We have just formally launched our first stand-alone web application – DocuBuzz – an on-demand document management solution specifically designed for small businesses and distributed teams.

The concept for DocuBuzz evolved from our experience in developing custom document & records management solutions for a variety of clients.  In the course of these projects, we realized that the core document management requirements are quite similar across most small businesses.  We also realized that most off-the-shelf solutions were simply not suitable for small businesses – being too expensive, too complex, or both.

DocuBuzz is our attempt to offer an alternative – a simple and affordable document management solution that leverages the benefits of the web-based, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model.  The current version of DocuBuzz aims to cover the essential document management needs of most small businesses.

Core features include:

• An intuitive multi-user interface
• Collaborative Notes & Tags
• Full text search with search filters
• Document versioning
• Built-in document viewer
• In-situ link & file sharing with variable shared-link lifetimes
• Flexible folder sharing permissions

Head on over to www.docubuzz.com and activate your fully-functional free trial account to check out DocuBuzz for yourself.  We are extremely eager to hear what you think about it.

The Economist has just released a Special Report on Corporate IT detailing how information technology is turning into a global cloud accessible from anywhere.

The report argues that information technology is coming full circle and becoming increasingly centralized as more activity moves away from distributed devices into data centres. Cheaper and more powerful processors and speedier and more pervasive networks are making computing power ever more disembodied and commoditised.  This allows digital technology to be consumed where and when it is needed – enabling IT to penetrate ever deeper into all aspects of general social and economic activity.

This shift, claims the Economist, “will profoundly change the way people work and companies operate.”  Read the full set of articles in this Special Report for invaluable insghts into where this cloud phenonmenon is heading.

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.

Salesforce.com announced its intention to build a data centre in Singapore – its first outside North America. It will also establish a Network Operations Centre here to enhance the monitoring of the company’s global data operations.

The decision to develop its facilities in Singapore reflects the robust growth of the company’s Asia Pacific business – 94% year on year growth, contributing approximately 10% of Salesforce.com’s total quarterly revenue in the period ending April 30.

It certainly looks as if the cloud computing model is gaining traction in Asia.

According to Frank Gens – IDC’s VP of research – IT majors like IBM, Microsoft and HP are beginning to take Web 2.0 and on-demand technologies seriously. He expects these vendors to aggressively target the collaboration and business-oreitnted social networking space this year. Not surprising, given that more than 40% of enterprises are expected to have a social network deployed internally by year end.

IBM in January unveiled its revamped Lotus Web 2.0 platform – a suit of collaborative services that tap into the online content & social networking trend. Gens predicts that the company will soon crash the Software-as-a-Service party with Salesforce.com-style “cloud-based” solutions.

Microsoft has been aggressively promoting on-demand versions of its key enterprise solutions. Keen to have its cake and eat it too, Microsoft is adopting a “software-plus-service” strategy which adds collaborative online functionality to its traditional software products so as not to cannibalize its cash cow.

Of course, the Web 2.0 incumbents will not take this challenge lying down. Google and its ilk have been busy “corporatizing” their services and solutions.

Let the competition begin!

The writing is on the wall – the global economy seems destined for a rough ride ahead. The US appears to be caught in an economic rut and Asia may not be quite as immune from the woes of the US economy as many are hoping.On the home front, a recent HSBC survey revealed that small businesses in Singapore are far less optimistic about the growth outlook than they were six months ago.

Not all that surprising, really, considering a recent Business Times report that Singapore appears to be loosing its competitive edge – mainly due to sharp increases in wages and other operating costs.In fact, Singapore is now ranked # 7 globally in a table of most expensive office rents compiled by real estate consultants Cushman & Wakefield with an average rental rate of SGD 185 per sq ft. Meanwhile, Singapore’s GDP shrank by 4.8% in Q4 of last year.So, how should a small business weather this “perfect storm”?

Google has announced the release of Google Apps – Team Edition, designed as a simple, accessible way for small teams within an organization to collaborate on documents and calendars, without the intervention of IT support personnel.As online threats like spyware, viruses and rootkits multiply, IT departments are typically overworked, and understaffed.

To keep their networks secure IT departments are notoriously cautious about what applications they allow on their networks. This can be very frustrating for the growing percentage of savvy users, who use increasingly sophisticated tools at home, and feel artificially limited when at their office computer. The new version of Google’s App Suite is targeted squarely at them.

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company Salesforce.com’s latest release (Spring ‘08) will add Content Management and Collaboration features to its bag of tools. Salesforce.com also list 50 new features in its core CRM solution.

Many of these new features apparently started as ideas on the company’s own IdeaExchange forum.Salesforce Content is an interesting addition to the suite that uses social media concepts such as tagging, subscriptions and recommendations to allow users to manage unstructured content within the Salesforce environment.

Other recent networking concepts have been deployed within the Salesforce Ideas module to facilitate the management of communications and user feedback.It certainly is encouraging to see Salesforce.com taking the lead in turning popular innovations from the social networking sphere into tangible business oriented solutions.

InfoWorld has announced its 2008 Technology of the Year Award winners and one Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application to earn kudos is eXpresso. Named as the Best Spreadsheet Collaboration application, eXpresso enables the easy creation of communities for sharing Microsoft Excel files.

Powered by an Oracle database, eXpresso provides more extensive content auditing & management control than services such as Google Spreadsheets. Going beyond basic file versioning capabilities, eXpresso ups the ante by incorporating interactive community features like chat, social tagging and simultaneous editing. The well thought-out interface also adds to a very satisfying user experience.

Priced at US$15 monthly per user, eXpresso certainly warrants a close look for SMBs that rely on Excel as their primary planning and tracking tool.