4 Things Collaboration Technology Can Do For You

Sunday February 19, 2017

Businesses have always looked for ways to do things more effectively and efficiently. This has been true ever since the first business was made to the environment that we have now.

That’s why every company is looking for ways to allow employees to work together and get better results. Collaboration is important for getting the best ideas to the table and finishing work as quickly as possible.

However, as we have learned more about the world around us, we have also learned of other companies that we have to communicate with, whether it is for collaboration across locations or because we need to carry out business deals.

You don’t have to be a company with international operations to have a need for collaboration technology. As long as part of your business is done outside the office, collaboration will be necessary, and technology can help make things easier for you.

It’s not something to be afraid of, but something you can embrace, as collaboration technologies can bring a number of benefits for your business.

You Can Do Work From Anywhere

One of the biggest advantages to collaboration technology is that it allows you to work from almost any location in the world, while still allowing you to get your work done at the same time.

You can often use simple cloud technologies like Google Documents or Office 365 for this, but since you’re working in a business, you might be using software such as Basecamp for collaboration.

With business being conducted in several different places, we need technology to help us keep in touch and allow us to not only communicate, but to give us a place where work can be done.

You might have a team managing an event, or a team working in another location. You might even have clients who need to give you input for you to do your job correctly. You are also not able to leave your office because you only have the resources to do your work there.

Collaboration technology allows you to keep in touch with your team at all times while being able to get updates on different projects. Communication won’t be as direct as you would have with a face-to-face conversation, but you will still be able to see what your employee do best: their work.

It also helps if employees are doing remote work, such as working from home, as it allows for increased accountability and flexibility to adapt to circumstances that may arise in an employee’s life.

Work Is More Organized

If you have a collaboration centre, then employees know where they can find all the files they may need for their projects and work.

While employees will still need their own hard drive, you can put project files on collaboration software to make it accessible to everyone, allowing them to know where the files will be in case they need them.

You can also lay out duties, responsibilities and tasks that need attention on collaboration software, giving employees the knowledge of what they need to do, what activities need the most attention and who might be responsible for the information they need.

It might seem that you could just do the same thing on a company server, and you could. However, a company server likely already has a lot of other files that are used for other purposes, and may not be related to the project at hand.

Employees can also use the space given to them to create things like work updates, checklists, and do minor discussions, which helps keep people updated and focused on the work that actually needs to be done.

As the checklists allow you to track work, the discussions allowing people to assign roles to themselves and employees are able to stay updated, it can cut down on the number of meetings that you might require, which means more time towards work and employee satisfaction.

It Encourages Employee Collaboration

Employees are not always inclined to work together, especially when some people just focus on their work. Some employees also don’t get to know other employees as well, because teams may not always communicate with each other if they only get to meet during the occasional team meeting.

Collaboration technology can allow people to talk through an online discussion board. Some can take many different forms, such as a discussion forum or an instant chatting system. It can allow people who don’t normally speak up at meetings to have their own voice.

Sometimes, you also don’t need to have everyone together to have a discussion that needs to happen. You might have a team member who is unclear about a requirement and just needs a five minute catch up with another team member.

Previously, you would have to stop work, pull everyone together for a meeting, and then have team members discuss matters with each other. But some people don’t perform well in front of crowds, and having everyone hear a discussion that didn’t have to be significant can suddenly make a mountain out of a molehill for shy and quiet employees.

If discussions can happen in a comfortable environment, that is beneficial for everyone. If someone really needs to talk to someone, they can always walk over and talk to them anyway. But most inquiries and questions can be done with collaboration technology, which provides quick and easy communication.

You Can Show A Progressive Environment

It’s very hard to encourage your team that you are one of the leaders of your industry, yet you’re doing things the same way that you have always done things for 20 years.

By embracing collaboration technologies, you can show your team that you really are focused on making things easier and more efficient. You can show your team that you truly believe in progress and that you really want them to enjoy working there.

New technology doesn’t always mean you can’t do things the old way anymore. There will still be a time and place for meetings. You will still have to talk to people face-to-face at times. You will still have to do things the old way for reasons that are actually built out of necessity.

That being said, technology often enhances how you operate. Collaboration technology doesn’t remove meetings from the company, it just cuts down the number of meetings so that you can use meetings when you need to. You can always organize work the old-fashioned way, but you can also do the same thing in a digital environment.

Employees love doing things efficiently and effectively. This can only happen in a work environment that chooses to embrace new technologies in an effort to do so.

Of course, change won’t happen overnight. But done gradually, it will improve the work environment of employees.

Collaboration Technology Is Helpful

To say that collaboration technology is the thing you’ve always needed is a big overstatement.

It has benefits, but none so impactful that simply adopting them will result in nothing but benefits. You will need to look at the costs and the transition that you and your employees will need to take.

That being said, if you look at collaboration technology, there are quite a few benefits it can bring to your company, which can help your business grow.

It just takes a bit of time and effort, and testing to see which technologies work the best for you.

We hope you enjoyed this article! If you liked it, share it with your friends and family, and follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @mspblueshift and on LinkedIn! Call us at 1300 501 677 for a look at your IT today!

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Craig Boyle

MSP Blueshift supports a range of different businesses who depend on their technology to deliver goods and services to their clients. From architects to retail chains, we’re passionate about streamlining IT systems and processes to move business forward.

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