By Tarsus Distribution
Much like communication, collaboration has undergone a major paradigm shift since the global COVID-19 pandemic sent workforces home to work almost overnight. In the past, if an employee needed to collaborate, they would have had to set up a meeting, and get all the necessary people around a table.
No longer. The world of remote working has now become a hybrid one, with most people remaining at home at least part of the time. And because today’s business teams are seldom located in the same space as their peers, different tools were needed to keep teams connected.
After all, working from home (WFH) means that organisations in every sector need to try harder to ensure their workforces remain connected, even when they are scattered all over the globe. This saw the rise of a range of intelligent tools that have become key to collaboration in the digital age.
In fact, a recent survey by Statista, revealed that two years ago, a staggering 79% of users claimed they began using collaboration tools for work. This was an increase of 44% when compared to the figure from two years before. Moreover, this trend has only escalated as many entities shifted to a hybrid work model in the aftermath of the pandemic.
As a result, these organisations adopted a range of different tools and solutions to facilitate remote collaboration, and enable their employees to work from anywhere, and at any time.
An era of innovation
Seamless communication
Talent, from anywhere
Increasing participation, transparency
In today’s era of innovation, collaboration has become key to generating new ideas, and forward-thinking business leaders realise that collaboration can’t be seen as a once-off, it is something that needs to be built into a business’s culture.
In addition, to remain productive, staff members need access to cloud tools that enable them to stay connected to their co-workers regardless of where they are situated. This has seen market leaders introduce tools that facilitate productivity and interaction within remote workforces.
In fact, collaboration and teamwork have become the defining characteristic of modern enterprises. Collaboration software suites are now used by thousands of businesses around the world. There is a wide range of messaging apps that enable users to communicate with each other both inside and outside the company.
The leading tools feature channels that can be dedicated to specific groups, topics, or projects, and users are able to communicate in real time or send updates to be viewed at a later date. Other tools integrate a wide range of tools, such as email, chat, calendar, shared drives, and more. In this way, documents can be edited and updated by any user within a particular group. with permissions and security features included.
With the workforce becoming increasingly remote and digital, collaboration tools are here to stay and are evolving even further. A wide range of tools all offer different benefits, from seamless communication, to document sharing and even brainstorming on the fly.
Importantly, companies that work with big files, know only too well the pain of receiving large files that slow them down. While the majority of email servers can't handle documents that are bigger than a few megabytes, cloud-based collaboration servers enable users to share audio, video, and other data-rich or large files with simplicity. Because these files are stored in the cloud, users don’t have to send them, because teams can access them directly from the cloud storage service.
Having these tools means that businesses can make sure their teams are equipped with the right tools to work productively together and to take company performance to a whole new level.
Another major benefit of collaboration tools is that they open up the global skills pool. For the first time, businesses can access the talent they need anywhere around the world without sacrificing teamwork.
This is particularly critical during turbulent times, because executing complex changes in the way we work, or in the modernisation of IT infrastructure, requires a breadth and depth of knowledge that can only be facilitated by teams that are large in size, diverse, and made up of highly skilled individuals.
Moreover, making use of a collaboration task management solution helps to onboard workers who are situated remotely, keeping them involved and increasing their participation in business decision-making. In turn, this lessens the risk of teams working in silos and being reluctant to communicate their progress or pain points with others.
Similarly, having all the information on a single platform, ensures that the chain of operations grows more transparent and auditable. It also helps those in charge to manage and monitor any changes, increasing accountability among staff members.