I have always believed that the front office is the sweet spot for the cloud - for now, and for a while - and recently I had the pleasure and privilege of collaborating with my friends at Sogeti on a book that - here is the blurb -

Improving Collaboration between people and between organizations is no longer optional if you want to survive in today s hyper connected business world. Speed of change, unpredictability and the increasingly social nature of the marketplace make collaboration instrumental to your company s ability to differentiate. New ways of collaboration are starting to take place within your company, across value chains and in the individual social domain of your employees. At the same time, new architecture and delivery models are bringing many new collaborative tools within reach of every person in your organization, with or without your knowledge or control. The use of personal email is one example we have learned to address, but how do you respond to personal workspaces, document sharing or instant messaging? Or even better: how does your business benefit from them? On the technology side, a volatile mix of acronyms like SOA Service Oriented Architecture, SaaS Software as a Service and Web2.0 is brewing that is drastically changing our view on the role and value of Information Technology. If left to chance there is little hope for success: you need a strategy. The new business world that is starting to show all around us is driven by autonomous, bottom up organizations where innovation and collaboration are part of the culture. In Value Chain 2.0, it is about quickly establishing combinations that offer value to the marketplace. It is about crossing boundaries and taking the full benefits from Cloud Computing and anything available As A Service, from platform to complete business solution. 

Erik Van Ommeren is one of the smartest people that I have had the opportunity to work and collaborate with - his passion for emerging technologies and their application to business is remarkable. I really enjoyed working with him and the team on this effort - and I hope that you find some value in this book. There is also a web site where you can find additional information.