How to Buy Collaboration Tools

Types of Tools for Collaboration

When you begin looking at the tools that allow for collaboration, you'll find that they include both software and hardware. You should also look specifically at mobile options to facilitate collaboration.

Software

Understanding the software that allows you to collaborate remotely with everyone in your business is the most important part of the purchasing process; the hardware that is necessary for use with some applications, and the mobile options that are available, are secondary. Buyers who are in a bind and need to purchase something quickly should focus their efforts here first, partly because the daily activities most important to running a business are Web browsing, e-mail and IM communication, and the uploading and downloading of documents, all of which are facilitated with collaboration software. Find one application, or a set of software, that meets the needs you identified for your business.

Here are some of the things that software programs can do to facilitate collaboration:

• Reduce costs of calls and conference calls.
• Allow customized data collection to help maintain business records.
• Make documents and data accessible online so that everyone in the business can access (and change) the data remotely from any computer. Shared files and applications may include contact lists, spreadsheets, calendars, Web links, and documents.
• Customize and secure e-mail and IM programs to facilitate communication between employees.
• Forward e-mail to mobile phones so that out-of-office employees receive messages immediately.
• Provide employee time-tracking for businesses that pay hourly or keep track of productivity.
• Allow attendance of live focus groups and virtual events, from any location. (Note that this function may require you to purchase a display that is larger than the standard PC monitor).
• Permit multisite collaboration between remote PCs and whiteboards in virtual meetings.
• Allow planning and project management online, in real time.

As you can see, different types of software are available to meet businesses' varying needs. In most cases, a company seeks to use collaboration to share files and documents and to facilitate communication between remote locations. As businesses increase in size or diversify in location, considering tools that will allow for online meetings and virtual events becomes more necessary. Determine what stage your business is in to narrow down your needs. Some of the more widely known commercial collaboration software tools include Citrix's GoToMeeting and GoToAssist, EMC's Documentum eRoom, Microsoft SharePoint, and WebEx.

The cost of these services varies widely depending on how many users will be accessing the system and which rate plan you select. For example, WebEx offers a limited meeting program for $49 per month that includes up to ten users. The company also has a more extensive package with additional features and applications, plus access for more users, at rates up to nearly $400 per month. This kind of price range is typical, but both WebEx and Citrix offer free trial periods.

Hardware and Mobile Phones

After you've narrowed down your software choices, you'll want to look at hardware and at mobile phones. Determine why you might need these additional items for collaboration. Perhaps the software you are considering requires such equipment; this is sometimes the case with tools for voice conferencing and videoconferencing. Or maybe you frequently have employees out in the field and want to be able to contact them via voice or text as well as to push e-mail straight to their phones.

Voice-conferencing and videoconferencing systems are the most frequently used types of collaboration hardware. For example, Polycom offers both hands-free business voice conferencing and personal video calling for all kinds of offices. Such products permit everyone in the company to gather at the same time despite working from remote locations, facilitating decision-making and brainstorming. Whether you use hardware or software for this type of collaboration depends greatly on your desired initial output cost. Voice-conferencing and videoconferencing hardware costs more money up front (between $1000 and $10,000 depending on the system, with the average cost for a small business being approximately $3500); in contrast, software for this type of collaboration runs in the hundreds of dollars. However, if you purchase hardware outright, you avoid the monthly fees associated with software programs. Additional hardware that you may consider includes electronic whiteboards, multimedia projectors, and interactive panels for remote presentations.

Wireless e-mail is currently the most dominant of all mobile applications, but other applications are growing increasingly popular, particularly as phones become more advanced. RIM's BlackBerry and Palm's Treo remain the big names in mobile phone collaboration for businesses due in part to the fact that they regularly evolve to meet new business needs. They are increasingly affordable, too, allowing businesses to purchase them for more than just key management employees. Also available, however, are products that make communication and online access with all mobile phones possible, so review your options carefully with an eye toward cost.