Tag: Collaboration tools

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3 Reasons Collaboration Tools Will Be Unavoidable in 2017

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The era of working in an isolated office cubicle all day may soon be over. More and more companies are knocking down their cubicles in favor of open or collaborative working spaces. But where we spend our time in the office isn’t the only thing that is changing either. How we work has transformed substantially in the last decade. Team projects, giving and receiving feedback, peer-editing, and other collaborative trends are becoming the norm for most workplaces. The importance of collaboration tools in the workplace is growing, and in 2017, their implementation will be one of the top priorities for companies. Here’s why:

Work is completed faster

According to the Harvard Business Review, 82% of professionals report that they need to partner with others throughout the day to complete their work. However, finding meeting space or planning in advance is difficult. In a typical workday, over 70 percent report wasting at least 15 minutes searching for space.
Online collaboration tools have helped to solve this problem by making working together on tasks easier than ever before. Individuals don’t need to be in the same room or even in the same country to collaborate on and edit projects. With video conferencing, meeting room software, and wireless presentation systems, team members can create, edit, and lead presentations without needing to meet face-to-face, and collaborate more efficiently during meetings where they do need to meet face to face.

Employees are more engaged and happy

Collaboration helps to foster teamwork and brings employees together, which makes a huge impact on their overall happiness. For many, the time spent in the office exceeds the typical 40 hour work week. It could even exceed the hours outside of the office. With so much time at work, employee satisfaction is crucial.
Several studies have shown that having work friends makes individuals more engaged and happy. One study claims that connecting with colleagues could bring more happiness than earning an extra $100,000 a year. Furthermore, when employees are happy and engaged, they are less likely to leave their current positions and more likely to be high performing, valuable members of your team.

Knowledge sharing creates higher quality end products

Two heads are better than one is more than just a saying. When two or more people work together on a project, they are more likely to reach or surpass their goals. According to ClearCompany, 86 percent of employees and executives cite lack of collaboration as the number one cause of business failures.
On the other hand, when teams collaborate and communicate effectively it can boost morale and motivation, as well as produce higher quality end products. Over 26% of individuals in a global study said that discussing success with co-workers motivates them. Collaborative environments, open meeting room setups, and new conference room technology allow individuals to share knowledge and give feedback in real-time. They can improve upon projects as they work on them, instead of at the end, when it is too late to revise.
It is becoming common for people to share ideas and complete projects and other work-related tasks in teams rather than alone. Those that still isolate themselves in cubicles and private offices are missing out on opportunities to exchange knowledge and expertise with colleagues. Whereas organizations that provide employees with collaboration tools and opportunities are gaining the competitive edge that they need to succeed in the future.
 

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How Different Departments Use Collaboration Tools

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Today’s work environment is entirely different from what it was several years ago. Communications technology has revolutionized the way companies work and interact. Several teams might work on a single project without even meeting each other in person. In fact, they might not even reside in the same state or country.
It’s not uncommon for employees from different branches of a company to work and interact with each other remotely. However, exchanging emails or communications constantly to make members of the team aware of any changes is not nearly as efficient as grouping together in a meeting room or huddle space and can get tedious fast. Thankfully, collaboration tools can make it easier.
What Are Collaboration Tools?
Collaboration tools allow your colleagues to view any changes and additions you’ve made to your project content. Most collaboration software is “live,” so if someone who has access to your document is online and viewing, they’ll be able to see the changes you make as you’re making them. Distance isn’t a factor as the changes are applied instantly. A person on your team might be on the other side of the planet and still be able to see those changes easily.
Collaboration Tools and Presentation Software
If several people are working on a presentation, sending details of every alteration anyone makes can lead to errors and misunderstandings across the board. Keeping everyone on the same page is important. When it comes to presentations, there are several options available to you:
• If you are accustomed to Microsoft’s PowerPoint, you can use PowerPoint in Dropbox. Collaboration is easy after you upload your presentation to the virtual drive.
• Google Slides are also an option with seamless integration with Google Drive, mobile apps, and compatibility with all kinds of operating systems and platforms.
• Apple’s Keynote is also a great alternative to PPT. If you’re accustomed to Keynote, you can easily use it to create presentations and store it in Apple’s cloud database.
How Does it Work for Different Departments?
Consider this scenario: You’re working on a project that involves your company’s graphic design team, web design team, marketing team, and editing team. You need to prepare a presentation that would showcase the scope of the project and include the timeline, and the strategies involved. While you are aware of your own work, you need input and content from other departments as well.
Each of them can contribute content related to their field and create a compelling presentation together. You can achieve this through cloud computing. Essentially, your presentation is stored on a virtual drive and you give access to the people working on it. You can make alterations, add content, communicate with others through the software, and add comments to the relevant sections.
Access Levels
Even if states or countries separate you and the other departments, you’ll be able to communicate and work on the presentation together in real time. You can also give individuals different levels of access. For example, if you give a group of people permission to edit, while others are just allowed to view.
The finalized presentation can be sealed and you won’t have to go through the trouble to emailing it to everyone. You just need to give them access.
Videoconferencing
Just because it’s impossible to physically meet with your team in a conference room or huddle space doesn’t mean that you can’t meet with them digitally. Thanks to videoconferencing, you can gather your entire team together on your conference room’s AV equipment. And depending on how elaborate your conference room technology is, you can use wireless projection to view them in HD, which is almost as good as meeting them in person.

