| 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.
The weakest link
of a chain dictates its strength. Uniformly strong capability
amongst all business team members - not just a few,
can make the difference between an economic success
and a failure. Using workspace
software, raise level of capability to all members of
the team - not just a select, talented few.
Benefits
of Using Workspace Software Solutions
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, extranets, 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.
Workspace
Tools and Software
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.
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
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. |