Google Wave is great, and companies should consider offering its functionality to their employees, a consultant says. But only when the concepts come from companies without Google’s baggage and with enterprise track records. The tool from Google, announced in late May, aims to merge virtually all real-time and non-real-time online communications, including e-mail, IM, wikis, blogs and social networks. It’s designed to work in real time, be flexible, and accept add-ons. Last month, the first 100,000 invitations to try Wave were sent out. “I love the concept,” said Irwin Lazar, a vice president at Nemertes Research. “We’ve been talking about the uses of unified communications. This represents the integration of real-time voice, video and IM with non-real-time things such as e-mail and document sharing.” ‘Not Soup Yet’ There’s a wide gap, however, between a good idea and something that businesses should roll out. The question of whether Google Wave is a good idea for businesses in both the long and short term

was answered by Lazar as well as Scott Yates, who writes for the New Technology Examiner. Yates, who got one of the invitations, said companies should be careful about adopting Google Wave now. He agrees that its potential is great, but said the service is complex to use. “The problem is that it is just not soup yet,” he said. “People should not be trying to get into Google Wave unless they are pretty technical. It’s just hard to use.” Yates added that the service’s reach is limited. “The fundamental reason to hold off right now is that it is a communications tool — but you can’t get invitations for everyone you want to communicate with. … The potential is huge, but it just needs more time.” Enterprise Players in the Wings Companies also should be reluctant to plan their communications infrastructure around Google Wave. Lazar said…

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Google Wave Has Business Value — But Not From Google