What Are the Different Types of Collaboration Tools?
Collaboration software refers to those collaboration software tools that aim at team collaboration, mainly including group collaboration management, such as: workflow management, project management, etc .; various communication software, such as E-Mail, instant messaging, VoIP, etc. According to Gartner's statistical analysis, since 2003, global collaborative software has become the largest hotspot for user application software procurement, ranking first in information application software. By 2005, the global collaborative software market's turnover will reach nearly 50 billion US dollars, and by 2006 The scale of the collaborative software market will surpass ERP.
- As an emerging information application software, collaborative software has attracted more and more scholars and users' attention. Although collaborative software has only received widespread attention in recent years, its origin in foreign countries is very early. In the mid-1980s, there were already commercial workflow systems with relatively single functions in foreign countries. This can be seen as the prototype of early collaborative software. In the 90's, with the rapid development of computer and network technology and the popularity of the Internet, collaborative software has become a necessary tool for the automatic execution of business processes and information communication between enterprises and institutions. In the 21st century, more and more companies are beginning to pay attention to OA office systems. In addition, the state continues to promote e-government, and the original OA office systems have been unable to meet new and more flexible customer requirements. Some software vendors that have done a good job in the workflow have begun to launch OA office systems based on "workflows and forms." They have received favor from enterprises and institutions. Slowly, all OA office systems are used by their own OA products. Put on a "collaborative" coat and become an OA office system manufacturer, but change the soup without changing medicine, and occupy a place in the collaborative software market at a lower price, users are also dazzled, can't tell which is the real Collaboration software. More and more enterprises require OA office systems to solve practical problems in their enterprise management. This requires that OA office system manufacturers are no longer tools for manufacturing office automation, but have developed management software with collaborative functions.
- Collaborative software is at the early stage of prosperity and development at home and abroad, with different application concepts. Therefore, the classification of collaborative software is conducive to colleagues in the industry to understand the collaborative software in more detail, and it also helps users to choose correctly.
- From the perspective of product functions , there are three main types of collaborative software: collaborative tool software, collaborative platform software, and collaborative application software.
- The main function of collaborative tool software is collaborative communication, as well as a large number of management software such as mail and communication; collaborative platform software refers to the platform software on which application software is built; collaborative application software refers to the end users to achieve mutual communication and collaboration and improve management Efficiency, collaborative office, collaborative commerce, collaborative government and other software that enable corporate collaborative management.
- The collaboration platform software is developing towards the direction of enterprise application portals. Whether the collaboration platform can meet users' needs for multi-business system integration and collaborative applications, and whether it has the ability to integrate and use multiple business system technologies will determine the market size of the entire collaborative industry. And development direction. From the perspective of the development trend of the collaborative market, the collaborative software platform has become the enterprise's basic IT architecture platform and the main board for enterprise informationization. In the future, various enterprise-level application software will increasingly be used on the collaborative platform through various slots. Access and development, collaborative software will become the hub of enterprise applications, which is an inevitable trend. Whether the collaborative software is flexible, open, standard, and has rich interfaces will determine whether it can bear the heavy task of serving as the main board of enterprise informationization. In addition, due to the non-standards of various integrated systems, it can truly behave like a computer slot. A new application system can be easily accessed and requires industry standards. This puts higher requirements on collaborative software vendors. As user requirements become more and more high, the collaborative market will eventually grow from a hundred flowers to a few. Against
- 1. Collaborative software moves closer to management consulting
- Collaborative software is essentially an solution to the company's internal management problems and an important means to improve the company's internal management level. So collaborative software is not just application software, but application management software with profound management ideas. Goals determine behavior and combine the implementation of collaborative software with management consulting, which is an important prerequisite for a good future for collaborative software.
