Enterprise 2.0: RSS is Essential
There is a good article about why people should care about RSS in today’s Network World. I’ve found even the smartest people (gasp! even technology veterans) are confused by using RSS as a tool, and Network World provides a succinct way to look at it:
‘RSS tools are being used in workplace settings to distribute a wide variety of information that previously was either added silently to portals or sent via the already information-overloaded e-mail channel, in both instances running a high risk of being ignored.
Enterprise RSS is often used to notify users of changes and updates to corporate blogs and wikis, as well as to databases and CRM (customer relationship management) systems, said Oliver Young, a Forrester Research Inc. analyst. “Traditional portals haven’t worked because it’s a pain in the butt to check them every day for new information. Or you might get an e-mail alert. But with RSS, every time something happens on the wiki or the blog gets updated, it comes to you automatically. That’s tremendously efficient,” he said.’
I have persistent searches set up on all of my customer names - so Attensa (my RSS feed reader and client) will constantly monitor the blogosphere, wikis and news sites for mentions for each of them. Attensa for Outlook (which is free and downloadable here) feeds the search results immediately into my Outlook in a special area it sets up for me, below my mail folders.
Imagine, inside your own organization:
- Product managers being notified when competitive products are mentioned anywhere.
- PR professionals instantly being alerted (even on their phones) when a client is mentioned.
- Development teams receiving alerts when their particular area of a wiki (an online collaboration tool) has been updated with new information.
Each of these scenarios is essential to productivity - you’ve got a tool that will constantly be on the lookout for news and information for you - and deliver it right to your inbox on any device.
We’re drowning in data, RSS is a great way to help you make information out of it.
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