Seeing ‘broken’ collaboration, Samepage readies ‘content with context’

Does the world need another collaborative environment?

Yes, according to Scott Schreiman. He’s the head of Samepage, a division of productivity software provider Kerio Technologies. Samepage soft-launched its “content with context” platform last year and will formally introduce it early in 2015. The company recently gave VentureBeat a preview of its plans.

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“Collaboration is broken [and] we see this in the marketplace,” he told VentureBeat. “The void is in contextual engagement.”

“No one in human history has ever said, ‘Let’s meet at the file cabinet.’ ”

Instead of separate tools, he said, what is needed is a “common picture of work you’re doing.” To establish context, Samepage is designed to organize content around creation of a page.

Samepage brings together a variety of functions, including file storage and sharing, instant messaging, maps, calendaring, tasks, and commenting.

Users can send links to files, edit files, receive updates, see file and conversation history, use online storage services like Box and Microsoft OneDrive, and sync the environment to local files.

Samepage is accessible through a browser, and there’s also an iOS app that allows storage in the company’s cloud-based file storage. The service itself is free for up to ten users, after which the charge is $10/user/month. This paid level also includes such additional business functions as authentication, directory integration, controls for user access, and auditing.

Schreiman sees Samepage as providing a more complete picture for users than current collaborative solutions. He groups those tools as ones primarily providing file/syncing/sharing functions, such as those from Google, Apple, and Microsoft; task management, like Asana and Basecamp; and conversations, like Yammer.

There are, of course, dozens of collaborative environments of various flavors, including those that combine communication and file/task software, such as Bitrix24, Podio, Jive, Tibbr, and Zoho Docs. But no one yet owns the space for consumers and smaller businesses, where the kind of all-in-one, easy-to-use environment that Samepage promises is required.

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