OnePlace Blog

OnePlace has a new phone number

steve.kickert@bluewaterdirect.com (Steve Kickert) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:33:00 GMT

Please note: The main phone number for OnePlace has changed.

It is now 952-215-0825.

Thank you for all your support. We appreciate your business.

Creating Your Online Collaboration Environment

matt.geiser@bluewaterdirect.com (Matt Geiser) — Fri, 06 May 2011 04:31:00 GMT

The social business tools available today provide great places to collaborate, and ultimately enhance overall team success. However, some thought should go into structuring your collaboration environment before you take it online.

As we talk with clients implementing OnePlace, one of the first questions we get asked is “How should I structure OnePlace to work for my team?” My response to this is: “How is your team set up now (off-line)? Setting up OnePlace usually follows the same off-line team structure.

Typically, our clients interact with a number of their own customers and need a way to collaborate, or, they might be an emerging company that doesn’t yet have a formal infrastructure. Each of these types of companies may have a very different need for their collaboration environment.

OnePlace uses hierarchical “workplaces” to organize projects, discussions, files, and tasks. For example, a marketing agency may want to set up department workplaces to collaborate internally, and each of their clients may have its own workplace for external collaboration and project management.

You can organize by department, topic, client, project or other structures that fit your organization. As your company or team grows, and needs change, your online collaboration structure will evolve. Even if the initial structure doesn’t work, you can make changes very quickly with little impact on team productivity. Actively organizing your collaboration solution will improve collaboration and overall team productivity.

Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining

matt.geiser@bluewaterdirect.com (Matt Geiser) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 08:41:00 GMT

So …….last Thursday through Sunday was a little challenging, as most companies running off the Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) service grinded to a halt for most of the day on Thursday. Many companies were without access to their business applications, and OnePlace was no exception. Both our customers and employees had to work differently that day. We were fortunate that only one full business day was effected. By Sunday all businesses were back up and running.

By now companies running social business solutions such as OnePlace have realized that E-mail isn’t an effective way to collaborate, managing file versions on a server doesn’t work very well, and having a pulse on your business is difficult when team members aren’t connected. Last Thursday we went backwards – suddenly, E-mail and file servers were used among the team and paper checklists were in vogue again. Our once collaborative environment suddenly became narrow and solitary. Though we were physically close in proximity, except for a developer working remotely from rural Wisconsin, we weren’t quite sure how to communicate or share what we were working on. But what we did confirm, as we already believed, is that OnePlace matters.

As a result of the EC2 outage, we’ll see improvements to Web-based applications to result in greater resiliency to any future outages. See The AWS Outage: The Cloud’s Shining Moment written by one of our local technologists George Reese. If a situation like this occurs again, we can expect reduced application failures, as application architecture will be improved to leverage the cloud rather than succumb to it.

I want to thank our customers for understanding the nature of the failure on Thursday; it’s hard to place a value on the disruption to businesses that day. While our team was able to function, there was a distinct impact on our business and our customers were no exception.

Compensating our customers for their lost productivity is difficult, but as a small consolation we are giving each paying customer OnePlace free for a week.

OnePlace is Back Up

denis.ahearn@bluewaterdirect.com (Denis Ahearn) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 14:19:00 GMT

OnePlace is back up and running! We're happy to report that no data was lost during today's outage.

Thank you very much for your patience and we are sorry for the inconvenience.

OnePlace Issue

steve.kickert@bluewaterdirect.com (Steve Kickert) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 00:22:50 GMT

OnePlace is currently experiencing an issue with our hosting provider. We are working with our hosting provider and hope to have it resolved soon.

Please follow us on www.twitter.com/oneplace for updates.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

AnotherPlace?

matt.geiser@bluewaterdirect.com (Matt Geiser) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 02:19:00 GMT

AnotherPlace - This was a sensitive word with the OnePlace founding team. They did not want to hear that their OnePlace social software for teams could easily be delegated as “AnotherPlace”. I joined the OnePlace team one year ago as a business development consultant and, of course, I had to challenge the product’s value. Collaboration is cool, but is it worth the hassle of another software application, and another subscription? As I came up to speed on Social Business Software space, I looked at dozens of applications that were developed to enhance team performance while leveraging the social aspects of popular interfaces like Facebook and Twitter, they all were AnotherPlace: each valuable in their own right, but not critical tools.

Now as a part Bluewater, 22 people are using OnePlace daily to various degrees. For some it replaces the network drive where files used to be stored. Others use it to share their daily conquests, collaborate and/or manage their daily workloads. This morning I received a team activity report from OnePlace that showed OP usage by individual and the overall team; the numbers were impressive and the range of usage by team member is wide. User adoption is very individualistic in collaborative solutions and that is okay, as long as every user sees value in participating in the discussion.

In the new software model, solutions are casually brought in by the team, and users are not forced to adopt them. Rather users now need to find value on their own terms. The new model isn’t all or nothing, instead value is driven at an individual level, and team adoption reflects that. For everyone on our team the consensus is that OnePlace isn’t AnotherPlace, rather it has become ThePlace for team social and work activity.

OnePlace Announces Acquisition by Bluewater

makenzie.birchell@bluewaterdirect.com (Makenzie Birchell) — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 02:00:00 GMT

As you may have seen, OnePlace announced its merger with Bluewater - a local direct marketing automation company based in Shakopee, MN. Together, OnePlace and Bluewater will work to enhance and improve the local direct marketing, communication and collaboration processes of franchises and multi-unit corporations.

For our current OnePlace customers, your OnePlace experience will stay the same, and our familiar, dedicated team will be available as always. If you need to contact the OnePlace team for any reason, please use the same communication methods as before, and we will be here for you!

