|
| Recent
Articles |
Benefits of Web-Based Conferencing
I recently graduated from college, and instead of taking a corporate programming job, my friend and I started our own web development company. Everything was going great...we were both working from home and...
Teens Drop Buddies, Pick Up Social Networks
Emoticons are so 2003, according to a report released by Nielsen//NetRatings. Over the last three years, the top sites among teens 12-17 have switched from those offering instant messaging buddy icons to...
The Future Of IP Telephony
IP Telephony is a rapidly emerging technology for voice communication that uses the ubiquity of IP-based networks to deploy IP Technology enabled devices in enterprise and home environments. IP Technology enabled devices, such as desktop and mobile IP...
VON: IM – The State Of Presence
Instant messaging technology received a panel's attention during pulvermedia's Fall 2006 VON conference, as reps from the heavy Internet hitters discussed presence and its place at the core of IM with voice communications.
Google Apps No Microsoft Threat Yet
Google debuted its Apps for Your Domain as a hosted communications option for domain owners, and it is being touted in some places as a gauntlet being tossed down in challenge to Microsoft. The headlines say it, so it must be true. Google has taken the fight directly to...
Dialpro Taps Tyler To Take Over Helm
Enterprise voice messaging company Dialpro Northwest Inc. was acquired by software and telecommunications industry executive Dennis R. Tyler. Tyler, taking over for the retiring owners and founders. He will serve...
|
|
|
11.29.06
The Office 2.0: Trading Cubicles For Smarter Collaboration
 By
Kevin Singarayar
The first time I learned of the word c-o-l-l-a-b-o-r-a-t-i-o-n, was probably around...uh...I don't know, maybe around the age of eight. My teacher had a tough time explaining its concept to me during a science project, "Kevin, collaboration is not making your partner do all the work while you tie his shoelaces to the chair!
To the back of the lab!" How was I to know what collaboration meant then? But true to form, I got the hang of its meaning and put the musician's mantra of "Practise, Practise, Practise" to its limit but getting the smartest kid in the class to 'collaborate' with me during all my math tests.
Today, collaboration seems to be the hottest act since Baywatch hit our television screens, for what seems like eons ago. But unlike Baywatch, collaboration produces results. It has become the epitome for almost all things Web 2.0.
But it shouldn't come as any surprise. After all, collaboration software (sometimes referred to as groupware - though this is more commonly associated with business processes using shared databases) developers are tapping into something that is already innate within the human species; the uncontrollable desire to share, give and sacrifice. We are a communal and altruistic species. Believe it or not, we want to make the world a better place; donating ourselves in one form or another. Collaboration thus comes naturally to us.
Linus Torvalds understood collaboration only too well. And this led to the open-source operating system Linux, being born. Ray Ozzie's understanding of human collaboration led to the release of Lotus Notes back in '89. Jimmy Wales's understanding of collaboration led to the creation of the world's largest and most up-to-date encyclopedia online (Larry Sanger may have a bone to pick with that, though).
But collaboration software was probably catapulted into the mainstream with the invention of e-mail. It's an excellent communication tool (don't let spam tell you otherwise), but as a collaboration tool, it isn't very productive. Passing attachments back and forth doesn't really cut it when a team is working simultaneously on a task. Today's files and documents are getting way to big to even attempt stuffing them in team members' inboxes (remember the 'sneakernet' days of carrying floppy-disks from one person to another?).
There are no hard and fast rules where collaboration is concerned. You can do it on a personal level, within or across organizations with established processes, from the bottom-up in an ad hoc way, or just communicating with clients and customers. It's also more than likely you'll never always be working in a same team more than thrice in a row. Your business will tend to form and dissolve teams as quickly as sugar in hot tea. Bear this in mind when choosing collaborative software. You may own the latest and most up-to-date gizmo on the planet, but another organization you're corresponding with may not.
The Make-Up Of A Collaboration Software
There are three very basic functions a collaboration software embodies: Communication, Collaboration /Sharing and Management
Click here to resume reading this article.
About the Author:
Found this article useful? Then subscribe to the Technopreneur blog at http://technopreneur.wordpress.com/ to stay on the cutting-edge of Internet technologies and emerging trends for Entrepreneurs. Learn the art of leveraging online technologies to boost your business growth and discover insights into booming trends for business expansion from Kevin Singarayar, your Internet technology evangelist.
|
