Moreover the members need not save the necessary documents on their personal storage devices like USB stick etc. Home » Blog Wimi Teamwork » Collaboration » 7 reasons why you should use collaborative tools. That’s where online collaboration comes in. In Part 2, you will explore the document sharing functions by using Google Drive to set up document sharing. Knowing which version of a document is the last one and being sure about the safety of shared documents can easily become challenges. Through online collaboration, your team can be more productive and innovative. Each time your firm collaborates with others you optimize the capacity of your associates to extend beyond their comfort zone, grow, and in turn, stretch the boundaries of the organization. In this article, I will introduce you to 7 online collaborative tools that can help you to solve the issue of lack of interest for good. Need more information? The key is to limit the number of tools by finding a fe… If you handle sensitive data as part of your job, you’ll know the severe consequences of a data breach. Who does what? In one study, those who were primed to act collaboratively stuck at their task 64% longer than their solitary peers, whilst also reporting higher engagement levels, lower fatigue levels, and a higher success rate. Lab - Researching Network Collaboration Tools Objectives Part 1: Use Surveys Some will purely focus on document sharing, with limited functionality, while the best collaboration tools others will have all the features me… Luckily, they do. Share. An online tool, allows you to capture all of your ideas in one location. A collaboration tool is a form of application softwarethat allows you to work together and share knowledge online with other users. All of the aforementioned reasons contribute to helping an innovative solution reach implementation. Step 2: List at least two reasons for using collaboration tools. In the modern business world, a workplace is comprised of people working from different time zones. How often have you discovered a great idea to improve your organisation, sent it to your boss and never got a response? The reasons for this are clear. if they want to work on them even when they are not in their office. For most organizations, teamwork is necessary and a part of employees’ everyday life. Share Documents with Ease; An online collaborative work tool is collaborative project software that can be accessed by any team via the Internet. Simply upload your document and assign colleagues or teams to different chapters. A tool is a tool is a tool—no more, no less. Why Use a Project Collaboration Tool? Collaborative tool types include document sharing, web meetings, In Part 1, you will identify collaboration tools that you … Wimi enables you to manage, store and share documents, plan your next meetings, communicate with your teams with a chat tool, and organize the different projects’ tasks and to-do lists. Thus, it adds value without wasting time. Part 2: Share Documents with Google Drive Collaborative tools can be very useful for that problem because you can easily follow the project step by step,  who does what and so on. When you work in a team, you’re more focused and produce better results than you would if working alone. Let’s look at the benefits of using a project collaboration tool in more detail. The UK Information Security Classification System: What is OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE Information? These are some of the best global collaboration tools … The best reasons for using collaboration tools in your organisation Collaboration is critical to being successful in the workplace. Emails have revolutionized communication (whether personal or professional) and have facilitated many exchanges, however using a chat tool which is divided into projects is way more practical. Collaboration software will give your company much needed focus and structure Click here to visit our website and here to start your free trial period. Please get in touch. There’s no need to write again and again  ‘Hello’, ‘Best Regards’ and so on at each and every email you write. Some other terms the present category of programs can be called are workgroup support systems, groupware or group support software. You would hope so right? The more people there are working on a project, the more difficult it is to follow the project’s evolution from all involved workers. There are many benefits to using online collaboration tools to complete projects. 03/23/2020 By Power Inception. Project discussions – by nature, group collaboration tools need to involve the group. With news that email has been named as a top risk for 2018, it’s now imperative that you look for more secure ways to share sensitive data. You might use Excel to record holiday requests; a survey tool such as Survey Monkey to interview key stakeholders, a productivity app like Todoist to manage your tasks – the list goes on. For, a start you can login anytime, anywhere so there’s no need to be in the same place as the person you’re meeting. Here are few examples: 1. But is emailing all it’s cracked up to be? So of course, you don’t know which one is the one you need! How much have we progressed? Also, because these tools are easily searchable, you and your colleagues can easily track down an idea if required. For more  information, don’t hesitate to check out our sources: 7 reasons why you should use collaborative tools, Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), https://www.wimi-teamwork.com/static/medias/reasons-why-you-should-use-collaborative-tools.png, https://www.wimi-teamwork.com/static/medias/wimi_logo_320px.png. 7 Reasons Why Using Team Collaboration Tools Improve Work Efficiency. “Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.”