Whew!

Well, I know. It's been a long time since I last posted. I have been completely swamped with the transition after Microsoft acquired Parlano (the acquisition officially closed at the beginning of October!). But, while there is much work to be done, we are well on our way now and I thought I could come up briefly for air. So, a few catch up items:

1. I know many people follow my blog after I spoke at the SLAM Conference last June on the subject of blogging for the enterprise. Yes, I have to admit I broke my own advice after not posting for so long. But, I thought I would fill you in on an interesting stat... without going into details, the acquisition announcement exceeded coverage predictions (if you had a web search alert on "Parlano" you would have seen a lot of coverage). While I believe there are many factors including the product, loyal customers, and hard work by the deal and announcement teams, the fact is that a lot of primary and secondary (ongoing) coverage came from reporters, Parlano fans, and analysts in the blogosphere. Another proof point that blogging can make a difference even if you aren't a top-rated blog (for those of you who missed my presentation, that was the theme).

2. I am happily settling in at Microsoft as part of the Unified Communications Marketing Team to help get the power of persistent group chat fully baked into the UC story and offering. Out of respect for a lot of the fantastic work going on in Microsoft surrounding UC and the vastly different approach the team needs to take to roll out products to the market, I am going to avoid discussing specific products and plans in this blog (unlike my days at Parlano). I assure you this has nothing to do with anything anyone asked me to do-- in fact Microsoft is well known for having an open blogging policy. It's just what I think is right. That said, I do plan to pick up where I left off and talk about the opportunity for Enterprise 2.0 (I am compiling some thoughts on Facebook for the enterprise) because I remain as enthusiastic as ever about the trends we are all seeing and for the real benefits product like MindAlign provide customers. Keep in mind that my opinions are my own and most likely not at all in line with what most people think. ;-)

3. I am deep into my training for Ironman Arizona 2008. Still haven't gotten to the really long weekend rides, but I am beginning to pick up the volume. I am going to raise money for a cause.... still deciding on which one! Stay tuned.

That's all for now!