Collaboration software has now become popular among businesses. It is useful in achieving the same goal setting as others, working as a team on the same platform. It is basically a software where tools and other applications are readily available at hand and can help them finish a common task. Before, people have to simply rely on physical meetings to discuss the task and how are they going to work on it. Apart from its expensive, especially if the facilitators of meetings will be coming from different regions, states or countries with the ticket price and hotel accommodation, it is also time-consuming when you put into consideration the travel time of those who will attend the meeting.
Luckily, now that we are in a technologically advanced environment, people continue to strive more to develop software that will allow us to cut down on costs and be more productive without losing too much time. The important applications of collaboration software have been found to benefit a lot of businesses, it is also useful to group, department, and class setting. But one of the most important contributions of collaboration software is crowdsourcing.
Crowdsourcing is a process of gathering different individuals with the same goals, passion and drive to form a single group where they can work together in platforms development for improving a certain software or application. It starts from soliciting help from the voluntary community online and make a collaborative exchange of ideas in a single platform. Because of settings like this, several businesses been successfully launched and one major example of this is Linux.
How Does Crowdsourcing in a Collaboration Software Work?
It starts with a simple online post or inquiry about software development or other system development goal that needs to be done. A moderator would program a simple collaboration software where volunteers can gather and agree to render voluntary services to the task. In other more basic function, businesses purchase a collaboration software where they can contain a group of people, may it be their employees or contractors. There, a series of tasks is input into the system and people would grab whatever task they think they can work on.
Small to large businesses are now enjoying the benefits of collaboration software by switching to it. The high points it offers are found more beneficial to their employees than the traditional method in which money and time are being wasted significantly.
What are the Other Uses of Collaboration Software Apart From Crowdsourcing?
Collaboration software is not limited to only crowdsourcing, in fact, crowdsourcing is only one among other uses of this software. Below are some examples and brief description on how collaboration software is being used in other business ventures;
- As a developmental platform. Collaboration software is the number one choice of different professional individuals in helping them develop more system software that would be useful in the future. According to Collaborative Software Development Platforms Article, “Software development is an innovative and knowledge-intensive process that takes advantage of the collective wisdom, creativity, and productivity of myriad people in an increasingly global context.”, with collaboration software, the common thought of this individual people collaborates creating a more stable developmental platform.
- As a learning tool. Collaboration software is helpful to the educators in delegating homework or tasks to their students. This is very eminent among online classes and the rise of the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) where one can choose among a variety of interesting courses and enlist their names on the collaboration software for attendance and other course outline activities. Tools are provided by the lecturers to help students passed the course.
- Business Productivity. With collaboration software, the business output is perceived to increase productivity. A delegation of tasks is now made simpler and communication and coordination among different department heads are more precise. With the right tool and implementation of the software, employees would also benefit in making them perform their task better and faster.
What are the Available Best Online Collaboration Tools?
Collaboration software is equipped with collaboration tools that serve as the main source of help among individuals that is part of one team. It allows you to communicate to the other members of the group, where you can discuss ideas and other things concerning your task. This is in form of messaging services that uses real-time concept. The type of messaging tool use varies according to purpose. Examples of this type of tool are Dropbox and google spreadsheet where people can modify contents and real-time manifestation of the changes created. Below are some examples of online collaboration tools available in the market and a brief description of their uses;
- Google Docs – it is very popular among freelancers when it comes to exchanging information and other huge file documents, comparing different portfolios and coordination with the supervisor about tasks and goals for the day. Free for those who have a Gmail account where the registration is by your Gmail address.
- Dropbox – Another popular tool in disseminating information in a single group. The good thing about Dropbox is it has a mobile app that allows you to sync your online account to your cell phone so that you can manage and modify the contents whenever, wherever you are.
- GoVisually – is another favorite online collaboration tool among users for its more advanced features. This allows members to integrate and communicate about their projects and edit it instantly in the software itself. It also allows you to annotate on projects by other user and give constructive criticism about their work.
- Concept Inbox is recommended for the graphic artist or other users that want an on point criticism on their work. This tool allows you to upload an image where other members of the group can comment. They can also give suggestions and feedbacks so you will be aware of how your image would look to the majority.
- Red Pen – for a more personal and private approach of asking feedbacks. You can drag and drop files to the software and ask colleagues, friends or relatives through their email for feedbacks and comments about the file.
What is the Best Way to Choose Among Best Online Collaboration Software?
Once decided to get an online collaboration software, the next thing that you should do is research about different companies that offer the services. You can also check ranking websites, same-natured of services companies, that place different companies in order basing them on reviews. Read reviews and feedbacks from people who were able to experience the services, they may be past or present clients.
When choosing for the best ranking website, remember to check the following out;
- Credibility – Check a brief description about the contributors for each review. They should be someone who is professional in what they do and have the seniority to post reliable reviews. Contributors should also be of credible background and have a first-hand experience about the company he/she is writing about.
- Unbiased – the reviews made are unprejudiced and really based on personal experiences of the consumers. The website is not promoting any company and all the company listed is evenly presented. Companies have equal space and a company representative is being allowed to promote unbiased company exposure.
- Reliability – Everything that you need to know about a certain company has been presented in a manner that the reader would understand immediately how the company operates and what are the services they offered.
- Transparency – Readers would be able to see how rankings and reviews are being processed and made. How the rankings and placement are determined. All the important information about the rankings are made available to the public.
- Community Driven – Not only professionals are allowed to air their feedbacks, the community is also a major factor in the design. The aim of the website should be favorable to the community, especially the consumers who are looking for the best company to suit the needs of their business. The community is a 2-face entity, one is the consumer and the other is the business. If the website caters to benefit both, then it is a community driven website.
Wrapping Up
Collaboration software has proven to be useful to a lot of businesses when it comes to increasing their productivity. Aside from it is valued cheaper, some even offer this for free, companies have projected to save a lot of time after using the software. It is also a key to a faster platform for like minds when crowdsourcing, being able to launch a lot of developmental platforms successfully because of the coordination of minds. Truly, we have reached the remarkable milestone of this generation when it comes to generating faster results and collaborating people of the same interests to work together in making a better version of the world we live now.
For the best ranking website that caters to all the things that a consumer needs to know when choosing a company for services and other related concern, check CrowdReviews.com. For a list of the top businesses that offers collaboration software based on client reviews, check CrowdReviews.com for collaboration software companies.
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