We look forward to the future of our company, and will be sharing exciting new developments with you as they arise!

For more information on this exciting transition, please see the press release on the Bluewater website.

Create a Killer Collaboration Space

dana@riverocktech.com (Dana Larson) — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 05:14:00 GMT

Do you want your teammates to be more innovative, communicative and collaborative? Great! We do too! But first, you may need to make some big changes in your office structure.

If you think that gray walls, hard office chairs and boring white boards under florescent lighting is conducive to collaboration, you’re may not be a very creative person. Most people flourish under bright colors, fun themes and a new experience so their teamworking efforts ooze efficiency and productivity.

One thing you need to create in your office is a collaboration space. This is the place where teams go to generate ideas, work together and build success as a unit. And you need to make this space awesome to facilitate better innovation.

Here are a few tips for creating a killer collaboration space in your office.

Move It Off To The Side
No one wants to stay in their office or cube all day. Make your team get up, walk around, and navigate to another part of the office for their collaboration time. This not only gets the blood flowing to their brains, but it also gives them a new location to use, which can inspire new ideas.

Use Color!
Get rid of the gray and eggshell walls. Go green! Red! Blue! Orange! The sky’s the limit. These colors will ignite some great ideas in their heads, and your team will feel the creative energy flowing through the room and into the work the produce.

Get Rid Of Boring Chairs and Conference Tables
Guess what? Sitting around a long, dull table isn’t going to make anyone happy or creative. Spice up your space with a kidney bean-shaped table and chairs covered in funky colors. Or ditch the table and chairs altogether and outfit the room in beanbag chairs instead. Make the area comfortable and cool for better idea generation.

Utilize Multiple Writing Surfaces
A pen and paper can be great, but don’t be afraid to shake things up. Have your table covered with a white board, or use chalk board paint on one of the walls to everyone can write all over the place. This can help generate and organize ideas much easier than flipping through pages in a notebook.

Music? Of Course!
Some people work better with music playing in the background. Utilize a sound system or hook up a computer to play internet radio for brainstorming sessions to get the creative juices flowing in a fun way.

The main idea here is to make collaboration fun, so it can be more creative and innovative. So go ahead and begin creating an awesome collaboration space for your team. They’ll love using it, and you’ll love the results they produce. Don’t be afraid; grab a paintbrush and begin!

How To Organize Communications For A More Productive Team

dana@riverocktech.com (Dana Larson) — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 04:32:00 GMT

As you are probably aware, increased business communications enhances workplace satisfaction and overall business success. These days, businesses focus more on improving their communication to build up their employees rather than forcing them into producing work. This business management style is going a long way toward a more open, professional culture that improves the work experience and ultimately moves the business forward.

One challenge with this open communication culture is how to organize those communications. Is there a good way to store information, dialogues, decisions and notes based on spoken communication? How about finding ideas buried in email inboxes? What if someone forgets a key decision and a project isn’t started on time? These are all questions businesses are facing with regard to facilitating open dialogues in the office.

So, how can you organize these business communications? Here are a few tips that will keep your team more productive as a result.

Utilize an Online Collaboration Solution
Online collaboration solutions are great for storing communications. You should be able to hold on-going conversations inside these solutions, while also communicating around work, asking and answering questions, and storing research and resources to access later. These solutions can keep your entire team more organized and facilitate more effective communication overall.

Take and Store Notes After Meetings
No one wants to walk away from a meeting and forget what was discussed. During the meeting, designate someone to take notes and input those notes in your collaboration solution for the entire team to view and reference later.

Keep a Pen and Paper Handy
Key decisions can be made in the lunch room or at the water cooler, and you may want to write down some of these ideas for later. If you don’t have a notebook with you all the time, make sure to have one at your desk so you can jot down ideas and decisions as needed. Then, input them into your online collaboration solution for your team, so everyone is kept up to date as to the decisions being made.

Ask For Follow-Ups
If you’ve stopped by someone’s desk and had a chat with a teammate, ask them to input notes from your talk into your collaboration solution for follow-up later. This will keep them focused on what was talked about, and will help you access information without having to ask that person for a reminder a few days later.

When your communications are kept more organized, you’ll be able to easily reference them when making key decisions in the future. This will save time and improve clarity, thus making the work you complete more successful for your business.

Collaborating in the Cloud

dana@riverocktech.com (Dana Larson) — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 04:13:00 GMT

Cloud computing doesn’t just have to be for business information storage. Don’t let the overly techie name fool you - cloud computing can be useful for all people in your business. Everyone from the IT guy to the part-time administrative assistant can use cloud computing systems to improve their business processes.

One of the great benefits to cloud computing is the act of easy information sharing. Documents and resources from one computer can automatically be stored up in the cloud, and accessed by anyone else on the team from anywhere at any time. This process, in effect, triggers more effective team collaboration.

Because many businesses these days thrive off of teamwork and communication, team collaboration with and without collaboration software is becoming more of the norm. This type of business collaboration brings teams together, allows them to connect and communicate around their work, and lets them complete more work, together.

Thankfully, this process of teamworking fits in perfectly with cloud computing. Cloud collaborating means that business teammates will be using the cloud as a way to store and communicate around work and information.

Now, one member of your team can be working on one document, it will automatically be shared on the cloud, and another member of your team can view it, edit it, and push the edits back up to the cloud. The team can then be working together on one project from a great distance, and be more productive.

So if you think your business could benefit from this type of cloud collaboration, you may want to start looking into solutions. You’ll love the benefits you see, and your team will enjoy being able to connect with others to get their work done more efficiently.