Teamwork really does make the dream work. That’s why collaboration is such a major key to business success. But how do businesses improve their collaboration? And are there collaboration tools for businesses out there to assist in this improvement?  Read on to learn the answers to these questions and more about business collaboration.  

What is Business Collaboration?  

Every business is working toward specific goals. Collaboration is a working approach that has emerged in response to these goals. Business collaboration is the method in which people work together to achieve a common goal. Businesses that collaborate effectively know how to use each members’ unique strengths and skills to complete their goals. They build off of each other, coming together as a cohesive unit.  

To fully achieve business collaboration, there are a few factors you’ll need to consider. Your overall company goals, the type of business collaboration that will work best for your organization, and the business collaboration tools you’ll need are among these factors.   

There are more than a few types of business collaboration. These include but are not limited to:  

• Team collaboration. This is the most common form of business collaboration. In this type of collaboration, every team member knows how they contribute to the goal and work with their fellow team members to combine strengths.  
• Internal collaboration. Microblogging, wiki pages, or discussion boards are all common forms of internal collaboration. These formats make it easier to share information across the entire company and collaborate as needed.  
• External collaboration. Businesses looking to share information with clients or customers may utilize external collaboration. This may be a weekly email with information or a social media post that encourages engagement.  
• Network collaboration. In this form of collaboration, not everyone in the network will know each other. Instead, individuals make their expertise known and may be matched with or sought out by those wishing to collaborate.  
• Cloud collaboration. Anyone in this collaborative network can access and edit documents stored in the cloud. Information is easily shared amongst team members and collaboration can happen in real-time in a document.  
• Video collaboration. Virtual conference rooms are an essential tool for collaboration in a remote environment. With these platforms at your fingertips, you can collaborate with team members and clients easily. 

Each type of business collaboration has its unique advantages depending on your business’ needs. No matter which you choose, your organization will benefit from business collaboration. Keep reading to learn more about these benefits.  

Benefits of Business Collaboration 

Business collaboration does more than just increase team productivity. In addition to faster results, your business will likely see an improvement in a few other areas, including:  

Employee Engagement

When employees understand their role on a team, they’re more likely to effectively engage with their fellow team members. Knowing who to turn to when problems arise or when a task should come in through this engagement can further increase productivity and drive more well-rounded results. Enhancing employee engagement requires not only effective communication but also the right tools. Exploring the best intranet software solutions can offer a way to foster collaboration and drive engagement in innovative ways.

Cost Reduction

One of the many benefits of business collaboration that is often overlooked is cost reduction. Inefficient business processes can lead to delayed project deliveries that then lead to an increase in cost. With improved collaboration comes lower costs as projects are finished and delivered on time.  

Process Improvement

Having a continuous growth mindset is part of what makes a business successful. To achieve this growth, your business has to be open to feedback and improvement. With an uptick in collaboration, your team can identify and discuss common bottlenecks that are delaying results and stunting business growth. By implementing new collaboration tactics and investing in collaboration tools for business, your organization will have the resources they need to brainstorm solutions and improve business processes.  

Client Satisfaction

Much of what businesses do revolves around client or customer satisfaction. Both process improvement and increased employee engagement internally can lead to higher-quality results. These results drive better products or services, keeping clients and customers happy.  

Collaboration Tools for Business 

Business collaboration is easier than ever before in this digital age. The emergence of automation has single-handedly improved collaboration for businesses across the globe. Check out just a few of the automation collaboration tools for businesses that are changing the way of the workforce.   

Task Management

Automation comes to life with task management tools. When a task is created, it is automatically added to a team member’s Timesheet, alerting them of what needs to be done. Once a task has been completed, others working on that project will be promptly alerted and can respond accordingly.  

These tasks can be managed using tools such as workflow automation and business process management (BPM) software. These tools can further improve automation and speed up project completion.  

Document Management System (DMS)

With a document management system (DMS), your team can efficiently share information with ease. Users added to the DMS can create, upload, store, and share files in one convenient, secure location. Team members can safely share information with one another, improving business collaboration over shared documents.  

Video Conferencing

In a world where the remote work environment is becoming more and more common, video conferencing is a must-have collaboration tool for businesses. Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Skype, Comidor Events, and Google Meet are all viable options for meeting with team members in real-time. With an application like Comidor Events, you can quickly create video meetings and automate repetitive events with the use of process scheduling and process templates. Eliminate the need for travel through this business collaboration tool. 

Cloud Document Storage

Cloud storage is an ideal solution for businesses without an internal DMS. Individuals working in a remote environment can upload and view information from a telecommunication network that can be accessed from anywhere. This allows for efficient business collaboration without the need to be in the office.  

Instant Messaging

The final collaboration tool for business is instant messaging. IM platforms allow team members to collaborate in real-time without needing to work around schedules for a video conference or waiting on an email response. IM is an efficient way to communicate quickly with team members to share information, ideas, and more.  

Reach Enterprise Collaboration with Comidor 

When it comes to business collaboration, automation is the way to go. Comidor’s enterprise collaboration software offers businesses an automated platform to track tasks, share information, and manage projects. Using collaboration applications, team members can share ideas, ask questions, solve problems, and more, faster than ever before.   

Schedule a demo with Comidor today and give your business collaboration a boost!  

