Collaboration software for business is experiencing immense growth and increasing importance in today’s workplace, which is also evident from the extensive directory listing and client reviews from a popular ranking website, CrowdReviews.com. Although the technology has been around for quite a long time, it hasn’t reached full maturity yet. We can see more potential for growth and penetration in more industries. It continues to empower organizations with their decision-making, productivity and quest for innovation.
Digital Technology and Collaborative Workforce
In today’s era of information and experience, collaboration teams are advancing because of a variety of digital tools. Multi-platform access is also a valuable aspect of collaboration, as it increases the viability of projects through efficient implementation. This also results to speedier outputs because of continuity and flexibility in access.
Aside from technology inputs, the true star of collaboration is the business workforce. By nature, humans are social beings, and scientifically, most thrive if belonging to a community. This still holds true even if technology brought in so many changes in the way we live. People are now more connected, and there are almost no limits to our communication. This natural inclination to collaborative work is evident on the way collaboration software is embraced widely in the business sector.
According to the IDC report about the high cost of not being able to find information, about 15 to 25 percent of an average employee’s time is spent on looking for information. Centralizing data acquisition and storage may introduce some relief to this challenge.
Effective collaboration doesn’t rely on volume alone, or to the number of people working in a common project, but on the right combination of skills and knowledge. Group work is a slightly different concept from collaborative work, as the former is basically composed of people with common skills or knowledge. In collaborative work, the team is composed of a diverse workforce with different expertise. This is done so that all the tasks to be accomplished for a particular project will be covered simultaneously and in relation to each other.
Collaborative work may have different effects to people, but on a positive note, it stimulates engagement and sense of competitiveness. It also nurtures responsibility and accountability which helps people be mindful of the impact of their actions to more people. Skills are pooled, and each can learn from one another, pushing in more ideas and insights to bloom. Collaborative work empowers the workforce to rise above expectations, be sensitive to reaching a mutual goal and to help the business accelerate its growth through informed decisions.
Impact of Collaboration in Today’s Business Processes
The continuous and unhindered expansion of collaboration enabled it to be an essential part of economic globalization. Empowered by the extensive network, faster speed and improved accessibility of the internet, remote workers from diverse backgrounds can now work collaboratively without regard to physical boundaries. This results to intelligent exchange of ideas with more exploration about different perspectives and in-depth drilling of issues of global interest and impact. We are seeing how through collaboration, our workforce are becoming more educated and influential, with improving communication skills and engagement when it comes to business development. Business leaders, then, now make more informed decisions because of a powerhouse team behind them.
An infographic about online collaboration tools by OurSocialTimes shows that adopting social collaboration can improve a team’s efficiency by about 20 percent.
Cloud-based document sharing advances the way information circulates within organizations and securing critical data is getting more sophisticated than ever. Collaboration teams can take advantage of a centralized database management system, which allows them to work with less time reconciling data because it “naturally” circulates within the system. This also enables a streamlined work flow among processes to happen, for a more efficient execution and faster realization of output. In a digital network, processes are also visible, and applying this to document management system will help it gain credibility because of transparency.
Enterprise-scale communication is achievable through social networks, as information from consumers could affect how industries develop products and services that could compete in the global market. The rising penetration of social media in the lives of consumers is influencing particularly in the aspect of sales, marketing and customer relationship management. Collaboration happens not just internally but also externally. Consumer input is nowadays becoming important for businesses, as it is the key driver for profitability and value-impact for a product or service. Stakeholder input is another important consideration as it significantly influences how a business can thrive in global economies.
Types of Collaboration Tools Your Business Can Benefit From
Collaboration is an important means towards achieving the end-goal, which is growth, profit and leverage for the business. But as its concept applies, it is not a complete solution in itself, but would need technology to effectively implement and reap its optimum benefits. Businesses should adopt collaboration tools depending on their industry nature, company direction and organizational behavior. Considering these elements will drive you to choosing the best collaboration software for your business.
