I had recently posted about my quest for a Fast, Integrated CRM solution and also about my attempt at another online software service—Google Apps.
In the last few weeks 37Signals of Bascamp, Campfire, Backpack, Ta-da Lists, and other hosted applications have released news about their new people exchange manager application. Jason Fried said that they were not going after applications that offer heavy reporting and pipelining and that it is a minimal application that really makes it easy for organizations and teams to manage exchanges between individuals and groups.
Here is an excerpt from Jason’s announcement:
So what is Highrise?
Highrise is a shared contact manager that helps you keep track of who you talk to, what was said, and what to do next. Like Basecamp helps you collaborate on projects, Highrise helps you collaborate on people. You can use it alone or with your co-workers. You can think of it as a company-wide, web-based, shared address book with a few twists.
Why did we build it?
We talk with a lot of people. Vendors, lawyers, accountants, journalists, customers, etc. Keeping track of who said what, when they said it, and what needs to be done next is complicated. A jumble of notes on paper, in email drafts folders, and post-it notes is a surefire way to miss this and forget that. Further, we wanted to build a shared tool so I could read up on conversations David had with John Doe before I called John Doe. Knowing the history of a company’s past interaction with people is a great way to save time and make future conversations more valuable.
The follow-up posts available as of today’s post are found here and here. I will post more links as they become available.
Update March 2, 2007: Below is a list of links to all posts by Jason Fried et al regarding the Highrise Previews. I will update it as they do:
February 27th, 2007
(Note: This post was originally composed as an open complaint in the Google Apps Google Group)
I have taken the plunge into attempting to use Google Apps. I have even gone so far as to try out the Premiere Edition. My experience thus far has been less than ideal.
I originally thought that it would be great to be able to manage and handle all my business tasks via Google’s new Apps service but I have been sorely let down.
I have been using the Google personal pages for almost a year now with my Gmail account and love seeing my Gmail and Google reader stuff there as widgets. I thought wow. I could have my domain email work the same way and do it all under my domain email so I signed up.
Here Are the Problems So Far
I Haven’t been able to get the email to work. I have a CPanel based host and the MX Record doesn’t seem to want to change. (Host also has Edit DNS disabled in my reseller WHM account so I can’t change the MX records there even if I wanted to.)
Where Are Contacts in Calendar
I can’t figure out what genius didn’t think it would be a good idea to integrate Contacts with the Google Calendar in Apps. Sharing contacts is not enough. You want to be able to set appointments with them as well. (On the same note, we are given the opportunity [in the Premier Edition] to manage and schedule resources [just not humans])
Start Page is Not At All Like Personal Page
partnerpage/mydomain.com doesn’t work like google.com/ig! Why, I don’t know. But all I do know is that you can’t add any ig(personal page) specific widgets to the start page so my wish to be able to have my reader account work on the start page is all for not. It doesn’t make sense to have a bunch of RSS feed widgets when Google Reader works so well and you can see those feeds there. Put the damn Google Reader widget into partnerpages/mydomain.com. Now!
Standard Google Links Don’t Work Right
Mail, Calendar and other links at the top left of the Apps applications lead to the standard google applications and if you are signed out and try to click mail and sign in you get a nice message that states that, “You can’t login to GMail using your Google Account…” (paraphrased)
Migrating Email = Abandoning Your Old Messages
It appears that it is impossible to import email messages into Gmail for Google Apps. It was, at one time possible with a hack to import messages into standard GMail but why Google wouldn’t think that this might come in handy for someone to use when “migrating” to GMail for Google Apps is beyond me. It should be really called “abandoning your old email” vs. migration if you can’t import your messages.
Peer Support is Not Enough
Help and support seems to be sparse for such a new application. I know it is new but it should have been planned from day one, that the Google Apps Google Group should be manned by people who actually work on the project and have enough people here that questions get answered–no matter how basic. I see far too many threads in this Group that are dead or ignored. For a new application the experienced user group just doesn’t exist–you can’t just expect peer support to work out of the gate. The majority of people in the Google Apps Group are early adopters, the people who, if given the right direction and support will enable them to support others. (Though, I suspect most will just give up or leave based on the current scene)
Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
What I was looking for was an tightly integrated, enhanced, domain version of what I already have with my Google/GMail account. What I have signed up for is a mess of half finished parts being taped together as they go and not a word as to what the shape might end up as.
Questions Still Remain
Will I be able to Scehudule with Contacts?
Use Google Reader and Analytics under my apps account?
Can Import my email messages without a hack?
Will Real Googlers pipe in on this group, en masse, to let us know that it will all eventually work?
Have You Tried the Switch?
Update: Here is someone who has.
February 27th, 2007
