Previously the term collaboration has meant that participants have been in the same room, at the same time. Through the use of new enabling technology, collaboration is being redefined as the experience of people working together to develop collective solutions, irrespective of geography and time.
What hasn’t changed is that people are unlikely to develop new work habits quickly. But technology that enables the sharing of digital information is exploding and organisations need to find a way to capture, share and use this information to their advantage. It is very clear that introducing new products that rely on extensive training for simple use is unlikely to encourage continued adoption and acceptance.
New collaboration solutions MUST be intuitive for the user as well as demonstrating effective outcomes for the organisation.
Research indicates that companies with better collaborative management capabilities achieve superior financial performance. Moreover, academic research shows that the ability to collaborate in networks is more important to innovativeness than raw individual talent.
Solving effective collaboration is not a simple equation and is rarely achieved through the acquisition of new technology alone. However, as part of a cultural shift embracing remote participants, cloud-based communications and innovative collaboration solutions, the results will undoubtedly deliver significant benefits.
Collaboration is an activity – it is not a piece of technology. The technology fits by supporting or facilitating different styles of collaboration. Combine that with the promotion of an environment where individuals actively share ideas, and information flows freely in a dynamic fashion.
For the past five years, collaboration products have increased in quantity and significance; however, during ISE 2015, I expect a significant shift to collaborative solutions that deliver intuitive and effective functionality alongside flexibility to allow enterprise wide deployment or single meeting room use.