- 2.Software is service
- In foreign countries, the idea that selling software is selling services has been widely recognized, and foreign software vendors mainly make profits by charging service fees. In China, it is obviously unrealistic for cooperative software vendors to rely on service fees to survive. However, the core essence of collaborative software, selling software is selling services, has not changed. At present, service capability is the "short board" in the collaborative software cask. In order to survive in the fierce market competition, many companies often neglect the cultivation of service quality of their own teams and the construction of enterprise service capabilities. [2]
- Software applications focus on three areas
- From the perspective of software application, collaborative software is mainly used in three areas: administrative office, e-commerce, and e-government. The administrative office is the most widely used part. The sending and receiving of official documents, schedules, announcements, file management, shared resource management, etc. are the main application areas of administrative office. The application of e-commerce is a further expansion of the field of collaborative software applications. E-commerce software is mainly based on solidified business processes, focusing on the planning and accounting of various quantities and amounts in business activities. Collaborative e-commerce is mainly based on dynamic workflow management, focusing on the management of collaboration and communication in business activities. Collaborative e-government is a further sublimation application of traditional e-government software. The application of software is focused on various tasks. Record and reflect, turning into collaboration and communication focusing on work matters.
- With the development of enterprise scale, enterprises are bound to face the situation of increasing institutions and business expansion. How to effectively ensure the overall operating efficiency of the enterprise and promote the institutionalization, standardization, refinement and process management of the enterprise are becoming increasingly important. The OA office system platform closely integrates the management system, work collaboration system, and knowledge management system to maximize the effective implementation of corporate strategies and create value for users in the following ways:
- 1. Information disclosure
- Many people have played a game of storytelling, a word passed from the first person to the last person, and the content has been distorted. This is not an intentional mistake made by employees, but because the things that should be disclosed are not made as public as possible, and the way of transmitting information is incorrect. In order to avoid distortion of the information during the transmission process, OA software has established a new section in the "knowledge management" to publish all the company's systems, documents and cultural ideas, so that all employees can clearly grasp the company's systems and document content. In Global Software's view, making information public is the first step in implementing the system.
- 2. Make a plan
- In the army, there is no battle without orders; in the enterprise, there is no execution without plans. All execution starts from the plan, which is a well-known truth. OA software has set up the function of "office affairs-work report" to allow users to submit work plans and summaries; there is also a "schedule" function that allows the head of each department to decompose the work tasks of the department into The tasks of each employee in the department, and then set up each employee's work schedule every day (or every few days), and can also share the "schedule" to subordinates to all employees in the department to view. In this way, the subordinate employees open the Global Software OA every day to know what work the department manager has instructed them and their colleagues, and they will know that their work is completely under the careful arrangement of the supervisor and the supervision of their colleagues, and the execution will be greatly improved. .
- 3.Real-time supervision
- After the plan is formulated and arranged, will it be implemented? the answer is negative. Supervision and inspection is an important responsibility of managers. OA software uses "process management" to set up process approvals for almost all transactions in the enterprise. From submission to archiving, different people follow up at each step. Submitters and employees who have approved a process can view them through "file monitoring" The status of the process. In this way, the approval of every business of the enterprise is under the supervision of everyone, who can handle things in a timely manner is at a glance, and can't tolerate a little slapstick and bullshit.
- In addition, there is a "collaborative office" function in the OA software. By customizing the group, the group leader breaks down the task into events according to the size of the task, and then distributes the event to the group members to track the completion status of the event, thereby achieving the entire task Collaborative office and tracking management. With the help of OA software, employees' work from scheduling to completion, the entire process is under the supervision of superiors, and there is even more motivation to complete.
- 4. Fair assessment
- With the plan and the supervision of the process, is everything perfect? No. After the completion of the work, there is no fair use of human resources. In addition to supervising tasks issued by leaders and reviewing applications submitted by colleagues, the "collaborative office" function in OA software also has task assessment management: the tasks assigned by department leaders to their subordinates are performed and used for each The completed tasks of the employees are evaluated (by time, quality, etc.), and certain reports can be generated as required. At the same time, the evaluation results of each employee can be recorded. For the employees who have done well or not, they can be based on the published information. The system carries out rewards and penalties, so that everyone is convinced. With the basis of performance provided by Global Software OA, enterprises will form a fair, just and open employment environment, and various "employment by relationship" phenomena will have no living space [3]
Collaborative Software Management
- The business management and behavior management of an enterprise should be complementary to each other, just like two hands of a person, and they must be coordinated to better play the role of management. If any one of the hands goes wrong, it will bring losses to the management as a whole, and even stagnate the management of the enterprise, which will cause severe resistance.