Verified Document

Collaboration Software Evaluation And Analysis As Virtual Essay

Collaboration Software Evaluation and Analysis As virtual teams become pervasive in many enterprises globally, the need for stable, secure and scalable collaboration platforms becomes more and more important to organizations achieving complex strategic goals and objectives. Virtual teams can often coordinate and collaborate using personal productivity applications, yet on more complex tasks requiring orchestration of complex workflows and sharing dozens of documents at the same time, Microsoft Outlook and e-mail break down and don't deliver the level of functionality necessary. Given the rapid rise in virtual teams in conjunction with the lack of support in many personal productivity software applications for intensive collaboration an entirely new area of enterprise software has emerged. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems with social networking functionality (Social CRM), enterprise content management, knowledge management, groupware, portals and Web Services have all emerged as proven solutions to the continual challenge of communication and collaboration in virtual teams (Banker, Bardhan, 2006). Evaluating collaboration tools for time, place, richness, task and adoption by team task is the goal of this analysis. It is assumed throughout this analysis that the scenario the collaboration software is used in are virtual teams located at geographically diverse points globally, across time zones and cultures. It is further assumed that the level of collaboration that will occur is dependent on clarity, consistency and trust being attained over time (Siakas, Siakas, 2008)

Analysis of Time, Place, Richness, Task and Adoption Scenarios

The five dimensions that collaboration software is evaluated on in this report all revolve the critical need for virtual teams to create highly effective workflow processes and strategies, taking into account individual strengths while attaining often difficult shared objectives. Only until recently has collaboration software and platforms provided the agility and flexibility to align to differences in time, place, richness, task and adoption scenarios (Barthelmess, 2003). Each of those scenarios is now evaluate from the standpoint of which collaboration technologies and tools are most and least important and why.

Time-based...

Given the significant variations in time zones and the urgency of completing projects often under tight deadlines, this is often the most critical factor or dimension driving the adoption of a collaboration platform. The best possible technologies for complimenting and enhancing time-based scenarios include real-time messaging and social media platforms like Salesforce.com Chatter which resembles Facebook in terms of its interface (Riehle, Ellenberger, Menahem, et.al., 2009). Real-time social networking platforms are the best at minimizing time delays. The worst possible technology to use would be blogs or any other form of static, posting technology that required several steps to get a message published and read (Barthelmess, 2003). Social networking platforms today have many supporting Application Programmer Interfaces (APIs) that allow for greater support of all forms of mobile devices, which further underscore the value of these types of interactive, real-time applications as well (Riehle, Ellenberger, Menahem, et.al., 2009).
Place Scenarios

Location-based services and the growing use of geo-caching technologies have become commonplace in social networking applications, starting with Google mapping APIs and progressing to Yahoo e-commerce services (Banker, Bardhan, 2006). These developments have had a direct impact on collaboration technologies and how companies are architecting workflows across broad geographic distances. Place scenarios dictate which equipment, supporting technology, bandwidth and level of security apply to a collaborative work session. Technologies best suited to this scenario include secured Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) running collaborative portals (Barthelmess, 2003) and the use of mobile-based devices that have secured sign-in capability. The least attractive or useful technology for place-based scenarios are those that require a significant technology platform investment to work. Examples of technologies in this category include highly secured IPSec-based transmission networks that require multi-layer sign-ins and support for authentication in conjunction with secured links to internal…

Sources used in this document:
References

Banker, R.D., & Bardhan, I. (2006). Understanding the impact of collaboration software on product design and development. Information Systems Research, 17(4), 352-373,440.

Barthelmess, P. (2003). Collaboration and coordination in process-centered software development environments: A review of the literature. Information and Software Technology, 45(13), 911-928.

Riehle, D., Ellenberger, J., Menahem, T., Mikhailovski, B., Natchetoi, Y., Naveh, B., & Odenwald, T. (2009). Open collaboration within corporations using software forges. IEEE Software, 26(2), 52-58.

Siakas, K.V., & Siakas, E. (2008). The need for trust relationships to enable successful virtual team collaboration in software outsourcing. International Journal of Technology Policy and Management, 8(1), 59.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Collaboration on Social Media Ebay
Words: 1321 Length: 4 Document Type: Term Paper

Although the failures seem un felt, the people behind the making of the software's feel their efforts were futile. Online networking tools affect communication of people in social groups by using social networks. There is a threat as people can communicate with whom they want and falling for fraud is easy. People can create powerful networks that serve other purposes, for example, networks that can solve crimes, or frauds

Virtual Team Communications Literature Review
Words: 4059 Length: 15 Document Type: Literature Review

When portals are designed to the specific requirements of Web 2.0 design objectives, companies with virtual teams are finding they can attain higher levels of shared task ownership as well. This is because there are significantly greater levels of trust overall throughout an organization based on the collective contributions of every member of a virtual and in-office team when they share their knowledge and information together (Mancini, 2010). Portals

Mid Term Questions Evaluation
Words: 3148 Length: 9 Document Type: Research Paper

new technologies have given birth to data analysis from the IT backrooms, and have increased the possibilities of utilizing the use of data-driven results into every aspect of an organization. However, much as improvements in hardware and software have made the advent of big data usage possible, the only consideration is not technology. It is important for organizations to take very holistic approaches to integrate big data into every

Virtual Teams a Study of
Words: 6056 Length: 16 Document Type: Thesis

The U.S., Army Logistics Network has defined specific pricing and costing levels by rank, and strives to push accountability and responsibility as far down the chain of command as possible. As nearly every officer who acts as a buyer within the purchasing and procurement teams has been trained on the fundamentals of accrual-based costing, cost-based accounting, supplier management and supply chain planning, each is given a set of metrics

Successful Collaboration in Higher Ed Achieving Successful
Words: 1517 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

Successful Collaboration in Higher Ed Achieving successful collaboration in a complex environment like that of higher education is not a simple endeavor. One could suggest all manner of tactics: Active listening, strengthening relationships through social activities (like playing golf together), and using interest-based negotiation techniques. Taken alone, each of these would be inadequate. In combination, these tactics can support movement toward successful collaboration, but certain intangibles will play an even more

Web-Based System Managing a Virtual Team, Deliver
Words: 2825 Length: 10 Document Type: Essay

web-based system managing a virtual team, deliver a business-critical project" Identify analyse principle considerations system, including techniques operating .Evaluate traditional agile methods system, terms optimim delivery project outcomes. Web-based virtual team management The new labor force and the virtual team Humans have been developing labor relations for millennia now, but these relations have never been as developed and complex as they are today. The basis of the modern day labor system was

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now