Collaboration

With the help of web collaboration, companies, organizations, researchers and individuals can communicate and work together easily, for reasonable costs. The web is a very effective tool for interactive information systems.

The web makes it possible for members of an organization to work together or even communicate with customers via the Internet in real time. Web collaboration packages usually consist of web-based applications within web sites to assist your sales, help you develop new opportunities and increase customer satisfaction. Web collaboration can be used together with an internet-based application or with an organization's existing telephone network.

In real-time collaboration, you use tools like video and audio conferences, web conferencing and instant messaging (IM). Powerful web collaboration applications make it possible for you to answer your customers' questions immediately, and can also help them solve complicated support issues in a real-time manner.

Web collaboration allows you to complete online forms, edit various documents and charts, and share any desktop application by using just a web browser. With its help, you can also conduct online seminars, share web pages with customers while chatting with them, using voice or text messaging. Features such as chat sessions can help service representatives work more effectively, while customers have to wait less before they are contacted.

A web package that enables people to work together offers efficient document management by means of various applications. You can sign documents digitally, secure sessions, or download and upload documents in one click. If you don't have the application, you can view the file using HTML. When you save changes, the file is returned to the folder with the updated information.

You can e-mail, import, scan, and fax documents directly into a web storage folder. Administrators can set access rights for various users or groups. A special shared folder option allows you to share files outside the immediate workgroup by putting them into shared folders. Invited users can reach both a shared folder and their own personal folder.

Some useful web collaboration options are:

• Electronic calendars can schedule events, and automatically notify or remind group members.
• You can set, track and document the steps of a project.
• Information can be managed in various ways (collecting, organizing, sharing, etc) with the help of knowledge management systems.
• Social software systems can organize and show the social relations within groups.

Be careful, though! Storing important documents on the web has its risks. You should collect information in advance about the host's data center, backup policy and security model. Depending on this, you should have an emergency and a backup plan, and you should also store important documents off-line.

Read more about web meetings