Business Collaboration
In order for a project to be successful, employees must work together. This sounds simple enough until you consider that some companies employee people from all over the world and sometimes these people must work together to design presentations, documents, and complete projects. For some companies in which employees are spread out, convenient, easy to use communication methods must be used. Therefore, business collaboration is necessary for these people. Business collaboration allows employees that are separated by just a few miles or a few thousand miles the opportunity to work closely together just as employees in the same office would.
There are many things that can interfere with an employee’s productivity and one of the biggest challenges to an employee is when a colleague is miles away. This can lead to lengthy trips or phone calls in order to properly prepare a presentation or important documents. Business collaboration allows this group of people to work together as if they were in the same building. Employees can accomplish this through live online discussions and through collaboration software that allows secure document sharing and alerts the team to when changes are made to a document. Beyond helping employees bridge the mileage gap, business collaboration can also assist a business in bridging a mileage gap between them and the customer. This means that thanks in part to the document sharing features of collaboration software, a business can allow customers to view the documents. This can be done when a document or other project is finished or as an on-going activity so that the customer can see progress. Also, customers can join in on the business chats to ensure that their needs are being met.
As the old saying goes, time is money was never truer than when one investigates business collaboration. When an employee is working on a project there comes a time when no one can move forward until they hear from someone else. These communication delays can be costly because more time spent on a project means more expense for not only the company but also for the customer. In one study, it was found that business collaboration saved employees an average of 32 minutes a day because they were reached on the first try. Business collaboration can help ease or nearly eliminate these costly communication delays through the use of real time business chats, document sharing, and shared calendars that allow employees to make announcements and contact lists. Furthermore, communication delays can also cause major inaccuracies in a project or presentation since these delays can allow for people to be on “different pages”. Inaccuracies can lead to the need to re-do all or a portion of
a project or to a client leaving a business. These real-time information processes can enable a business to finish a project faster and more accurately than without business collaboration. As anyone knows, the faster and more accurately a project is completed then the more projects a company can take on and the more accurate a finished project is, the less time is spent re-doing it. So in the end, the amount saved in time will equate to more profits for a business.
Business software collaboration products take a business beyond just file sharing and emails. Studies have shown that the use of electronic means for collaboration efforts generates a greater number of quality ideas and leads to quicker problem solving. This is due to the ability of business collaboration software products to link multiple tools together to be shared amongst a group. Group sharing of these tools allow for better organization such as calendar/meeting scheduling and more immediate decision-making. Furthermore, the group sharing of ideas allows employees to have open, real-time discussions that end with a higher chance of ideas being put into motion. Once ideas have been formulated and put into motion, employees who use alternate methods of business collaboration would have to spend time thinking about where a file is, who made changes to the file, and when the changes were made. Collaboration software keeps track of what changes are made, when they were made and who made them. This allows employees to answer their questions quickly thusly allowing them to move onto the next phase for completion of the project.
In truth some business collaboration software products may be a little expensive up-front, however, over time a business will see a drop in expenses. Usually when a company is looking at a new product one of their primary concerns is how quickly they can recoup their investment. With business collaboration, a company can recoup the investment fairly quickly. One of the most immediate expenses to drop is travel expenses. If you consider a business that uses document sharing and business chats on a regular basis for not only their employees who are spread out but also for their customers, then the business will see a dramatic drop in the need to travel on a regular basis in order to take meetings with their colleagues, customers, or suppliers. The business chats and document sharing features can take the place of in person meetings for most of the project. This is not to say travel will be eliminated completely because there will still be reasons to travel, especially when dealing with a customer, however, travel expenses will be cut dramatically. As previously mentioned, inaccuracy can be a fall out of communication delays. Every company will experience inaccuracies since that is just a part of life however, the use of collaboration can help decrease these inaccuracies which in turn will decrease the amount of time spent re-doing projects, therefore, a business will also see another area in which money is saved and the investment recouped.