. As mentioned earlier in this post, leading vendors regularly test and put robust security measures in place to protect your data. who are using Kahootz to collaborate anytime, anywhere. People can’t collaborate if they don’t communicate. Are the prioritised tasks complete? Improves productivity of the team: Online collaborative tools allows employees to communicate from anywhere and work together on project/s. Even now, they are still hugely popular. No upfront commitment required. Collaborative tools can help you place priorities and get a clear vision of the different deadlines. Job done. With a collaboration tool, you can then use just one login and access a wide range of tools and data at your fingertips. Is your mailbox full? OK, so it may not be realistic to stop using email completely. Network collaboration tools give people the opportunity to work together efficiently and productively without the constraints of location or time zone. The first and possibly the most fatal pitfall of using collaboration tools is the lack of insight regarding the critical success factors for effective collaboration as outlined in the last section. While collaboration is key to innovation, convergent thinking is still a risk. These tools are opposed to production in series while enabling several people to work on the same task. Part 2: Share Documents with Google Drive . From early incarnations including BBS and Usenet, online forums have come a long way. This can get messy though. They can then work together in real-time to get the content exactly how you want it. The typical way to collaborate on documents is email. Here are 10 major reasons why your company must start deploying an online document collaboration tool ASAP: 1. Google Drive is a web-based office suite and data … Collaborative tools give exploitable pieces of information that are updated regularly so that the whole project team can follow the overall progress. View Larger Image. Collaboration is critical to being successful in the workplace. Increased productivity is inherently fostered by excellent collaboration tools. And with each, the promise is the same: work less and get more done. By: Jamie Johnson, Contributor. You open the document, make a change then send it onto the next person. A collaboration tool is a form of application software that allows you to work together and share knowledge online with other users. Emails can accidentally be sent to the wrong person, leaving your organisation vulnerable. Are there some problems with the projects? Sometimes work meetings can feel like a waste of time, and as a matter of fact, 23% of workers feel that way. Shared calendars 4. Wouldn’t it be better to have everything in one place? As more emails are sent, it gets harder to track who has made changes and which version is the latest. Did you receive the same file in 5 different versions? Collaborative work is a kind of work which isn’t found in traditional ranked organization but is based on collaboration between several workers which is possible because of new information and communications technologies (NICT). This drastically reduces the downtime and helps in improving productivity and it sends automatic updates when documents have been Transport, accommodation and food can be expensive – especially if you’re going abroad or away for an extended period of time. There are many types of collaboration technology, all with different featuresto help you achieve this. Collaboration tool provider RingCentral released a survey this month of 2,000 knowledge workers that found most workers use an average of four collaboration tool applications — … V. Increase productivity. Which one you choose, will depend on your reasons for collaborating. To be useful to you and your team, the best online collaboration tools will include a few essential components, outlined below. Helen Keller. With a chat tool, you can talk to your colleagues, suppliers, and clients as if it was a Facebook conversation or a text conversation, with more short and immediate messages. It gives team members the opportunity to edit project files, provide feedback, leave comments, and chat with each other all in real time, without having one file that must be “checked out” and “checked in,” or tracked for version control. In consequence, collaborative tools are technological tools that will permit teams to communicate better on different projects. However, communication between several individuals within the same team can sometimes seem difficult, and therefore collaborative tools have been developed for the business market. One key reason for this is that your stakeholders can access all of the information they need easily, in one place. When working in teams, work organization can get difficult. Did you receive the same file in 5 different versions? Statistics suggest that employees spend 1.8 hours every day—9.3 hours per week, on average—searching and gathering information. You really don’t know anymore to whom the tasks are assigned to, who does what and when are the deadlines…. Our guide contains 10 most important questions you need to ask potential suppliers so you make the right decision – first time. Would your clients and partners be happy to take this risk? Dave lists 7 reasons and I jumped in with a number of other points answering a set of questions Dave posed. Benefits Of Investing In Collaborative Tools One of the biggest roadblocks to close collaboration is of distance. In order to work effectively and productively, a good collaboration tool is essential. The reasons for this are clear. But before we go into why you should use online collaboration tools, we’re first going to look at what one is. Leading vendors also put strict security measures in place to ensure that the software can’t be hacked. Kahootz selected onto the UK Government’s G-Cloud 12 Digital Marketplace, The Benefits of Using Kahootz for Bid and Proposal Management. Makes tracking workflows easier After all, efficiency is about doing things right! Is your mailbox full? Innovation results from implementation of a complete solution or idea. Meetings make people share the important pieces of information so most managers think they are indispensable however with a collaborative tool, most of them can be avoided because communication is more transparent and more effective. Collaboration is a powerful tool for all small business owners, regardless of the industry you are in or the type of business you have. Decisions have to be made quickly, often based on input from many people working in different office and field locations. With 124.5 billion of them being sent and received each day by businesses, email has been named as a top risk for 2018. Top 5 Global Collaboration Tools. So how do collaboration tools help? By integrating workflows and current data and information updates into one central repository, employees are able to work faster and more efficiently. As part of your growing digital workplace, it can help to bring staff, partners and clients together in one secure location to work together and achieve common goals. While many of these tools deliver, the most pressing problem is their sheer number. The added benefit is that all the comments related to the document are located in one place for easy access and analysis. David Pollard offered for anyone on the net to join him in a joint collaboration project using Writely. This is especially so with a tool which includes tasks management. Several Reasons for Using of Collaboration Software When an individual is referring to collaboration software , it is possible to term it in different ways. Communication gets chaotic when you use emails for daily communication, Evernote for articles, SlideShare for presentations, Pocket for videos, Buffer for social media, and any one of a hundred different cloud platforms for file sharing. You’ll no doubt have a long list of tools that you use on a daily basis. 