
Effective Collaboration can draw distributed teams and customers closer together, leading to better efficiency and stronger relationsips with customers.
Individuals have been working together—
collaborating—since humans first began
communicating with each other. Over time, the
ways in which individuals have collaborated have
grown in scope and complexity, from oral traditions
to newer, electronic messaging. Yet historically
collaboration has either required personal presence
or tolerated significant lags between sending
and receipt in the exchange of information. Even
as technology shrinks the world and speeds up
communications, collaboration technologies have
only really been embraced by the modern office in
the past few years.
In this white paper we will explore some of the
reasons collaborative tools have begun to gain
traction with organizations. We will examine the
ways in which businesses and agencies are using
collaboration tools, both internally and to cross
organizational boundaries. Finally, we will identify
the infrastructure required to support these tools,
with particular emphasis on ensuring current and
long-term access to the information generated
through collaboration.