November 10, 2009

Live and Instant Collaboration: Sometimes Twitter Is Simply Not Enough

Using Twitter, Facebook, Google Docs (or HyperOffice, OfficeLive, WebOffice, Box.net, SugarSync, etc) and Instant Messaging you have a full suite of tools to collaborate in real time.

However, these tools are not integrated, which makes it challenging for businesses or workgroups to seamlessly collaborate as professionals and not a bunch of teenagers or college buddies. One reason Microsoft Office has continued to be popular is that it's ONE suite of tools for a variety of tasks.

For companies who want to not just communicate online but PRODUCTIVELY communicate online having a solution to enable real time voice and document collaboration is critical, within a professional solution.

The hassle of scheduling a meeting to review materials in an application such as PowerPoint is a pain, reads a recent PBWorks press release. A user must arrange the meeting, send out links and dial-in information to all interested parties for the conference call, usually via email, waits for acceptances, and finally, waits for all parties to arrive.

A real time communication tool, such as PBworks Real Time Collaboration tool makes things much easier. When a user needs to connect with one or more colleagues to gather their feedback, he or she simply calls them to the relevant wiki page using the built-in instant messaging, and available users can see edits being made in real-time and chat about them. When a telephone conversation is necessary, available users can be added to an ad-hoc conference call with a single click that initiates an outbound call to the user’s regular telephone.

Whatever collaboration solution you use, a REAL time solution is so important to ensure that your team can effectively communicate. Think about the many phones calls that your staff have to cup their hand over the mouth piece to yell out a question to someone. With an integrated collaboration solution, you can see which colleagues are online and get an answer.

Instead of sending documents back and forth via email, you can use real time document editing to edit documents in real time.

tags: collaboration , pbworks , realtime collaboration | 1 comments