Improving collaboration is a key priority for organizations large and small, and one of the most popular applications for enterprise collaboration right now is Microsoft® SharePoint™. With more than 100 million licensed SharePoint users around the world, SharePoint gives organizations the ability to easily collaborate on documents, projects and more.

So you’ve decided to use SharePoint in your organization. Great! Now, to get the most out of your enterprise collaboration efforts, you need to take it mobile. If you’ve ever tried to access your SharePoint portal using your mobile web browser, you may have found that it’s a bit difficult to navigate and doesn’t offer a great level of integration with your phone’s operating system. So what do you do?

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

Good news for business: The Citrix® Receiver for the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet (Citrix Receiver) is now available for beta testing. Download it today from the Test Center on the BlackBerry App World™ storefront.

The Citrix Receiver is enterprise virtualization software that allows users to access virtual desktops (such as Citrix® XenDesktop) on servers running Microsoft® Windows, plus enterprise applications hosted within your organization to allow standalone app virtualization. With the Citrix Receiver, users can open: (1) any Windows software that’s installed on the server you’re accessing; (2) Software as a Service (SaaS), or (3) a web app.( I’m personally looking forward to using the Microsoft® Office® suite and Microsoft® Outlook® via the Citrix Receiver, as well as the Adobe® Creative Suite® of products.) Check out more important features below:

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

Your employees and colleagues want devices that balance work life and home life. They want to manage their documents and email, and manage soccer practice. And a little BrickBreaker would be nice, too.

These needs are motivating the growing mobile workforce to insist on devices that can balance and multi-task. So, what can your organization do?

The “Consumerization of Business,” often referred to as “the “Consumerization of IT,” is a trend representing a shift of mobile technology ownership and responsibility from corporate to personal. This is not without its challenges for all involved. I recently had the opportunity to speak with Brock of the Global Analyst Insights team at Research In Motion® (RIM®), who reached out to Philippe Winthrop of the Enterprise Mobility Foundation to discuss this trend.

Philippe is the Founder and Managing Director of the Enterprise Mobility Foundation, the organization behind the popular Enterprise Mobility Forum – one of the fastest-growing content and social networks exclusively dedicated to enterprise mobility. It was a pleasure to tap into Philippe’s experience, as he has spent his entire career researching emerging technologies and their impact on the corporate value chain. Check out the discussion below:

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

So far I’ve covered setting up my mobile office and how I use the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet for presentations, but another powerful use case of the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is to support collaboration.

The first in my arsenal of collaboration tools is Adobe® Connect. Simply attending a hosted Adobe Connect meeting isn’t the only thing you can do; it also allows for a variety of other features. If allowed by the host, you can turn on video and audio and utilize the camera to attend the meeting via video and audio. I’m also able to chat with anyone that is in attendance. You can send a message to the host, presenters or attendees, and if you touch and hold on an attendee’s name, you can start a private chat.

Wait, did the host just ask a polling question? No problem – the polling feature works from your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet and even displays the results. I’m also able to utilize pinch to zoom on the slides if I want to focus in on some text or a picture. As you can see above, it is nicely set up into quadrants with the ability to bring each function to the full screen.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

BlackBerry® Mobile Voice System (MVS) 5.1 with voice over Wi-Fi® calling is now available for Avaya in North America, in addition to the existing North American Cisco® and Mitel® functionality to support BlackBerry MVS. BlackBerry MVS is available to the UK through the Cisco® platform. This connection system allows calls to be transferred between networks, further enhancing employee connectivity. For details, check out www.blackberry.com/mvs.

What is BlackBerry Mobile Voice System?

BlackBerry MVS provides the opportunity for unique cost savings by unifying the broad array of voice hardware into single handheld devices. Full control of the connection – as well as managing incoming and outgoing calls – rests with the company, and comes complete with a variety of options and settings for administrators. BlackBerry MVS was designed to: boost productivity, enable IT groups to manage calls, allow employees to remain easily connected to the organization without the need for a desk phone, and to deliver overall value through increased mobility and connectivity.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

The next “Paul’s Challenge” that I’ve been waiting to post has arrived, and it’s all about the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet. Let me be honest – even though I have been traveling without a laptop for around 9+ months, there were times that I wished I had one. That changed when I was handed a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. I can definitely say that it has added value to several aspects of my day to day work – but how has it changed my No-Laptop Challenge?

