Collaboration Platforms: Changing the Way People Work

Online collaboration is gradually having an effect on the way we communicate in our work environment

There is a lot of hype around Web collaboration following the preview of Google Wave. We recently wrote an introduction to web meetings, where we explained how they are beneficial. Online collaboration tools have an increasing effect on the way we work and communicate and are foreseen to rapidly develop in the near future.

Online tools in the workplace

Technology contributed greatly to the way people communicate and work together. Email has transformed the way we work and is an integral part of nearly any business. With time, instant messaging (IM) also gained its share and is used internally as well as externally in some companies.

Distances no longer matter the same way and people do not necessarily have to be next to each other in order to work together. As communicating remotely saves time and travel costs, screen-sharing tools have become popular in the workplace. These allow companies to hold ‘virtual meetings’ to share presentations, data, and practically anything that can be viewed on a computer screen in real-time, among a number of individuals; they often involve employees preparing presentations or data before the meeting, which are then shared with others. While presentations are shared, participants often speak over the phone and write notes.

Collaboration platforms: not just sharing

True online collaboration tools that allow participants to work together in real-time take screen-sharing and IM a step further. They not only allow document viewing, but actually provide a platform for working together in real-time.

For example, this means that people can create documents together from scratch or build on existing ones. They can see what other participants are typing, editing, where their cursors are etc; instantaneously. They can also chat at the same time by IM or talk over the phone, for effective communication.

This means that work is not necessarily done individually and then shared, but can also be collaborated online, in real-time. It affects the way documents, ideas and work in general are developed. Instead of cycles where work is passed around, here changes are developed and approved by participants instantaneously. People share their ideas and others can react to those instantly.

Even when working on existing documents (and these may not be limited to text but could also be images, sketches etc), notes can be added in real-time, shared and used later on by everyone. This is more effective than just writing them by hand or by email, as comments and changes actually accompany specific points in a document and are easier to refer to.

Try online collaboration for yourself

Showdocument is a free online collaboration tool that promotes document co-editing, presentation and image annotation and even marking routes on maps collaboratively. An internet connection and a Web browser are all that required. Try it for yourself on showdocument.com.