my new blog focused on PR, marketing and Web 2.0, with a strong bias towards how these are used in the architecture, engineering, construction and property sectors. I have discussed Web 2.0 a lot in this construction collaboration-oriented blog over the past couple of years (I was writing about blogs and wikis back in 2005, and remain an enthusiast for these as well as tools like Twitter and Ning), and the frequency has increased in recent months – not least because of my involvement with Be2camp. So It was about time that I created a separate blog to discuss social media (and avoid alienating readers who are more concerned about construction-specific technology-related issues).
The new blog also reflects a new direction in my career. After nine fantastic years working for BIW Technologies I am re-establishing the specialist consultancy I ran during the late 1990s, but will hopefully be remaining on amicable terms with my many friends at BIW and elsewhere in the construction technology market.
ExtranetEvolution.com continues
However, even though I will now be a little more separate from BIW and from day-to-day developments in the Software-as-a-Service construction collaboration technology market, I will continue to monitor the sector and to blog here. As regular readers will probably recognise, I believe what we used to call ‘extranets’ or ‘document management systems’ have started to change. The leading systems are now becoming less document- or drawing-centric and beginning to focus on managing construction workflow-type processes (contract change management and project financial control being just two). The development of building information modelling (BIM) is also going to have a major impact on the industry as a whole and on the collaboration technology market in particular. Couple these changes with the deepest construction recession most of us can remember, and I believe we will also see a growing emphasis on richer communication – and I think this is where Web 2.0 thinking may yet still have its place.
So keep an eye on the pwcom feed. It will still be strongly influenced by my work in the construction industry, and there may be issues that are covered in both places. And if you are not involved or interested in PR, marketing and Web 2.0 issues yourself, please recommend the blog (and maybe me!) to any colleagues that are.