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

I’m back for part three of my No Laptops Allowed challenge, and this time, we’re talking BlackBerry apps!

For this post, I’m going to forego some of the standard applications. You should all have a favorite mapping program, your normal social media applications like Twitter®, BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™), foursquare®, LinkedIn®, Facebook®…I could go on forever. I would like to know what your most-used social app is, though! Let me know in the comments section, or send a message to the Inside BlackBerry for Business Twitter account.

These are a couple of key applications that, in my experience, are complementary to someone who needs to be truly mobile:

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

We’re entering the final stretch of our North American SmartBuilder Tour for small businesses and entrepreneurs. You can join us for a morning of interactive presentations, discussions and networking. Also, you’ll be able to enjoy a complimentary breakfast and listen to guest speakers share insights on BlackBerry® mobile solutions that will help make your business more efficient, responsive and productive.

Did we mention that registration is FREE? There will also be giveaways and attendees at each event can enter for a chance to win a new BlackBerry smartphone.* We’re excited to be bringing these three inspiring speakers to you: Ramon Ray, Brent Leary, and Patrick Schwerdtfeger.

Check out the Start and Grow your Business with the BlackBerry Seminar Series website and register your spot at the following cities:

Miami – April 5, 2011
Los Angeles – April 5, 2011
Atlanta – April 7, 2011
Washington – April 8, 2011
Orlando – April 12, 2011
Boston – April 13, 2011
Chicago – April 14, 2011
Denver – April 14, 2011
Houston – April 14, 2011
Las Vegas – April 15, 2011
Cincinnati – April 20, 2011

Hope to see you there!

*No purchase necessary to enter or win. Odds of winning depend on number of eligible entrants at each event. Contest sponsored by Research In Motion Corporation. See Official Rules available at each event for complete contest details and restrictions.

One of our passions here at Research In Motion® (RIM®) is helping small and medium-sized businesses start and grow everyday – and we’re serious about it!

One of the tools we’re really excited about is SmartBuilder for BlackBerry®. SmartBuilder will ask you 8 questions about your business and your goals, and will provide you with a recommendation on a possible mobile solution, including devices, accessories and apps! Let us know if you’d like us to connect with you for more details, or follow up with your usual wireless provider. SmartBuilder for BlackBerry helps reduce the research cycles around mobility, so you can focus on doing business. We’re also out looking for your feedback on the BlackBerry platform and hearing about your business – and how mobility is working for you. Let us know in the comments below.

Also, in order to provide additional help to those in the business sector, we’re out on a ten-week “SmartBuilder” tour across the US, talking to entrepreneurs, business owners and their teams about the BlackBerry solution and the tools that are available to them. We might be in your city soon, so check out our SmartBuilder tour dates and come see our awesome tour vehicle!

Hopefully, we’ll see you at an event soon! You can follow along on Twitter® at @BlackBerry4Biz to get updates on the tour.

Hello BlackBerry® for Business Blog readers! We’re pleased to let you know we have expanded our social media presence with the launch of a new LinkedIn group. The BlackBerry® for Business group is the first official LinkedIn community from Research In Motion® (RIM®).

This community is an information and discussion hub for business users and decision makers. It’s a great venue to contribute best practices, advice, case studies and general knowledge as it relates to the BlackBerry platform in your industry. There will also be a good volume of discussion around the latest trends in mobility, computing and IT solutions.

The RIM team will be on hand to serve up discussion topics, add to the conversation and provide subject-matter expert’s opinions and answers where needed.

Join the BlackBerry for Business group today and invite your colleagues! We look forward to connecting with you and hearing what you have to say.