Consider both the present and future implications of your chosen software, and you will achieve significant cost savings and long-term sustainability of your project implementations. Consider these five types of collaboration software and how it impacts organizations:
- Collaboration software for collaborative learning
Projects are most of the time, unique endeavors. It is challenging but can be a good starting ground for learning through collaboration. Challenges stimulate our ingenuity and creativity. There are workers who discover more about themselves – what they can do and what they cannot. It instills a sense of responsibility on the assigned task, because you are being relied on by the team.
Team goals are important when collaborating, as these will set the path for everyone to take. The approach may differ individually because each has his or her own expertise, but everything is aimed at mutual objectives or goals. As much as possible, enable collaborative teams to mingle in a single working space and engage in activities that will require them to exchange ideas and depend on each other for their outputs.
How does collaboration software work? It supports the team by providing a digital platform where they can continue collaborating even when working on separate roles. It also enables each member to share information in the form of casual communication, document sharing or formal meetings. Working with remote teams is also possible, and it broadens the spectrum of learning opportunities for teams.
In selecting what project collaboration software will work for you, make sure that it has the capability to support collaborating teams of different natures: by department, by group, remote teams, enterprise, or by per-project basis. By being made scalable, you can use your software as an all-in-one solution capable of being implemented to various projects.
- Collaboration software for building a social network enterprise
Open-network culture is a thing for businesses right now. If there is social media for personal networks, business-related discussions and resource sharing is possible through social network enterprise. The use of an open-network platform makes collaboration more dynamic and diversified. Collaboration as an enterprise solution doesn’t automatically mean you cannot achieve open communication.
What is social collaboration software? Members of a social network enterprise are able to freely access resources of various kinds – may it be for learning or work use. The system is capable of giving personal recommendations using the data it analyzes from one’s profile, network, expertise and blog comments. The use of social enterprise networks encourages free-form knowledge acquisition and communication among related individuals. It is strategically aimed at promoting trust and camaraderie among members and their organization.
- Collaboration software for innovation
What is online collaboration software? Although there are many kinds of collaboration that can be done online, one special function is to be used in support for crowdsourcing and ideas exchange for new product or service innovation. The software is capable of handling forums where people can systematically present current challenges and personal struggles which can serve as a starting point for new innovation. Members can now start discussing ideas about improving the features of an existing product, or give insights about emerging technologies in relation to an innovation breakthrough.
Aside from collaborative idea exchange, a cloud-based collaboration software is used as Software-as-a-Service or SaaS. You can use this to support front to back end processes involved in innovation such as product development, ROI computation and analysis, resource management and project management. This type of collaboration is valuable in the manufacturing industry, wherein it can tie-up all the processes to make sure that workflow is streamlined and employees are using data from a single database.
- Collaboration software for communication
What is enterprise collaboration software? It is inevitable that the nature of collaboration is rooted in effective communication. Enterprise communication can happen with web conferencing tools, which allows team members to mimic a real and personal meeting. Through technology, web conferencing tools are made more reliable and the voice and video quality excellent. Through mobile integration, remote team members can participate in meetings even when they are outside their offices.
Aside from collaborative initiatives, web conferencing tools are also useful alternatives to engage in other business processes online like recruiting management and remote project management.
- Collaboration software for document management and knowledge-sharing
As a sub-set of social enterprise network but is equally an important facet of collaborative environments, wiki tools are essential in maintaining a system of resource sharing through documents. They are practical ways of sharing information across the network and in creating credible knowledge-base containing updated information. Other business processes can effectively integrate with wiki tools like sales, marketing and technical support.
Collaboration is both a powerful method and technology which accelerates business growth through the culmination of skills, knowledge and efforts of individual employees of different expertise. Get your business to achieve the benefits of collaborative working environment today.
What is the best collaboration software? See reviews of collaboration software from CrowdReviews.com.
Trevor Price
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