Over the past year or so, I’ve talked several times about iPhone applications and collaboration in the architecture, engineering and construction, AEC, space. I have seen prototype stand-alone products developed purely for the iPhone (eg: Smartbuilder – post), but most tools have been developed by existing construction collaboration technology providers and extend their platforms to …
Tag: SMEs
Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2010/12/builditlivecom-targets-ipad-collaborators/
Oct 05 2010
HP ePrint & Share – a follow-up
Further to yesterday’s post about HP ePrint & Share, I have now received a response from product manager Iolanda Montserrat (right), so I can shed a little more light on this cloud service’s capabilities. Email notifications – As regular readers will know, I like services which can be managed online without (m)any emails – perhaps …
Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2010/10/hp-eprint-share-a-follow-up/
Sep 23 2010
Yechte Consulting: managing offshore design costs
Earlier this week at the RIBA in London I had coffee with Ben Tellin, a trained architect and managing director of Yechte Consulting. His company, with bases in London and Bangalore, India, provides off-shore outsourcing services to architects and engineers (often adding an international dimension to the network of people already collaborating on a UK …
Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2010/09/yechte-consulting-managing-offshore-design-costs/
May 05 2010
Construction IT spend still very cost-conscious
An article by Stephen Kennett, Construction is second worst investor in IT, in Building magazine (registration required) last week highlights that the UK construction sector is slowly improving its approach to information technologies, but the picture revealed by the NCC/Construct IT survey varies depending on what type of organisation you look at. Construction firms still …
Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2010/05/construction-it-spend-still-very-cost-conscious/
Oct 29 2009
Bye-bye BT Workspace, Hello Glasscubes
In early 2007, I wrote about BT Workspace, a Software-as-a-Service that the UK telecoms giant was offering to small and medium-sized businesses. Built on a modified version of the Microsoft SharePoint platform by US company SMBLive, BT Worskspace offered extranet-type project workplaces at a competitive price (£7.50 per company user per month; free for micro-teams …
Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2009/10/bye-bye-bt-workspace-hello-glasscubes/
Apr 15 2009
The internet as a lifeline for AEC SMEs
(This is a slightly updated version of a post from my pwcom2.0 blog that discusses potential use of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), among other tactics, for managing the impact of the recession upon SMEs in the AEC sector.) Given that most of the businesses active in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) sectors are small or medium-sized …
Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2009/04/the-internet-as-a-lifeline-for-aec-smes/
Mar 30 2009
This week, UK SMEs embrace the cloud during recession
There have been some conflicting survey findings recently regarding the attractiveness (or otherwise) of cloud computing during an economic downturn. Just last week, we had news of an Avanade survey that showed businesses to be risk-averse and avoiding cloud computing. This week, “cloud vendor” Gooroo says – not surprisingly – that UK small businesses “will …
Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2009/03/this-week-uk-smes-embrace-the-cloud-during-recession/
Oct 15 2008
SMEs under-estimate connectivity issues of SaaS adoption
A survey of over 270 small/medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by EasyNet Connect (see PDF) shows that, while many are ready to embrace Software-as-a-Service, they are often ignoring connectivity and security issues: One in four respondents plan to move to cloud-based services or applications within two years, with around half (47%) expected to do so within five …
Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2008/10/smes-under-estimate-connectivity-issues-of-saas-adoption/
Jan 25 2008
IBM targets SME collaboration with SaaS Bluehouse
A few years ago, my young children would rise at unfeasibly early hours of the day and watch kids TV, including a programme called Bear in the Big Blue House. I was reminded of this when reading news of a new offering from IBM: a web-delivered service that provides extranet services to SMEs (aka SMBs) …
Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2008/01/ibm-targets-sme/








