Executive Summary
Real-time collaboration technology is increasingly becoming a way of life for businesses, as their employees find new ways to work together, then bring those methods into the enterprise. The vast majority of organizations are using some form of collaboration technology, including instant messaging (IM), audio, video and Web conferencing, and presence-enabled collaboration workspaces.
We expect the growth of real-time collaboration technology to continue, and we predict that it’s just a matter of time before many of the technologies become pervasive within most organizations, especially among knowledge workers. But IT executives must perform a strict business analysis, then plan their implementation carefully.
Getting a Grip on Collaboration
Although the second definition of “collaboration” as listed in the Webster’s New World Dictionary reads “to cooperate with the enemy,” none of the businesses we’ve spoken with own up to doing that. But most agree that, in its most general sense, to collaborate means to work together—Webster’s first definition of the word. And our research shows that 90% of them say they’re using technology to help them do that today, with the remaining 10% planning to do so in the next 24 months.
Real-time, or synchronous, technology enables the most important element of businesses collaboration: the ability to work together from anywhere in the world, whenever people are available to do so. It wasn’t always this way. Just ten years ago, employees didn’t need to do much to work together—they could simply walk into a co-worker’s office or gather in a conference room and talk. But today’s companies are faced with a daunting challenge: bringing together people from around the country and, more and more, around the globe, to work together on projects, brainstorm ideas, and serve as contributing members of a far-flung team.
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