MappingTheWeb //

Canadian web 2.0 start-up ConceptShare went live today. The Sudbury, Ontario-based group emerged from beta with a sophisticated product offering.

So what does ConceptShare do? Here is a short description courtesy of the company:

“ConceptShare is a web based application service that allows for the creation and management of interactive workspaces to present visual designs to others, communicate design intentions and gather feedback from team members, managers and customers.”

Essentially, the service was created to help individuals collaborate from remote locations. Moreover, the seamlessness of the system ensures that there is no overlapping in terms of progress and/or discussions.

The goal of the system was to replace e-mail and file sharing programs which were historically used on a chaotic level to ‘facilitate’ project collaboration efforts. ConceptShare concluded that this scattered, unfocused approach did not work. A solution was needed. Hence, the current product.

Not only will engineering and development benefit from this product, but also many business functions. Marketing, graphics, product management, and UI are simply a few areas that may also find this service useful.

To get a better understanding of how this tool works, take the tour. It gave me a much better understanding of how to create a workspace, contribute, and collaborate. This overview provides a great visual map of the system.

One of the first thoughts that popped into my mind was how good this product would work for graphic artists and designers. I can’t see a more well-suited group for this offering. The fit is perfect.

Pricing ranges from free to $199/mth and up (if you want a customized solution). On the whole, pricing does seem very reasonable, especially considering there is a definite value proposition at hand. The same cannot be said for many so-called ‘web 2.0 services’.

Some cool features that the company is looking to integrate into upcoming releases include concept grouping, RSS, a text tool, a ruler, an eyedropper, a community presence, voting and reporting, as well as DWG imports. Furthermore, large-scale future features include audio/video imports and a wire-frame builder.

I’m definitely going to give this product a good look-over and possibly sign-up for a free account to test its functionality. This is without question a slick, versatile tool that will make the lives of many a lot easier.