Why Tibbr Matters
Sorry, this will be a quick one so I don't have time to build in an Animal House reference. I've been following all of the "expert" commentary on Twitter about Tibco's Tibbr announcement. At first glance, Tibbr appears to be another entrant in a crowded space that includes Yammer, SocialText, Salesforce (sorry again, a quick one so I don't have time for what deserves to be a very long list, you get the idea).
Tibbr is not a me-too entrant in this space. Tibbr leverages Tibco's unique position to drive highly relevant information into an incredibly compelling new knowledge worker experience. The link between critical line of business data and the average knowledge worker in an enterprise has long been more tenuous and less effective than it should be. Tibco has an investment in enterprise application integration that might astound the uninitiated. So here is an example of how an internal microblog/activity stream might look in a Tibbr-enabled world:
"Joey's Diner has the best clams casino. I can't get enough of them." — Get over yourself, no one cares what you're eating. And by the way, your self-indulgence is creating noise that is blocking critical signal.
"The Knack are back. Great concert last night at the Konocti Harbor Inn." — See above, you get the idea.
"I'm working on a huge proposal for a key client, has anyone done a big deal with legal" — Great, now we're getting somewhere.
"Inventory levels of widgets are critically low in Kansas City store" — Holy mackerel, that's important. Thanks, Tibco, for making a massive investment in building integration to my inventory system.
"Employee Mary Smith has requested vacation time in excess of her available balance. Click here." — See above, you get the idea.
Now, it's not clear to me that Tibco needs to be in the world of building and selling software for knowledge workers. There is likely an ultimate separation between content and user experience. And all of the vendors fighting for a real estate in your enterprise knowledge worker's world probably need what Tibco is providing with Tibbr. A beautiful home needs plumbing, gas lines, etc., or you can't live in it. This a powerful step forward for enterprise social technologies and anything but a me-too.