Test: are your tools designed for online collaborative working?

When a company has mastered the challenges of collaboration, its teams are accustomed to working together online. Productivity and competitiveness are the result of the right choice of collaborative tools, as well as agile project management. Are you sure you are making or have made the best decisions? Take the usability test!

See all software Project Management

What are online collaborative working tools used for? What are the benefits for collaborative working?

Online collaborative tools, used in the business world, enable a company's employees to achieve a number of objectives through useful functionalities:

• control and secure access to company data
• share data more easily thanks to a file storage and exchange space
• exchanging information in real time via a dedicated online space, such as instant messaging or a project news feed,
• communicate more effectively by reducing the number of emails,
• organise tasks and simplify teamwork,
• encourage collaborative working, for example by viewing shared diaries,
• monitor the progress of a project, always knowing how far it has progressed, both in terms of the human resources mobilised and the tools and techniques required,
• anticipate at any moment to adapt the progress, and gain in reactivity,
• increase productivity, in particular by using work tools that complement and can be connected to each other.

Some companies pile on the tools one by one, in order to satisfy a need, a use, as they go along. Others, more mature on the subject, are looking for project management software or a collaborative online working platform that covers all their needs.

To guide you in your choice of tools for collaborative online working, the best solution is "simply" based on the question of usage. Your uses determine the collaborative working tools your team needs.

You have identified certain needs and certain uses are expected. But have you thought the whole thing through? Have you really anticipated all the relevant uses to facilitate teamwork and increase productivity ?

We can provide you with a usage test: sift through your tools to check whether your current choices match your needs!

Tests specific to collaborative working

Test 1: video conferencing

Needs:
Exchanging information solely by email quickly becomes unmanageable: many employees turn to other means such as instant messaging or videoconferencing to lighten their mailboxes, communicate more easily and save time. What's more, complex subjects that are difficult to manage in writing can be dealt with more quickly thanks to an oral exchange, however brief.
Uses :

• Communicate easily and spontaneously with one or more other people,
• easily invite a colleague to a meeting using a messaging system,
• share your screen with your customer or your team.

The benefits :

• You save an incredible amount of time when you exchange information face-to-face via videoconferencing,
• you can reduce travel and optimise your meeting schedule,
• web conferencing is also friendlier and more human,
• It's the ideal solution for instant exchanges during brainstorming sessions.

Examples of online collaborative tools dedicated to this use:

• Skype,
• Google Hang out.

Test 2: sharing files

Requirements:
Transfer or make available heavy files or files that are too large to be sent by email.

Intended use:
Share files via a service, such as an online storage space.

The benefits :

• you bring all your data together in a single online storage space,
• you share your files with the people concerned

Examples of specialised tools for this purpose:

• Dropbox,
• Box.

Test 3: work as a team on shared documents

Requirements:
Improving teamwork is a constant preoccupation: you want to make the latest versions of documents available to your colleagues, and make them as easily accessible as possible.

Uses sought :

• an online office suite, a web office for everyone in-house,
• get the team working on the same documents,
• Secure access to work documents from anywhere,
• the ability to share these sometimes large documents with external parties (customers, suppliers).

The benefits :

• all employees use the same office automation tools and the same workspace,
• document and file sharing is simplified,
• the team can access documents off-line,
• everyone has access to the latest versions of documents, which is very useful for building up a common knowledge base,
• In terms of security, an administrator defines access rights.

Examples of tools specialising in these uses:

• Office On line,
• Google Drive.

The tests that characterise a project management tool

Test 4: streamline work organisation

Requirements:
As part of project management, optimising everything to do with the project is the permanent grail. To optimise the organisation and monitoring of the team's work , management tools are essential.

Uses relating to task management :

• assigning tasks
• creating recurring tasks,
• work in project mode,
• view progress,
• coordinating and managing the whole project.

The benefits :

• structured planning,
• monitor the progress of a project,
• react in real time to incidents,
• Anticipation through alerts and notifications,
• optimise ongoing work management.

