Who is Using Collaboration Software?

Is your organization efficiently utilizing collaboration software?

Collaboration is a loaded term. It often combines concepts such as communication, coordination, and the sharing of ideas and content. Currently organizations of all sizes and across multiple industries are utilizing new technologies to better help their management teams collaborate internally and externally. Even our own Boston Venture Capital firm is utilizing a collaboration software, Central Desktop’s to be exact, to streamline content sharing, team collaboration and internal communication. Still, some organizations are hesitant to move from their current practices in information systems support to new, more shared methods.

As I began to interact with decision makers regarding their current collaborative practices a few things have become clear. First, there is a misconception about what collaboration software can do for an organization. Secondly, since the collaboration software market has previously been dominated by the larger players (IBM and Microsoft) there is a general concern about costs and needed infrastructure. And thirdly, there is some anxiety over user adoption as well as potential benefits of encouraging tighter collaboration.

Since these are very legitimate concerns, in my next several posts I am going to look at these three issues and try to find some clarity. I will also look into several different types of collaboration software and how they address these concerns. The goal: to determine who best uses collaboration software, to what extent and to what benefit.