The Social Layer – Guest Blogger, Thomas Hendrich, weighs in:

What’s this #sociallayer thing? Cloud Apps & VPNs/Citrix are a great leap forward for building engagement where we work, but not the final leap. I’m toying with Google+, and one thing I’m drawn to is the concept of embedding the #sociallayer across the application suite. What does this mean for us? As a user engagement model, I like Google+ placing the #sociallayer where we interact in our work, collaborate, learn, and ultimately, live our lives. In the workplace, this social layer can connect conversations around tangible places of work initiatives and projects. Adding the #sociallayer through enterprise apps such as Sharepoint, Outlook, Portals, ERPs, CRMs, HISs, and major apps can create better connections with real value-add, AND enhance user ease-of-access to social tools, bringing conversations to where we interact and congregate. Check out the 2 screenshots I’ve attached, one from Google apps, another from Gmail, illustrating the ability to connect with others directly from these apps. Let’s roll with #Enterprise2.0! #yam