Category: Internet

Aug 26 2011

What’s the next disruptive idea for collaboration?

By Paul Wilkinson in AEC, BIM, Collaboration, Extranet/CDE, Functionality, Future, Internet, Mobile, SaaS, Web 2.0
26 August 2011

I am indebted to a reader, Pierre-Alexandre Losson of Brussels-based Telio, who asked me a very interesting question about innovation: “In my opinion all vendors are more or less providing the same toolchain, using the same techniques. What would be in your opinion the next disruptive idea that could or should be pushed in the …

Permanent link to this article: https://extranetevolution.com/2011/08/whats-the-next-disruptive-idea-for-collaboration/

Apr 20 2011

COINS acquires e-Xact Online

By Paul Wilkinson in AEC, BIM, Business/Financial, Collaboration, Functionality, Future, Internet, Marketing, Vendors
20 April 2011

A former client of mine, construction industry software solutions provider COINS, recently acquired e-Xact Online, the product information service for building materials (reports BuildersMerchantsNews.com; see also COINS news release). e-Xact Online was launched in 1999, originally by the Builders Merchants Federation, with the assistance of a DETR government grant that was aimed at removing costs …

AECVenture, Arrideo, Asite, BIM, Buildbase, Builders Merchants Federation, building information modelling, building materials, BuildOnline, carbon reduction, COINS, COINS-etc, construction collaboration technologies, cost information, data sheets, database, design information, dot.com bubble, e-commerce, e-marketplaces, e-trading communities, e-Xact Online, images, Jewson, Mercadium, Nigel Cope, pre-purchase, procurement routes, procurement-to-payment, product information, Sword CTSpace, Travis Perkins

Permanent link to this article: https://extranetevolution.com/2011/04/coins-acquires-e-xact-online/

Mar 23 2011

SnagR: mobile but not SaaS

By Paul Wilkinson in AEC, Business/Financial, Collaboration, Functionality, Internet, Marketing, Mobile, People issues, Vendors
23 March 2011

Ignore the marketing hype about SnagR being “the first its kind innovative Web and PDA-based site inspection and defect management system” (both BIW and BuildOnline – now part of Sword CTSpace – had PDA-based defects management systems in 2006), but SnagR is a user-friendly digitised system designed to speed up the process of capturing, reporting …

Android 2.2, Asite, audit trail, augmented reality, BIW, BuildOnline, CMToolkit, connectivity, construction collaboration system, defect management, Graham Henderson, integration, iPad, iPhone, licensing, Liz Henderson, Mark Henderson, marketing, Middle East, mobile, MPS, PDA, PDF, Pragmatech, property management, Qatar, reporting, SaaS, Screenshare, site inspection, SnagR, Software-as-a-Service, south-east Asia, Stafford, surveying, Sword CTSpace, Sypro, tablets, Tailormade Software, UK, ultra-mobile, Vimeo, Windows 7
8 comments

Permanent link to this article: https://extranetevolution.com/2011/03/snagr-mobile-but-not-saas/

Mar 21 2011

Aconex to launch iPhone app in April

By Paul Wilkinson in AEC, Business/Financial, Collaboration, Functionality, Future, Internet, Marketing, Mobile, SaaS, Telecoms, Vendors
21 March 2011

Australia-based SaaS construction collaboration technology vendor Aconex will be launching its first iPhone application next month (April 2011). A short note on its support page about release 10.2, says: Coming Soon – Aconex Mobile Now Aconex goes everywhere you go. We’re pleased to announce the launch of Aconex Mobile (for iPhone®) in April. Very soon …

4Projects, Aconex, Aconex Mobile, Android, API, Asite, Australia, BIW, Blackberry, BuildItLive, Conject, construction collaboration technology, Corecon, defects management, Foreman's Mate, Incite, iPad, iPhone, PDA, Rob Phillpot, Site Clean-Up, SmartBuilder, smartphone, Sword CTSpace, web-browser, Windows Mobile 7, Woobius
4 comments

Permanent link to this article: https://extranetevolution.com/2011/03/aconex-to-launch-iphone-app-in-april/

Mar 15 2011

Online collaboration for marketing and sales

By Paul Wilkinson in AEC, Blogs, Business/Financial, Collaboration, Functionality, Future, Internet, Marketing, Mobile, People issues, SaaS, Vendors, Web 2.0
15 March 2011