Examples of tools dedicated to these uses:

• Trello,
• Asana.

Test 5: share and access a synchronised diary

Requirements:
How do you schedule a meeting or video conference? Who will be available? I'll be away: what should I do?

Uses sought :

• share the team's diaries with each other,
• organise meetings quickly,
• maintain mobile access.

The benefits :

• mobile access to your (synchronised) diary on all your devices (including mobile phones),
• the ability to share diaries,
• better organisation,
• plan ahead in real time,
• meet deadlines and key dates for projects.

Examples of online collaborative tools specialising in this use:

• Google calendar

Test 6: draw up an activity report

Requirements:
What is the exact status of the project? Who is behind schedule? Who is working on this task? How much time is this person spending on this task? Is the team behind schedule? How can all this be measured?

Uses sought :

• need for a mind map, a dashboard that provides precise indicators,
• a linked alert system that sends notifications.

The benefits :

• A simple way of visualising the progress of my projects,
• measure the activity of your team and each of its members,
• keep an eye on the resources allocated to the project,
• estimate the end date of a project, anticipate any needs,
• produce reports easily.

Project management software specialises in these uses.

If your uses require you to use several tools, you could seriously consider adopting a collaborative platform such as Wimi, because it integrates all the key services under a single interface. Let's take a look at why and how.

See all software Project Management

The ultimate test: do it all on the same online working platform

The disadvantages of managing several collaborative tools

As we have just seen, some online tools are perfectly suited to specific uses, and some are even dedicated to them. While it's easy to combine a few of them, it becomes complicated when the number increases: some tools can't connect to each other and you lose the initial drive for productivity. Goodbye complementarity, goodbye synergy.

For example, if your tool only offers one or two functions, you run the risk of :

• multiplying the number of tools without complementing each other
• spreading your data across different services
• having to control the various accesses by multiplying them by the number of tools.

Another aspect is the appropriation of the tools by the members of your team: the more tools you have, the more your staff will have to learn how to use them in ways that are not necessarily similar. If the interfaces are not intuitive, the learning curve will be long... and fruitless.

What if two tools offer the same functionality but duplicate each other? You'll have to impose a particular usage, at the risk of frustrating a few employees in the process.

Finally, deploying a large number of tools throughout the company can be complex and costly, not to mention managing access rights.

The more different tools you use, the more dependencies you create on sometimes incompatible tools or services. Is it worth the risk?

Why adopt a collaborative platform?

Why have all your web tools on the same platform? What's in it for you? First of all, you naturally avoid all the disadvantages listed above. To understand all the benefits, let's look at the subject in more detail...

The main advantages :

• You only have to manage one service,
• You make it easier for your staff to adopt the platform,
• you don't have to spread your data over a plethora of online tools and services,
• you centralise the management of your rights and access to data,
• you give specific privileges to your tools depending on the role of the users,
• you can reduce and better control your digital budget.

The right tool for every purpose

In the world of collaborative platforms, Wimi offers a complete package that meets all the needs of collaborative working. Storing, securing, synchronising and sharing your data in the same space greatly simplifies teamwork. Project managers can work with remote teams in any of eight languages!

Wimi lets you create real synergy between your tools: everything is available on the same platform. Video demonstration:

Wimi clearly stands out from the crowd by bringing together all the usage habits of users. The solution is part of a totally complementary approach to collaboration. In unified workspaces, Wimi effectively brings together all the tools needed for teamwork and project management, such as :

• team communication channels (equivalent to Slack), associated with each workspace,
• synchronisation and sharing of documents with a Wimi Drive (equivalent to Box or Dropbox),
• task management in agile mode (equivalent to Trello),
• shared diaries & Wimi Outlook connector (Google Calendar equivalent),
• chat, video conferencing and screen sharing (Skype equivalent),
• centralised management of access rights.

Choosing several tools or a single online collaborative working tool is a choice that depends on your uses and expectations over the long term. It's all about finding the perfect balance between productivity and collaboration, and making the best decision to stay competitive.

On your marks, get set, test!