Office 2.0 Conference – A Look Back

by Brian Solis on September 15, 2007

words and pictures by Brian Solis

September is one of the busiest months in the tech sector playing host to Office 2.0, TechCrunch40, Dreamforce, DEMOfall 07, among many, many others.

With the onslaught of web 2.0 news announcements that will barrage us over the next several weeks, I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the impact of the Office 2.0 conference.

Rafe Needleman of Webware interviews Guillaume Cohen of Veodia

At the very least, it demonstrated that online applications are only gaining momentum and will soon start to the eventual displacement of the traditional software applications we have so depended on to maintain productivity. And, Office 2.0 applications will democratize workflow, allowing people to experiment with the tools that work for them without the usual overhead of financial and computing resources.

The companies displayed solutions for personal and workgroup productivity, to mobile professionals and full-blown enterprise applications. The conference also put the spotlight on hardware companies providing new devices and gadgets for the Office 2.0 workforce. Highlights included Skype phones from Ipevo and Plantronics and pocket-sized PCs from OQO (which I would love to review if you happen to read this).

Not only were the demonstrations of hardware an interesting take on O20 tech, having 500 iPhones helping attendees navigate the conference, while also keeping them (at) work, was a working example of how iPhones are *almost* business ready.

The tracks were divided into two channels, enterprise 2.0 and mobile and productivity, showcasing the discussions that are driving Office 2.0 forward and also spotlighting the challenges preventing immediate, wider adoption.

iPhone promoting the upcoming Graphing Social Patterns conference

One of the most interesting and elements of the conference were the consistently running demo tracks where over 100 companies demonstrated their products in 15 minute segments. This in conjunction with the demo pavilion, were the main focus of my time and attention – as well as our video interviews, which we will run shortly.