collaboration

When it comes to collaboration, the focus is almost entirely on employees and how they can be more productive within the enterprise. That may well be the endgame, but before that can happen, a very different form of collaboration must take place, and it has very little to do with the technology driving Unified Communications.

You know how important digital transformation is - but do you know how to start the journey and get your desired results? To remain competitive, your enterprise is going to have to embrace technology that will deliver better and more relevant customer experiences, enable more productive employee outcomes, and help to realize new and more sophisticated business models.

A revolution is under way in how organizations conduct business. As businesses transition towards collaborative environments, the way that work life and personal life interact is being significantly changed. The growing demand within businesses for new tools to help improve productivity for both individuals and teams is driving the evolution towards the use of collaboration tools and applications that change the way we work and interact.

I grew up in a home with a blackboard. I remember its key role in my learning the home phone number. It was still there when I moved out and probably still is.

Manufacturing of blackboards in the U.S. began in the 1840s. I'm sure the process has changed, but how we use these boards has seen very little change. Green colored boards appeared in the 1960s followed soon after by dry-erase whiteboards.

These types of traditional boards are indeed collaboration devices. They are ubiquitous in classrooms, meeting rooms, and in many homes here and abroad.

Just as the objectives and use of collaboration in your company can vary immensely, so does the behavior of people when they work together towards a common goal. Look around your organization and you will recognise people with different attitudes, aspirations and motivations. These are characteristics that shape our behavior, how we live and work, and even our technology preferences. Different collaboration technology and tools are more suitable for certain "types" of people and business purposes. One size does not fit all.

Some elements of collaboration solutions include:

The concept of a Usage Profile was introduced in this post on September 19, 2016. This series of articles will describe eight role-based Usage Profiles plus a Foundational Usage Profile. These profiles cover well over 90% of all employee and contractor roles in the US, across all industries. Each Usage Profile article will describe:

Introduction

Those of us in the UC market have keenly watched the growth of cloud solutions for several years, and can clearly state that the UC Cloud is going mainstream. We have seen many SMB customers migrate to the cloud, and now enterprises are taking the plunge. As a consultant, I am seeing our clients considering replacing their legacy telephony systems with cloud-based UC and Contact Center systems. In fact, all of our clients have asked for cloud solutions to be included in their RFPs.