Collaboration tool
A collaboration tool helps people to collaborate. The purpose of a collaboration tool is to support a group of two or more individuals to accomplish a common goal or objective. Collaboration tools can be either of a non-technological nature such as paper, flipcharts, post-it notes or whiteboards. They can also include software tools and applications such as collaborative software.Early computer-based collaboration tools
The first idea to use computers in order to work with each other was formed in 1945 when Vannevar Bush shared his thoughts on a system he named "memex" in his article "As We May Think". A system that stores books, records and communications of an individual and makes them available at any time. At this stage he called it "an enlarged supplement to his memory".In 1968 computer systems were brought in connection with communication and the potential way of working together when not at the same place by Dr. J. C. R. Licklider, head of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. In his article "The Computer as a Communication Device", he envisioned the idea that there should be a way of "facilitating communication among people without bringing them together in one place", which eventually led to ARPANET, commercial time-sharing systems and finally the Internet.
When the microcomputer was invented in 1970, everyone learned about office automation, which led to the first collaborative software called Electronic Information Exchange System that allowed to do surveys, threaded replies and group-structured approaches. In 1991 educator C. A. Ellis came up with the definition of the term "groupware" as "computer-based systems that support groups of people engaged in a common task and that provide an interface to a shared environment". Paul Wilson then shaped the term "computer-supported cooperative work". He described it as "a generic term which combines the understanding of the way people work in groups with the enabling technologies of computer networking, and associated hardware, software, services, and techniques".
This laid the foundation to develop further on the ideas of groupware and in the 1990s Lotus Notes, Microsoft Exchange Server and Outlook were invented. In 2002 at the Social Software Summit Clay Shirky introduced the phrase “social software” as a "software that supports group interaction".Main types
Three aspects of collaboration: communication, coordination and cooperation can be used to categorize collaboration tools.Communication
Communication tools provide exchange of information between individuals:E-Mail
The invention of email as a collaboration tool changed the way we used to communicate in the workplace. It is the easiest method to make contact within an organization and is well established. Especially for organizing daily correspondence, email can reach various people with just one click.
Although email is still the most common used tool in communication collaboration it is not very efficient on a big scale and other forms of communication seem to take over. Besides its flexibility it is not very good for group conversations as they grow too fast. There is no way to be sure that a person has the latest version of a document that has been sent to them and it is impossible to always track via their email what tasks need to be done and by which deadline. As Cisco states in their Cisco Blog about the "Future of Email", emails "will improve productivity by organizing your data for you" and try to bring more transparency in their work with email.Voicemail
Voicemail as a collaboration tool is more and more integrated in services such as Google Voice. As pointed out in an IBM future scenario the role of voicemail could be that of what email is for us today.Instant messaging (IM)
Through instant messaging as a collaboration tool we are able to reach people within an organisation in real-time. In the future instant messaging is not a stand-alone software anymore, but very well integrated in bigger solutions such as Unified Communication.VoIP (voice over IP) / video call
Voice over IP as a collaboration tool has quickly gained popularity among companies and is part of their communication portfolio. As a report from Eclipse Telecom is pointing out, the VoIP is moving towards the state to totally replace our telephones in our offices and also integrate in existing collaboration service environments.Coordination
Coordination is defined as "the deliberate and orderly alignment or adjustment of partners’ actions to achieve jointly determined goals". Collaboration tools supporting this are the ones who allow a person to set up group activities, schedules and deliverables.Online calendars
Online calendars are part of professional behaviour at work and fully integrated in other systems. As a research paper from University of Bath explains, online calendars could in the future be much closely linked to other data such as social media and have even a larger effect.Time-tracking software
Time trackers are especially used to measure the performance of employees. Its effect on productivity is discussed as being controversial.Spreadsheets
s are like emails very popular within the corporate environment and as a collaboration tool essential for financial analysis or modelling. Although very popular, several studies found out that many spreadsheets contain inaccurate data and are therefore inefficient.Cooperation
Cooperation tools allow groups to have real-time discussions and to shape an idea or thought together. Trends in terms of collaboration target on helping to maintain the "main idea" within big organizations and make connections visible. Also the idea of bringing people who are not working in a company on a regular basis into the organization and make use of their knowledge.Video conferencing
In most cases video conferencing is part of the overall communication and collaboration strategy of organisations. Especially now when all services are cloud-based and therefore implementation costs became more affordable. The longterm vision for video conferencing lies in the correct usage of computer processing power, data storage or mobile bandwidth speeds to further decrease the obstacles of collaboration.IM teleconferencing
Bringing teams, meetings or events as close as possible is what teleconferencing solutions want to do. Apart from business environments Teleconferencing is currently used in a variety of fields, such as telemedicine, where they contribute enormously to the efficiency and productivity as distance and time are limited factors.Classification based on dimensions
Asynchronous collaboration tools
A collaboration tool is asynchronous when its users are collaborating at a different time:is the best known asynchronous collaboration tool and the most common used - it offers intuitive features for forwarding messages, creating mailing groups and attaching documents. Furthermore, information can be automatically chronologically sorted and assigned to tasks or calendar events.Group calendar">Online calendar">Group calendar
Through group calendars meetings can be scheduled, projects managed and people coordinated. It is a great tool to help a person overlook their deliverables and deadlines. A group calendar includes functions such as the detection of conflicting schedules with other people in a team or organization or coordination of meeting times that suit everybody in a team. Besides the positive effects of group calendar there is also controversy about privacy and control that might influence a person's productivity.Workflow systems">Workflow management system">Workflow systems
With workflow systems files or documents can be communicated to the organization by following a strict and organised process. They provide services for routing, development of forms and support for roles. As current workflow systems are controlled from one point, individuals within an organization normally do not have the permission to manage their own processes so far - this should be changed by implementing collaborative planning tools to current workflow systems.Hypertext technology connects our files to each other and makes sure that always the latest version is available to us. When people work on different documents the system automatically updates the information of other people.Synchronous collaboration tools
A collaboration tool is synchronous, when its users are collaborating at the same time:Shared whiteboards give its users the capability to work efficiently on a task through a web-based platform. They can be used for informal discussions and also for communications that need structure, involve drawing or are in general more sophisticated. This might also be very useful in to realise virtual classrooms.Video communication systems offer two-way or multi-way calling with a live videostream. It can be best compared to a telephone system with an additional visual element.Chat systems">Online chat">Chat systems
Chat systems allow people to write and send messages in real-time. They are usually structured in chat rooms which show usernames, number of people, location, discussion topic and more.Decision support systems support groups to manage the decision making process. They give people the ability to exchange their brainstorming, analyzing their ideas and even are used for voting. Decision making is becoming more and more a core function of modern work. According to studies 50% of organizational decisions fail.