Yahoo, HP and Intel have announced that they will jointly set up six virtual research centres designed to test emerging cloud computing technologies.

One of these centres will be right here in Singapore – hosted by the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA). Two other centres will be at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany. HP, Yahoo and Intel with also host one centre each.

Cloud computing essentially refers to the concept of using vast arrays of globally distributed computers as a platform for delivering services. Many industry watchers consider cloud computing to be the next big thing in IT. Research firm Gartner predicts that it will be as influential as e-business.

These new centres will allow researchers to test software, hardware and systems that would make the large-scale resources needed for cloud computing more reliable, manageable and secure.

Check out the IDA’s press release for more details on the Singapore cloud computing test bed.

“Work is something you do, not some place you go to” – this phrase from Home Warriors, an Economist.com article, is something I cannot agree with more.

Many smart businesses have long realized the tremendous boost in productivity and efficiency that can be achieved by embracing telecommuting. It is estimated that more than a quarter of the workforce in developed economies hold jobs that can easily be done remotely.

However, effective telecommuting requires more than just e-mail and a broadband connection. A robust and well designed collaboration platform is essential if dispersed individuals are to function as an effective team. Other potential downsides include telecommuters’ alienation due to lack of face-to-face contact with fellow workers. 

The good news is that there are a number of innovative collaboration platforms and telepresence solutions emerging that promise to make the telecommuting experience more enjoyable and effective. Home Warriors provides a glimpse into some of these innovations.

Netsuite this week enhanced the capabilities of its premium NetSuite CRM+ application.

A key new feature is the Knowledge Management for Customer Service module which is designed to help front-end service staff find relevant content to handle customer inquiries. The interface also allows reps to easily add customer feedback into the knowledge base.

Also introduced are Marketing Automation features to help marketers effectively segment their target markets for more productive marketing campaigns.

Yahoo Mail users can now access their email even when they are offline. Yahoo has just released the Yahoo Zimbra Desktop as a free download for both Mac and Windows.

Zimbra Desktop is an application that you install locally on your PC. It functions like a traditional e-mail client such as Microsoft Outlook or Apple’s Mail App. In fact, the Zimbra interface has been designed to closely mirror Outlook’s general look and functionality.

Zimbra Desktop’s main benefit is that it gives you offline access to your Webmail accounts – it even works with Gmail accounts. It also throws in some productivity elements into the mix – specifically spreadsheet and word-processing applications; however, these are quite rudimentary even compared to Google Docs applications.

The Zimbra Desktop’s email features are certainly impressive – tagging, conversations threading, comprehensive search, etc. However, it does not seem able to synchronize with the Yahoo Address Book or Calendars just yet.

The Zimbra Desktop technology originates from Zimbra Inc – a company that Yahoo acquired in September 2007. Its primary product is the Zimbra Collaboration Suite – a full-featured collaboration platform that supports email, instant messaging, group calendars & contacts, and document sharing.

Intelligent Enterprises’ Doug Henschen reports on his Q&A session with product manager at Google Enterprise Rishi Chandra.

Chandra provides some revealing clues to Google strategic thrust. Having completely dominated the Search game, Google is taking aim squarely at the Enterprise space – and it’s chosen medium is Web Applications.

Google is clearly positioning itself as an application platform in its effort “to go from consumers to the enterprise.”

Read the full text of this interview here.

The “Enterprise Software Customer Survey 2008″ from McKinsey & Company reveals just how rapidly the business software landscape is changing.

The survey points to a accelerating adoption of subscription-based and on-demand solutions. This is clearly being driven by Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) which are collectively spending 26% of their software budgets on web applications. However, many larger enterprises are also starting to jump onto the SaaS bandwagon.

McKinsey expects this shift to web apps to fundamentally reshape the software industry, predicting the “rise of a new generation of platforms to develop, integrate, deploy and host these applications.”

Read the full McKinsey report here.

Effectively managing its talent-base is critical for the long-term success of any business – even more so for a small businesses. Unfortunately, many small businesses treat their talent management processes as an after-thought and thus fail enjoy the benefits of having a truly motivated, high-performance workforce.

The emergence of on-demand solutions specializing in talent management has made it feasible for even the smallest of businesses to effectively implement proven and powerful performance management practices. Two such solutions that we have seen successfully implemented are Taleo & SuccessFactors. Both are web-based, Software-as-Service (SaaS) solutions that include modules for managing & aligning goals, tracking & reviewing performances and benchmarking compensation and benefits packages.

Both Taleo and SuccessFactors are designed to provide critical, real-time performance data to enable companies to better manage, motivate and engage their talent base in order to drive better business results. Once configured and set-up properly, SaaS solutions such as these are ideal for small businesses as they do not need extensive IT support to maintain.

Most businesses are failing to take advantage of the potential benefits offered by the rapid growth of the social networking phenomenon. This according to a recent Gartner study which claims that businesses that harness the social web appropriately can “increase savings, productivity and profits”.

The gut reaction of most businesses is to block their employees’ access to social sites as such activity is perceived to be frivolous time-wasting. However, some smart firms are starting to realize that incorporating the social networks into their work-flows can actually dramatically increase their employees reach and productivity.

One such example is the use of social networks in the recruitment space. Many organizations have discovered that social networking sites are proving more cost-effective and efficient at recruiting the right talent than even specialized recruitment consultants. Indeed, even the high-end recruitment firms themselves are already using the social web as a key resource for tracking down the right candidates.

Another interesting development is in the way employees within an organization are communicating amongst themselves. Many teams have discovered that the messaging capabilities embedded in most social networking sites are far more effective at enabling collaboration and team-work than such traditional tools as email.

Bottom line – don’t dismiss the social networking phenomenon as a passing fad or distraction. It’s here to stay and can actually be turned into a powerful productivity tool if incorporated properly into your workflow.

Boon or bane? Email has radically transformed the way we communicate. Indeed, most knowledge workers would find it difficult to survive without the ease, reach & convenience of email.

However, email has its dark side too. Spam, lack of security and the sheer volume of email can make it as much a hinderance as a boost to productivity. The NPR website has a useful collection of articles and audio clips of how to tame the email beast.

The Economist website has an interesting commentary on the most recent broadband penetration ranking from the OECD (The Broadband Myth). This ranking grades the OECD countries according to various metrics for internet connectivity. Singapore regularly ranks near the top in the equivalent global broadband penetration table.

However, it is actually rather difficult to show that fast broadband connectivity is actually useful in any practical sense. In fact, the US – the most innovative country as measured by the number of internet start-ups – actually does poorly in the broadband ranking.

As the Economist report points out, the full potential of broadband is in the innovative new applications that is makes possible. In particular, broadband enhances the “participatory culture” on the internet, thus enabling new and innovative forms of productive collaboration. Unfortunately, this potential is far from being fully exploited in most fields.

The good news? This simply means that the ever improving broadband connectivity is creating promising new opportunities for imaginative enterprise. The party, apparently, has yet to begin.