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Best Collaboration Tools to Increase Team Productivity

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The way we work has changed in recent years. The individual contribution used to outweigh group efforts. Now, we’re seeing work assignments become project-based and requiring teams to complete tasks. In response, an increasing number of tools are on the market to help streamline processes, promote communication and transparency and to make sure everyone is working with purpose and focus.
Some of the best tools are for communication. Others are for knowledge management and transfer. Many work for project management.
For Presentations:
• Ubiq. Wireless presentations made easy with instant access to your meet’s Hive, central access point. It connects people using multiple device types to a presentation where they can share content through a data encrypted, secure system dedicated for your meeting. The added bonus will come in the form of remote presentations, which will open, yet secured access to those beyond the Hive in virtual locations.
• Canva. Presentations and other communication assets may require visual content. Canva is a free, online graphic design tool to create posters, infographics, email templates and more! As a collaborative tool, you can share your design with team members to work together, make changes/edits and gather feedback.
• Mural.ly. Mural.ly is a cloud-based whiteboard application, great for brainstorming sessions. Using virtual whiteboards, called “Murals,” you can invite team members to draw and type onto your board to gather ideas, map out workflows and more. Collaborate in real-time and visually track activity as your project evolves.
For Project Management:
• Asana. Designed to support teams through web and mobile applications, Asana is communication and project management tool that works to keep teams organized and promote open communication. It includes a multitude of features, like interactive checklists, to ensure teams remain on task and rely less on email, where things can get confused or lost.
• Trello. Trello is a card-based project management program. Its application focuses on the use of cards, which work great for online brainstorming sessions. Ideal for content and editorial development, users can pitch ideas, assign tasks, leave notes and visualize progress as cards are being worked.
• TeamWork. This project management system supports file transfers, task assignments and status updates. In addition, TeamWork promotes communication with each task having its own discussion board. It’s user-friendly where both the project owner and the end-user can assign, edit and update tasks based on security settings.
For Communication/Social Media:
• Skype. When Skype was launched in August 2013, it took the telecommunication world by storm. Being able to make calls over an Internet brought people together across country borders and oceans. It’s still relevant and significant to how we do business today. With easy to use software, chats and free audio and video calls to other Skype users are simple. Need to direct dial someone, Skype offers great rates for pennies per minute. Communication provides immediate access with cost savings.
• Yammer. Yammer turns your company’s internal communications into an enterprise social network. Employees access the network through their work email address to communicate with others by departments, groups and interest. Stay on top of projects, understand strategies and break down silos across the organization. Internal communication is no longer just receiving memos through email. It’s now about having actual dialogue amongst colleagues online.
• HipChat. This internal communication tool integrates chat, video and file sharing all within your organization. Set in the cloud, employees can engage in private/group chats, videos and screen sharing from remote locations. It works on a chat room platform, which allows full chat histories to be saved and referenced. We’ve been using HipChat for over a year now, and we communicate over HipChat more frequently than email!
Many of these tools integrate with other applications and can be used across multiple devices. Some have apps for smartphone and tablet available with data being saved and shared on the cloud. It makes collaboration easier to accomplish without having to have everyone in the same room at the same time.

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