As a web 2.0 enthusiast, it’s good to see UK construction technology vendor Asite using its community forum to talk to users about its plans, and Tweeting about them (see post). Through Twitter, I saw a link to an update posted by Nathan Doughty, Asite’s CTO, in which he updates Asite users about forthcoming developments on the Asite platform.
Nathan extols the virtues of Asite’s AppBuilder API (“the direction of our roadmap is firmly geared around increasing the “self-service” nature of the platform”), says an iPhone app will be launched in January (with other mobile apps to follow), and talks about Asite’s Product Library functionality.
What I think is particularly encouraging is how Asite is looking to expand the benefits of being part of its free online community, using a lot of Web 2.0 functionality:
- Publish tender opportunities (with OJEU integration) plus integrated distribution via Twitter and RSS feeds.
- Respond to tender opportunities / issue expressions of interest
- Send enquiries to contractors and suppliers
- Enable configurable public profile pages for individual users (for those that want them), integrated with LinkedIn
- Public project pages
- A social workspace incorporating forums, blogs, and wikis for use by groups of colleagues for early-phase collaborations, or integrated into the Asite Community site for industry-wide public conversations.
Nathan also echoes the approach being adopted by his Aconex counterpart, Rob Phillpot (see post), when he talks about engaging with third party software developers and content providers “to make their content and applications available to our user base as part of our menu of ‘portlets’”.
