As the mail was once
indispensable, then the telephone, and the fax machine, useful
business software is now essential to the point that its
absence is an obstacle to business.
What is a "workspace"?
The Virtual Workspace provides a "virtual building"
environment where teams can communicate, collaborate, and
share information regardless of their geographic location.
Both Open Text and Extranets support scalability and
extensibility in their latest products through XML and SOAP
interfaces, with WSDL for Web services delivery.
Why use a "workspace" for your company?
As companies become more decentralized, and more reliant on
their partners to meet the demands of modern business, the
trend will surely increase as online technologies begin to
inter operate.
Attain Goals
Attaining goals is easier when the group sees, agrees and has
input to the goals in a visible, graphical manner.
Team collaboration
Today, there are plenty examples of collaboration through
back-end integration of systems, and document version control.
Team work
Team work is possible only when their is communication and
sharing of the work load. Workspace software can help make
this a reality, instead of a dream.
Computer Whiteboards
All changes to documentation are audited and kept in storage
which also preserves and secures the original document to its
owners.
Video conferencing
E-meetings, real-time document markup and collaboration, and
video conferences through the Internet. Software optionally
makes use of multi cast tools to provide audio and video. |
|
Discussion boards (change to MOSS terminology)
Instead of emailing items to people, you'd send them to this
address and everyone would get the message through Outlook
while the original message would be stored online. People can
use Outlook as they do today, but you don't need to manage
email on the client side. From there, associated workgroups,
like sales development, could see the information and
structure requirements and responses. Using the repository as
a data mine.
Cultural Acceptance of Extending Collaboration
Within most any company, there will always be resistance to
new modes of communication. "Just a few years ago, people were
saying it's difficult to get people to use their email. We
hardly remember that, and it was just a few years ago," says
Brian Williams, a speaker and author on businesses use of
technology and President of Computer eCommerce.
Implementation of Workspace Solutions
The rollout debate will continue, but businesses also need to
account for the fact that new and younger employees are more
comfortable with peer connections and instant messaging than
they are with a fax machine, and more likely to embrace online
collaboration.
In that regard, it pays to remember that email has been in
truly pervasive use for only a half-dozen years, that cell
phones and PDAs are only beginning to find their purpose, and
that the next evolution of collaboration will come well before
its owners are ready to use it.
Mobile Workspaces
|