Thanks to today's workplace collaboration tools, productivity is no longer tied to a physical desk. The office can be anywhere there's an internet connection, meetings can be held from the comfort of home, and tasks are completed in real time with team-wide software.
These tools help colleagues today be more communicative, collaborative and cooperative than ever. But what looks like a manageable set of software and hardware is actually a web of ever-evolving tech products for collaboration in dozens of forms, each offering its own unique platforms, capabilities and benefits.
What types of collaboration software and tools are essential for today's office?
Collaboration software are tools and systems designed to facilitate collaboration both in the office and in other locations. Also known as groupware, these technologies reduce the cost and time required for collaboration. While there are dozens of options for collaboration technologies on the market, most tools feature the following core functions:
What are collaborative methods and techniques in the workplace?
The predominant methods of collaboration in an office or workplace reflect the overall culture of the organization.
Depending on the team or department, the technical nature of the project, and the overall goal of the work, you may find that the following group collaboration methods are prevalent:
1. Teamwork
Organizational psychology research has shown that there are three basic elements to successful group work, regardless of the environment:
Proximity refers to a team's ability to easily connect with each other to share important project-enhancing information. Openness refers to how smoothly a team shares ideas, asks questions, and seeks new insights and opinions. Finally, familiarity is the sense of familiarity and camaraderie that the group shares regarding their work. The better a team performs in terms of closeness, openness and familiarity, the more efficient its group work.
2. Two-way telecommunication
Telecommunications enable groups to work together via voice, video and data technology, even when they are not in close physical proximity. This means coordination and activity at times and places that would otherwise be difficult, if not impossible. Travel costs are reduced and the pool of subject matter experts is increased, strengthening the overall effort.
3. Proprietary or on-site software.
Collaboration software is purchased and installed on individual desktops on the corporate network. These tools extend the shared project management capabilities and capacities of teams, allowing members to track and organize project tasks, find important network files, update information, and send messages to anyone who has access to the on-premise software.
4. Software-as-a-service
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is the next generation of on-premise software. Rather than installing software on individual computers, an organization instead purchases a software subscription that allows anyone to use that software regardless of location, as long as they are authorized to do so through your virtual private server (VPN). SaaS combines the team-building communications of traditional two-way voice, video and data collaboration tools with the project management capabilities of proprietary software to enable true office collaboration.
What are the types of collaboration software tools?
There are three types of software that comprise today's collaboration software tools. While each software focuses on facilitating a specific aspect of group work - such as sharing calendars, meetings and updating documents - together these classifications of collaborative software technology open the door to limitless teamwork.
1. Communication software
As the name implies, communication software tools enable the transmission of messages, chat groups, and conversations between individuals and parties over the Internet, whether those parties are located in different parts of the office or in different parts of the world. Communication tools are also typically unstructured. They do not require prior scheduling or calendar sharing to be effective - in fact, they are not designed to be formally anticipated at all.
Examples of communication technologies include:
2. Conferencing software
Conferencing tools are characterized by two main features:
This second component distinguishes conferencing software from pure communication software. Depending on the software used, conferencing software allows all participants to access, make changes to, and work on the shared screen simultaneously, or allows a single presenter to control the movements and functions of the screen, such as during a presentation.
Types of conferencing tools for the workplace include:
3. Coordination software
Coordination software completes the three main types of collaboration software. Coordination software is arguably the most holistic form of collaboration tools and is designed to integrate both teamwork and taskwork functions. In other words, they allow individuals and groups to network with each other and coordinate work tasks and activities, making the management of the entire workflow easier, less bureaucratic and more efficient.
Some examples of today's coordination tools include:
What are the two dimensions of collaborative software?
There are two key dimensions or uses for collaborative software - synchronous and asynchronous.
Together, these two dimensions of software define how a tool or technology can be used - that is, at what time, in what place, and by how many people. Any communication, conferencing or coordination software is either synchronous or asynchronous. Let's break down these software dimensions further.
1. Synchronous or real-time collaboration software
Synchronous collaboration programs operate in real time, meaning two or more people communicate, review, and collaborate simultaneously on the same platform. There are no delays in responses, regardless of where the communication partner is located. You can expect to receive an answer or solution to a specific question, request, or task as soon as you share it.
Some examples of synchronous office collaboration software include instant messaging, chat forums, VoIP calls and digital whiteboard applications, to name a few. Like most technologies, real-time collaboration has advantages and disadvantages:
2. Asynchronous or non-real-time collaboration software
Asynchronous software represents the other category of today's collaboration tools. Unlike the immediate interactions that define real-time software, asynchronous platforms are not designed for immediate tasks or activities. Short wait times between when someone initiates an interaction and when that interaction is completed are not only expected, but often beneficial.
Examples of asynchronous collaboration software include email, group calendars, document sharing, and some enterprise resource management systems. They have advantages and disadvantages that depend on the needs of the parties involved:
What are the classifications for collaboration tools?
1. By host
All software needs to be deployed somewhere, which means it needs to be installed or set up somewhere that your employees can access it. How that software is set up and how approved users can log in and use it is part of a broader IT issue called hosting.
Today, most collaboration software can be "hosted" in several ways, each with its own benefits:
2. By areas served
Collaboration tools can also be classified by what tasks or activities they help handle. Certain business functions are essential regardless of the industry or niche in which your company operates. The near universal demand for support in these areas means that there are many software products with a specific focus or function. Some of the most well-known software products focused on specific areas include:
3. The three C's
Collaboration software is also broadly classified according to the three C's described in the previous section - communication, conferencing and coordination.
What are other types of collaboration tools?
Video conferencing, screen sharing, employee scheduling, project management, spreadsheets - the list of collaborative enterprise software is long and varied, but is often classified according to its main functions.
But what about those software products that combine different activities or don't fit clearly into one category? We have compiled some of these types of communication tools.
1. Synchronization of documents
Have you ever been forced to manually synchronize two different versions of a document, line by line? Three versions? Or even more?
With document synchronization software, keeping track of changes, adjustments, additions or deletions is just a few mouse clicks away. What's more, these software products merge separate documents into a new sheet based on directory entries, saving teams from redundant document creation.
2. Digital whiteboards
Whiteboarding software transforms the meeting room whiteboard from a physical element to a digital one. It is an ideal tool for remote teams during a video conference. Colleagues can take turns drawing graphs, creating diagrams, mapping concepts, or even jotting down brief notes on a shared screen, then save or erase those images when the next person needs the whiteboard.
3. Shared screenshots and video shots
Share images and even videos of your screen with communication software that converts screenshots into compressed links. This collaborative feature facilitates both real-time and asynchronous troubleshooting. Imagine you're having trouble saving your work in your team's new document management software. You can send a team member a video illustrating your difficulty with the process, and the team member can then send you their own link with visual step-by-step instructions. No more complicated or hard-to-follow written instructions or lengthy responses.
4. Shared accounting and budgeting software
Team members spread across multiple locations can use financial planning, accounting (FP&A) and other budgeting software to create and send invoices, track expenses, view outgoing payment deadlines, submit timesheets, approve reimbursement reports and more - all from one platform.