How to use the cloud to increase employee collaboration

Email has for a long time been the main tool for collaborating on various business projects, but the cloud provides an opportunity to do more than just send someone a document and then wait for a response.

By collaborating in the cloud it is possible to raise the bar as there’s no need to wait anymore to work on the same document, report or presentation. This is why cloud-based collaboration can truly change the face of meetings, and encourage the adoption of new business models. “The most obvious new one is the most important, and that’s home-based working”, explains Chris Rae – Vice-President of of cloud solutions at CA Technologies.

Breaking down silos
Most companies sales, marketing, IT and finance teams sit in organisational silos. They work on their own projects most of the time, and this means that their own agendas are top of their mind. The cloud makes it possible to break down these cultural and attitudinal walls for the benefit not just of one business function, but also for entire organisation and eventually this will have positive impact on its ability to achieve its goals and objectives in a more efficient and effective manner than if a status quo of non-collaborative practices were permitted to continue through each department, project team an between individuals.

The real-time nature of collaborating in the cloud can make meetings more interactive and productive because allows people to contribute their ideas more freely to each project and campaign in a transparent and instantaneous manner. Microsoft’s Mark Johnston, SharePoint and CAL Suites product manager adds that it “results in businesses making better decisions and creating and creating a more productive workforce, and SharePoint is one technology that is helping end users to change the way they work.”

Work together in real-time
For example, if a marketing team on a plan they can all add comments, make changes, manage the workflows, and track the different versions of the document in real-time. A moderator makes the final decisions about the final draft in agreement with his or her colleagues. While they might use something like Google Docs to make the changes to the document, they could be simultaneously using a tool like Salesforce Chatter, Skype or Windows Live Messenger. They can alternatively use a video conferencing tool like Webex or Microsoft Live Meeting to discuss the amendments as they are being made. 

Rae adds that “It’s pretty much considered that Barack Obama’s presidential campaign was collaborative as his electoral win wouldn’t have otherwise happened.” Social media played a big role in helping Obama to win his presidential campaign, and it helped to rally his political supporters and subsequently swung the popular vote in his favour.

An inexpensive option
Unlike with most on-premise Microsoft SharePoint installations there is no need to have any infrastructure in place to collaborate in the cloud. However, SharePoint Online provides a cloud-based option as it is part of the Microsoft Office 365 suite. It’s also possible to do so by using rival solutions like Alfresco, Google Apps, Atlassian’s Confluence, Mindtouch, EMC Documentum’s eRoom, LotusLive, Adenin Technologies’ IntelliEnterprise, HyperOffice, Feng Office, HighQ Solutions, DropBox, Salesforce Chatter and Huddle.

"We are seeing more people using DropBox and by adding Soho you have another alternative means to collaborate in the cloud too," says Steve Ball – managing director of Cloud 9 Data Centre.

"I am a fan of DropBox too, but most organisations won’t allow you to use it," says Rae. This is because there are many organisations out there that are reluctant to entrust their data with small enterprises like it. While CA offers its own collaboration tools, he claims that he uses DropBox quite successfully. Yet Microsoft has the largest user base in most enterprises.

All of this is good, but there are still some challenges that organisations need to consider. Rae explains that “managing the number of interactions and information is the biggest challenge that the cloud faces.”

Gain flexibility
The cloud can also been a more environmentally friendly option: it becomes possible to reduce organisational or departmental energy consumption and costs. It also enables the creation of what he refers to as a community of project managers, allowing organisations to source the skills they need to complete a project from anywhere in the world.

Rae argues that the cost-benefit of cloud-based collaborative project management outweighs the disadvantages of it. There are in his view some occasions when face-to-face contact is better suited to handling certain aspects of interpersonal communication and relationships. “I think you can discuss ideas better when you meet face-to-face, and there is no substitute for body language as web conferencing is an artificial thing.”

He’s right. People tend to behave completely differently when the camera is turned off, but he thinks these issues represent a small disadvantage. Organisation can gain more by collaborating in the cloud than weren’t doing so by using a variety of tools like social media, instant messaging, email, content and document management. “The cloud may also offer marketing departments the chance to make the most of he rise of social media channels”, stresses Taylor Deakyne of Onestopclick.com. It encourages a completely new cultural shift.

Changing culture
Collaboration in the cloud brings a cultural shift in thinking with it: “What I am seeing is that consultants are employed to deliver a business function and it doesn’t matter now about how they achieve it, so long as they do so.” They also need to be able access cloud-based collaborative tools using any device, and whenever it is convenient to them. Today’s generation apparently doesn’t feel that they should or have to attend meetings – particularly the kind of meetings that are situated in a physical location.