Need A Business Huddle?

Benjamin Ellis — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 10:52:54 +0000

I’m always on the look out for applications that boost business productivity. A while ago Huddle caught my eye, and I’ve been watching them ever since. Huddle.net was founded in 2006 and is backed by Eden Ventures. They are one of the companies on the upcoming Digital Mission to New York, as well as an active member of the London tech scene, sponsoring regular meet up events.

The customer set is growing from strength to strength, and already includes Boots, Edelman, John Lewis, Mastercard, O2 and other big names. Huddle.net inherits the usual benefits of web-based applications that make them so attractive. While the Headquarters might be in London, the service is available globally. There is no software to install, so users can be up and running in a few clicks (assuming you have a web browser already – a fairly safe bet these days).

Towards the end of the 90′s the emphasis shifted from intranets to extranets, as businesses started to use technology to drive better relationships with suppliers and partners. That sounds very retro now, but the systematic devide between the inside and the outside world still exists in many business applications. It grew out of the security religion of the time, but it doesn’t suit the modern business environment.

Today IT departments have to deal with cross-company virtual teams that are set up at the drop of a hat. Businesses rely on more and more on micro-outsourcing and relationships with customers and suppliers are more collaborative too, which all creates demands for new styles of working.

Huddle’s solution drops neatly into this environment, by providing project management together with an increasing range of collaborative applications. Starting with a free trial, there is a range of usaged-based charges. Recently I caught up with Alastair Mitchell, Huddle.net’s CEO, to find out more about the Huddle.net offering.

Huddle have their own blog and while the sandwich of the day feature might make you hungry, it gives a good peek inside of the company walls. There is a recently updated developer API, which enables external developers to build on the tool set (see here). The full version enables the creation of custom templates and the branding of workspaces. As you dig into it, it is a surprisingly feature rich application.

Huddle certainly isn’t alone in the market, but seems strong for document-orientated working, and is a very worthy alternative to on-premise applications like SharePoint et al.

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Need A Business Huddle?

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