Many businesses, especially small businesses, have many applications that do a variety of activities such as email, document management, bookkeeping, billing, calendars, and business chats. These are fine products but they take up a lot of space on a server or hard drive not to mention that the employees have a multitude of programs to keep up with, whereas, business collaboration software can eliminate the need for multiple programs. Collaboration software can allow a business to maintain a database of customer’s profiles, customer inquiries, as well as customer service needs such as
storing important notes. Beyond serving the customer well, business collaboration software also allows a business to keep track of sales and easily view or print financial reports. The ability of collaboration software to keep up with a business’s accounting practices can also help save time at tax time. The software can generate specific, detailed reports that allow a business to breeze through this often hectic time of the year. Furthermore, collaboration software can also eliminate the need to re-enter data which can save employees a lot of time. The re-entering of data also extends to document management where certain collaboration software products keep track of any and all changes made to a document.
Just the mention of the word IT and some people will dive under their desk for cover. IT can be a costly and annoying department to have and some collaboration software products will need the use of IT management. However, the good news is that these products are generally for a larger company that has hundreds or thousands of employees and these types of companies already have an IT department so purchasing a software collaboration product that requires this is no big deal to them. For the smaller companies, an IT department would be out of the question but that does not mean that business collaboration is also. There are many software collaboration products that do require little to no IT experience. These types of collaboration products will cost less because there will be fewer and less technically complicated benefits. The price for collaboration products that require little to no IT experience are available starting for free. However, these only provide a limited amount of email, web, and user space. More expensive products that do not require IT expertise can start from around $40.
All of this file sharing among numerous people may make one wonder about the security features of business collaboration software. These concerns are very valid concerns today and security should be a top priority. Some collaboration software is set up on an intranet which is a private website that only company employees can see. Intranets are set-up on a secure server, unlike the internet in which anyone can see a webpage and nothing is private. The use of the intranet allows for sharing of ideas and projects without others viewing it. While you may have an intranet through collaboration software, this intranet feature does not eliminate the internet from your business. You can still have a public website as well as use and implement the internet into projects and presentations as needed. Business collaboration security also affects email usage. When ordinary emails are sent through the internet, they can easily be seen by others. However, when emails are sent through collaboration software, often times they are secured and will not allow outsiders to read it. A more internal feature of collaboration software is that companies are allowed to assign security levels to employees. This allows for sensitive information or projects to only be viewed by those involved.
Many times when an employee is home with a sick child or must go on a business trip, certain projects must be put on hold until they return. This of course can be damaging to the project, not to mention stressful for the employee and company. However, the excellent thing about collaboration is that employees can do it anywhere. If they are on a business trip or are caring for a sick child, they can still take part in discussions and collaboration can be still be performed. While many companies will tout the benefit of real-time collaboration, in reality collaboration does not have to be done in real time. Collaboration can be done on a more flexible schedule in order to the meet the needs of both the company and employees. For example, if a company has employees in the UK, USA, and China then the time difference is going to be a real issue. It would be very difficult for these employees to find time in which they can meet and still be awake as well as cognizant. Collaboration can be set up so that employees can interject their thoughts and opinions as they are able, therefore, allowing employees more flexibility. Whether business collaboration is set up for real time or not, the end result is still a productive, cost saving, efficient method for employees to communicate and perform better at their jobs.
Most business collaboration software focuses on the end results that are tangible such as a decrease in expenses, faster turn-around time on projects, accuracy, and increased productivity. While all of these things are excellent points to be made for business collaboration, one of the best points to be made is that business collaboration can really take care of your employee’s needs and not just from a job perspective. The flexibility that collaboration gives such as less travel and being able to connect anywhere, allows for employees to be in charge of their schedule more; meaning that they can attend soccer games, anniversary dinners, and even stay home with a sick child without worrying about their job duties. In essence, business collaboration allows for employees to have a more complete, less stressful life. This translates into a more satisfied employee and studies have shown that satisfied employees perform better, are sick less often, and take less time off of work. Furthermore, satisfied employees tend to meet the needs of and take better care of their customers. Which the happier the customers are, the happier the bottom line will be. No matter what your budget is or how large your company is, there is a business collaboration solution for you. In the end, you will see much happier employees and a healthier profit margin for the company.