* Featured image: alphaspirit/Shutterstock.com

The term ‘collaboration platform’ or ‘collaborative platform’ is becoming more and more known among modern businesses.

These tools are designed to boost team productivity as they allow them to share information, files, and documents and help teams communicate faster in an enterprise environment.

In 2021, the market for collaboration or collaborative platforms is expected to grow up to US$5.1 billion. To compare, in 2019, the size of the market was US$3.5 billion. There are several reasons for such rapid growth.

The majority of businesses realize the usefulness of remote work, coworking spaces, other types of physically decentralized offices, and other more flexible approaches to their workforces. It isn’t necessary to meet the people you work with to discuss projects anymore. You can do it through collaborative and instant communication software.

If your company considers investing in a collaboration platform, there are things to consider first.

To encompass as many connected topics as possible, we’ve compiled common questions and brief answers in a Q&A format.

What Is a Collaboration or Collaborative Platform?

We all know the ‘collaboration’ definition, so the meaning of such a platform is relatively easy to understand. These tools aim at easier communication and collaboration. All kinds of shared file programs, task and project management features are a part of the collaborative tools.

Frank Hamilton from guest-posting service Adsy highlights that:

“From instant messaging to project planning, collaboration software is involved in a plethora of tasks. It can help incorporate knowledge management into your business, which is an important factor in proper information-sharing and problem-solving.”

Collaborative platforms are digital workspaces where you can communicate like in an office while being in different countries.

With a collaboration platform employees can communicate with each other in order to achieve the best results in their processes and find solutions to difficulties that will occur due to remote work. Some examples of providing services on collaboration platforms are emails, personal and group calendars, video meetings, collaborative documents, and message notes.

What Are the Types of Collaboration or Collaborative Platforms?

There are many types of collaboration platforms in the market. Some of them are all-in-one solutions, and some others are as specialized for the following:

• Instant Messaging
• Document Management System (DMS)
• Video Conferencing
• Task Management
• Cloud Storage
• Idea and Knowledge Management

Most of the above collaboration solutions are easily customizable, which makes it easier for you to create a version of the software that will suit your business.

Collaboration Platform Features

Here are some features that are incorporated in a collaboration platform:

• Project planning, management, task, and process scheduling capabilities
• File sharing, including presentations, charts, statistics, company news, spreadsheets, sale proposals, business documents etc.
• Topics, discussion boards, and wikis
• Push notifications & reminders for tasks, emails-messages
• Chat & Video calls with screen-sharing

Achieving advanced collaboration in different ways is is easy with such software because different teams have access to the same files and information. Each takes the data necessary for their own tasks. This eliminates the need to create assignments for each team, which saves time and resources.

Why Should You Consider Investing in a Collaboration Platform?

A collaborative platform will save:

• Time.
  Your employees won’t need to spend time communicating, doing paperwork, etc. Everything is within the platform, available to regular staff and managers.
• Effort.
  Communication can be done through voice, text, or even video, which makes it easier to customize the workspace to every individual.
• Resources.
  Your company will not need to invest in physical resources like office equipment etc. This will reduce operational costs.

It will also increase the productivity of all your teams since everyone can work from their perfect spot. No commute, no inconveniences connected to work at the office. Not to mention the focus on sustainability due to lower commute. Your employees can go to a coworking space nearby and join the conversation on the go.

What Are the Advantages of a Collaboration/Collaborative Platform?

If all that isn’t enough, here’s a list of benefits a collaborative platform will provide for your business:

• Focus on creating value.
  Instead of troubleshooting Excel or other conventional project management tools, employees can work conveniently and focus on what really matters – value. You will notice a spike in creativity and productivity since there will be fewer annoying disruptions.
• Knowledge management boost.
  With time, the platform will become a large digital library for all staff members. Information about the company, finished projects, innovations, recommendations, etc. will be stored in one place and optionally backed up by a cloud to make sure nothing is lost. New employees will feel like a part of the team much faster, which will decrease turnover.
• Better communication.
  Communication is key to a healthy, well-functioning team. Whether it’s about a project or teambuilding, there have to be convenient channels for chatting. Managers can assign daily tasks in time, employees can comment on them and ask questions, getting quick replies, thus increasing performance.
• Innovation motivation.
  If one of your business goals is to nurture innovation, greater progress will be achieved with a collaborative platform. There, you can post about the type of ideas welcomed. Employees will write down ideas, while their co-workers will be able to enhance them, eventually creating new solutions.

Wrapping up

Collaborative platforms are constantly changing and trying to adapt to users’ needs. These pieces of software help create a digital workplace and make a company a wholesome working mechanism. Different teams have access to project files and opportunities to communicate and discuss their tasks.

Should you invest in a collaboration platform? Absolutely. It will bring clarity and transparency to your business and make it more convenient to manage projects you have remote specialists working on.

About Comidor

Comidor Digital Workplace provides a virtual environment where people use Collaboration, Productivity and Knowledge management tools to efficiently perform business tasks and processes, towards operational goals. Learn more about Comidor enterprise collaboration software.

Author Bio:

Frank Hamilton is a blogger and translator from Manchester. He is a professional writing expert in such topics as blogging, digital marketing and self-education. He also loves traveling and speaks Spanish, French, German, and English.