Enhancing customer service is one area where many AEC firms could do better, and web-based tools can help support marketing and sales activities. Show Document and VeriShow I wrote about the SaaS generic design review application Show Document about 18 months ago. I didn’t devote much time to it from a construction perspective as it …

Permanent link to this article: https://extranetevolution.com/2011/03/online-collaboration-for-marketing-and-sales/

Mar 02 2011

The Role of Cloud Computing in Commercial Property

By Paul Wilkinson in Business/Financial, Functionality, Future, Internet, Legal, Mobile, People issues, SaaS, Telecoms
2 March 2011

Last Thursday I went to the London HQ of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors for the breakfast-time launch of a new RICS report on cloud computing (download; see also RICS news release) written by Andrew Waller and Bob Thompson of Remit Consulting. Having been working in and writing about Software-as-a-Service for more than a …

Permanent link to this article: https://extranetevolution.com/2011/03/the-role-of-cloud-computing-in-commercial-property/

Feb 27 2011

Immersive design collaboration, with IdentityMine

By Paul Wilkinson in AEC, BIM, Collaboration, Extranet/CDE, Functionality, Future, Internet, Mobile, People issues, Web 2.0
27 February 2011

I have returned from time to time to the perceived shortcomings of online design collaboration insofar as some architects and other designers prefer the intuitive, paper-based processes of marking-up, commenting and sketching on design drawings by hand. Such ‘collaboration’ they say is less easy when they are faced by conventional computer interfaces as opposed to, …

architecture, BIM, building information modelling, built environment, business intelligence, Cereno, collaborative decision-making, Collaborative Working Environment, collaboratory, commenting, Construction, content sharing, CWE, data visualisation, design collaboration, design drawings, device integration, Engineering, Executive Dashboard of the Future, facial recognition, Gen Y, gesture-driven navigation, IdentityMine, Jonah Sterling, marking-up, Microsoft Surface, Millennials, mobile, NUI, NuVa, office design, presence detection, real time, remote collaboration, Second Life, sketching, status, studio design, Surface, tablets, touch-sensitive wall screens, video-conferencing, voice recognition, Web 2.0, XBox Kinect, YouTube

Permanent link to this article: https://extranetevolution.com/2011/02/immersive-design-collaboration-with-identitymine/

Dec 15 2010

See Howzee

By Paul Wilkinson in AEC, Business/Financial, Functionality, Future, Internet, Marketing, Mobile, People issues, SaaS, Vendors, Web 2.0
15 December 2010

Howzee offers a hyper-local service to manage the tenant/property management communication challenge at an individual block level. Alongside my main focus on ICT tools to help teams deliver construction projects, I have also taken an interest in how ICT tools can be used to help manage completed buildings or other assets. This includes online facilities …

Permanent link to this article: https://extranetevolution.com/2010/12/see-howzee/

Sep 27 2010

Keep taking the tablets

By Paul Wilkinson in AEC, BIM, Blogs, Collaboration, Functionality, Future, Internet, Marketing, Mobile, SaaS, Telecoms, Vendors
27 September 2010

I recently talked to Building magazine’s Stephen Kennett about use of mobile devices such as Apple’s iPad in the construction industry and providing some pointers on who else he might talk to. The resulting article, Keep Taking the Tablets (paywall site: subscription normally required) was published last week (I get a couple of mentions – …

Android, Apple, BIW, building information model, Building magazine, Buro Happold, Colin Smith, Construction, construction collaboration, defects management, goBIM, Ian Keough, iPad, mobile, operating systems, Stephen Kennett, Woobius Eye

Permanent link to this article: https://extranetevolution.com/2010/09/keep-taking-the-tablets/

Aug 03 2010

OpeningDesign.com

By Paul Wilkinson in AEC, Collaboration, Extranet/CDE, Functionality, Future, Internet, Marketing, People issues, SaaS, Vendors, Web 2.0
3 August 2010

Partly through my involvement with Be2camp and partly because of my interests in online collaborative spaces, I was contacted by US-based architect Ryan Shultz of Studio Wikitecture to have a look at a very early, ‘alpha stage’ website concept, OpeningDesign.com. As Ryan candidly admits, this application is still experimental, and is currently a combination of …