Perspectives on Collaboration Software
Category NoneThe terms "collaboration" and "collaboration software" have been applied quite liberally to many kinds of technology, causing confusion in the market about what really constitutes collaboration technology. Early technology based on email, document sharing, instant messaging, decision support or workflow, it is still likely to be described as having collaborative capabilities, and may have been enhanced to deliver some collaboration capabilities. Document sharing is one area that has seen extension after extension into collaborative systems. Systems that "bring the right information to the right people at the right time", enable business-rules processing for hierarchical structures, and draw individuals into conversation around central topics are first-generation collaboration systems as well. As a natural progression, some collaboration systems have simply extended the personal productivity tools and concepts of the 80s to small predefined working groups. Some of these document-sharing-centric systems are still in the market, being improved, and incorporating newer technologies. The need for this first generation of collaboration technology is not expected to decrease with time.
An evolution of thinking around collaboration in and across workplaces took place in the 2000-2006 timeframe, when more advanced second-generation systems for team collaboration began to be integrated with the earlier models, and to be released stand-alone. The concept of "contextual collaboration" became popular in portal and web-based document and application systems. This concept turned "my work" systems into "our work" systems by recognizing and putting software constructs around the idea that people working together on projects were more effective and innovative than the individual contributors. Enabling a team (again, predefined) with tools like instant messaging or screen/application sharing - in the context of the work at hand - helped foster that innovation and effectiveness. New collaboration tools that enable web-based workflow, content management, instant meetings, and expertise location were built and began to be integrated into common applications. This second generation is entering a stage of maturity in the market and its tools are being used in many global enterprises.
A more recent and increasingly common set of collaboration technologies centers around social networking or social software. Originally introduced in the consumer market, its concepts and benefits are becoming very popular in industry. The basic idea of social software is that people may or may not organize themselves as teams, so the software - this is a critical capability for the category - should be able to draw conclusions and recommend working relationships from the work product, ideas, patterns and writings of people. Then when those people have the ability to "find" each other and begin to collaborate on work, they can add in the first- and second-generation collaboration tools discussed above for immediate, sometimes instant, benefit. Some common uses of social software include socially-enhanced person profiles (think of this as a business card / directory hybrid with more information about the person), tracking bookmarks in data stores (if 75 people bookmark something in my field, it might be interesting), communities, blogs, wikis, and vertical offerings. The third generation is in its infancy and enjoying a rapid adoption rate, largely because its genesis is in the consumer sector and with a new generation of knowledge workers. Business is harnessing social software more slowly, as it has with everything but email, but in the next few years we will see more rapid adoption of social software in business as its benefits are realized and become more easily identifiable.
With the advent of "Web 2.0" techniques such as tagging, social software enables people to "connect the dots" between their work and the work and interests of others, and helps to identify opportunities for collaboration. For instance, if a user of a social network identifies a subject or work product of interest, that user can then see who else is interested in that work, identify who has done or worked on similar topics, and with whom they have worked. Social software makes multi-node connections between people, their work, and others possible in a short time. Depending on the complexity of the software and level of adoption, social software can very rapidly provide a framework for "bringing the right people to the right information at the right time".
Obviously all three generations of collaboration software have enormous impact on and benefit for today's global knowledge workers. Application models, frameworks and patterns have emerged with each major introduction and evolution in thinking on collaboration. However in the never-ending need to prove innovation, often we have seen product introductions that showcase only the emerging technology, leaving the core capabilities of "older generation" technology behind. Software companies would be well advised to maintain those capabilities through features and open APIs so developers and user can benefit from new technology while maintaining a comfort level with their more familiar toolsets. When the fourth generation of collaboration technology hits - and it won't be long - smart companies will introduce their innovations while delivering capabilities across the entire spectrum of collaborative software.
Copyright 2008 Rob Novak. All Rights Reserved.
