Most of us are anticipating the release of Google Wave Beta to the 100,000 or so non-developers on September 30th.  I’ve highlighted my concerns on Google Wave in the enterprise, yet I am still very interested in the extensions being built on top of the Wave platform that have potential enterprise utilization.

Of the 66 Robots that I reviewed, some looked promising but I also spotted some questionable Robots that didn’t appear to add any value (for consumer or business). 

According to Google, Robots are applications which can be added to waves as automated wave participants. Robot extensions commonly automate tasks, but can also participate in the wave as a participant, interacting with the conversation based on their capabilities.

If you’re using Wave in the enterprise, start with these Robots. Note: I am only covering Robots that are in working condition (not demonstrations).

1. SAP-ES

Short Description: A robot which integrates with the SAP Enterprise Services. The robot can guide in the creation of a equipment Service request.  A better description by Timo Elliott can be found here.

Why it’s Interesting: It’s a very narrow use case, but important because anything that makes using SAP easier is worth using. 

2. Graphy

Short Description: Graphy extends Google Wave with the ability to collaborate on flow charts and graphs.

Why it’s Interesting: It’s a little primitive, but adding flow charts and graphs to a collaborative Wave fits an enterprise use case.  Think crowd sourcing processes or creating a complex graph.

3. Tweety

Short Description: Tweets wave blips to twitter, and displays tweets from it.

Why it’s Interesting:  The ability to tweet from Wave can update non-Wave participants thus eliminating the need to add 100’s of Wave participants.  

4. Blogbot

Short Description: Organizes related waves (blog posts, FAQ, etc) in a central Table of Contents wave.

Why it’s Interesting:  Try organizing hundreds of Waves!  It won’t be easy, but this application should make it easier.  Now if it came with analytics I’d really be interested.

5. Polly

Short Description: Creates a Wave to poll recipients and store their answers. Users are able to dynamically alter their choices.

Why it’s Interesting:  Poll your employees, customers and suppliers to learn more about your company.  That’s always a good idea. 

6. Dr. Maps

Short Description: Dr. Maps Robot allows you to get a map from an address. Give it an address and it will insert into the wave a mini-map locating the address and a link to the Google Map locating the address.

Why it’s Interesting:  Adding an address to a Google Map is only the beginning of why this application is important to the enterprise.   Think about all of the use cases around supply chain management, demographic targeting, and crowd sourcing location content.   

7. Embedded Search Results

Short Description: This simple robot allows you to quickly and easily perform a search and have the results embedded in your Wave. Currently supports Google & Flickr Searches.

Why it’s Interesting:  Marketing and Sales teams can track customers and prospects automatically (Google Alerts for Wave).  Similarly, Operations and Finance can track strategic suppliers (risk management).  Teams then collaborate and share opinion about the information.   

8. BingyBot

Short Description: Ask anything (with a question mark in the end), or key in a flight no, Bingy will let you know what you need.

Why it’s Interesting:  Quickly get information into a Wave without having to research the subject outside of the Wave.  Ultimately a time saver, but if the information is updated automatically, it will have longer term benefits. 

9. RSSYBot

Short Description: Rssybot is a solution to allow you to watch your RSS feeds from Google Wave.  Just add it to a wave, enter the link to the RSS feed you want to subscribe to and wait for new posts to appear in your inbox as unread blips.

Why it’s Interesting:  RSS feeds can arrive from a variety of sources including your competitor’s blogs, supplier’s sites, or Twitter.  Use it in a Wave to keep the content current. 

10. Treeify

Short Description: Multi-wave robots are agents that in some way operate on more than one wave. Treeify is a multi-wave robot which lets you connect waves into tree structures. With it you can build and navigate trees of waves.

Why it’s Interesting:  I’ve written about this issue before that managing multiple Waves is difficult.  This Robot will make it easier. 

11. Wave Alpha

Short Description: Wolfram Alpha Wave Robot. Query and retrieve data right from the comfort of your wave.

Why it’s Interesting: Powerful Robot that adds Wolfram Alpha information into the Wave.  Quick math related answers and encyclopedia type responses make this an important and compelling Robot. 

Summary

Ultimately these Robots are a good start.  I have many more in mind that should be created in order to provide far greater enterprise value.  I’ll post my ideas in a list sometime this week. 

Like most new technologies, Wave enterprise value is still unproven.  But if Google is successful in creating a popular Wave platform, there will be many more SAP’s delivering value through it.

Have you found any Google Wave Robots that add value in the enterprise?  Do you agree or disagree with the list above?