23% of workers think emails harm their productivity, moreover, the time spent to manage them constitutes 28% of  total work time. . Task management 5. With 124.5 billion of them being sent and received each day by businesses, you can see just how popular this particular communication method is. With a rise in remote workers, great team collaboration software is … There is no point implementing a collaboration tool if it’s not going to increase productivity. Then efficiency is the name of the game. This can help cut down the time that they spend searching for documents. Looking for business success? Research has found that these tools can improve team efficiency by 20%, which in turn leads to more effective collaboration in the workplace. Possible Pitfalls of Using Collaboration Tools. Answers will vary but could include: centralization, less email, reduced travel, and less environmental impact. When you’ve got to travel for a meeting the costs can rise quickly. You receive too many emails. Major reasons to support collaboration within the digital workplace. Once logged in, tools such as calendars, conference call facilities, and task management allow you to carry out your meeting and immediately record any follow up actions. However, with more individuals working remotely, there are still huge barriers to collaboration for teams that are spread across different geographies and time zones. Are the deadlines fast approaching? For total transparency, you can then use the audit trail to see what changes have been made and by whom. Reasons to use Collaborative Work tools. It is the connections you form with others, and the different ways you collaborate with those people you formed connections with, that will help you grow your business to new levels. Wimi is a collaborative tool you can use in order to solve these 7 problems that you can encounter in your daily work life. Collaboration tools helps businesses in increased productivity, better client interaction, reduced costs, etc. People have to interact regularly with the people they work alongside, only the “alongside” is separated by time zones, countries, and even continents. Below are the 4 reasons to use collaborative work tools. You can also often add emojis, gifs, pictures, files and so on. Step 2: List at least two reasons for using collaboration tools. Everyone has access and can, at any time, view all the projects of the company with which he collaborates. Some reasons for using collaboration tools are that they make working with others much easier because it allows one to talk/ help online instead of needing to go in person to work on something. With the increasing availability and popularity of web-enabled collaborative tools, it is no longer necessary to make extensive plans for bringing busy colleagues at the same location. With people sending multiple versions of a document, it’s almost impossible to know which one is definitive. When you are working on a lot of projects, it can get difficult to know which one to begin with. Guest post by David Terrar - Founder and CXO at Agile Elephant We believe a properly implemented cloud collaboration platform (or enterprise social network) is one of the key building... Join hundreds of thousands of people across public sector organisations, enterprises and not-for-profits The topic: Why are conversation and collaboration tools so underused? It means your operations are lean and streamlined; errors are avoided and the damaging effects of such mistakes are mitigated. You can set permissions, only allowing certain individuals or teams to view a document or a series of documents. A cloud tool enables you to have access to all documents from anywhere and to be always updated. Collaborative tools allow you to gain time, they make you avoid useless tasks and they make you see clearer the projects’ progress in a simple way. No need to remember a million different passwords either! With this reduced, your colleagues can spend more time being productive and less time on boring, admin related tasks. From instant messaging to video conferencing tools (the best alternative to face-to-face meetings), there are many options for team collaboration tools: CIOs have found that using collaboration tools helped streamline business processes and save money -- thus increasing ROI. The best reasons for using collaboration tools in your organisation. Try Kahootz out free for 30-days and see the benefits for yourself! Document management 2. 10 Online Collaboration Tools That Will Boost Your Team’s Productivity Collaborating with your team is always a challenge, but it’s even harder when you’re working remotely. Online document collaboration tools have many benefits that can help your business reach new heights of success with reduced overhead. Project collaboration tools can help project managers and teams manage change, communicate, and save time while remaining effective. Dion Hinchcliffe (@dhinchcliffe) identifies three major benefits of digital collaboration methods, which I’ve gone on to summarise: People can find information and colleagues they need faster with social tools. 3 Reasons Why Team Leaders Need Collaboration Software: It will give your company much needed focus and structure; It will unite your employees; It will bring out the pros and cons of your business; 1. A Guide to the UK Information Security Classification System. In our opinion, it’s not for these reasons. Aside from being the next best thing to in-person interaction under global lockdown orders, a boon to productivity is another one of the many reasons for using collaboration tools. 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