It is not necessary that colleagues should be in the same office any more.
The screaming advance of globalisation is creating more and more geographically dispersed workplaces. This entails burgeoning issues of communication and collaboration among staffers spanning myriad countries and continents. The burning question is, how do they come together.
Imagine a bunch of 50 technicians, project managers and supervisors e-mailing each other continuously to debate ideas, discuss issues and resolve problems! For such dynamic and constant communications, we cannot rely on phone calls, faxes and mails any longer. These methods are not only onerous and time-consuming, but costly and inefficient too. As one long-sufferer complains, “Since we all were not in the same building, we would end up calling and e-mailing each other. It just wasn’t an efficient way to have full-on debates.”.But can we afford to have fragmented processes and disconnected applications which cause projects to move at a snail’s pace? Absolutely not!
The screaming advance of globalisation is creating more and more geographically dispersed workplaces. This entails burgeoning issues of communication and collaboration among staffers spanning myriad countries and continents. The burning question is, how do they come together.
Imagine a bunch of 50 technicians, project managers and supervisors e-mailing each other continuously to debate ideas, discuss issues and resolve problems! For such dynamic and constant communications, we cannot rely on phone calls, faxes and mails any longer. These methods are not only onerous and time-consuming, but costly and inefficient too. As one long-sufferer complains, “Since we all were not in the same building, we would end up calling and e-mailing each other. It just wasn’t an efficient way to have full-on debates.”.But can we afford to have fragmented processes and disconnected applications which cause projects to move at a snail’s pace? Absolutely not!
Filling in the gaps
The rapid growth in technology is cutting barriers of distance, making the world a much smaller place. Virtual technology softwares successfully create real-time shared workspaces where scattered employees can interact, collaborate and share information as and when needed. The electronic mediums offer various capabilities such as instant messaging, audio/visual conferencing, calendaring, document management and workflow automation.
Employees can now go online and enter pre-established, shared ‘rooms’ at the click of a mouse. Once in, they can collaborate with their counterparts in any part of the world to research assignments, discuss developments, comment on ideas, share documents, set milestones, update information and complete projects. Many companies are even taking to conducting general and board meetings in real-time.
Working in virtual environments eliminates problems of people being left out of the loop and lack of access to documents stored on individual computers. As Adam Gartenberg, a product manager at IBM observes, ‘With employees working in different time zones, it’s easy to refer to these virtual spaces for documents and time lines, rather than requiring employees to dig through their in-boxes!’
The real-time and team collaboration products facilitate enhanced productivity and better efficiency. For instance, web-conferencing tools free up employee time needlessly spent on slinging endless email dialogues back and forth or in trying to find information. Not to mention the outstanding security features of getting connected!
The rapid growth in technology is cutting barriers of distance, making the world a much smaller place. Virtual technology softwares successfully create real-time shared workspaces where scattered employees can interact, collaborate and share information as and when needed. The electronic mediums offer various capabilities such as instant messaging, audio/visual conferencing, calendaring, document management and workflow automation.
Employees can now go online and enter pre-established, shared ‘rooms’ at the click of a mouse. Once in, they can collaborate with their counterparts in any part of the world to research assignments, discuss developments, comment on ideas, share documents, set milestones, update information and complete projects. Many companies are even taking to conducting general and board meetings in real-time.
Working in virtual environments eliminates problems of people being left out of the loop and lack of access to documents stored on individual computers. As Adam Gartenberg, a product manager at IBM observes, ‘With employees working in different time zones, it’s easy to refer to these virtual spaces for documents and time lines, rather than requiring employees to dig through their in-boxes!’
The real-time and team collaboration products facilitate enhanced productivity and better efficiency. For instance, web-conferencing tools free up employee time needlessly spent on slinging endless email dialogues back and forth or in trying to find information. Not to mention the outstanding security features of getting connected!
Jumping onto the bandwagon
Even in India, more and more companies (especially multinational ones) are spending millions on the next-generation collaboration systems. While most organisations may be more than comfortable with exploiting the latest technological innovations, can they blindly take as given that their workforce will be just as enthusiastic?
Installing a collaborative system per se is not enough; success hinges on the human factor. Employees are mostly scared or sceptical at best, of the new way of ‘virtual’ work.
An organisation has to get its people comfortable with using the latest technology, if it expects to see results soon. After all, its entirely up to the employers how much they tap their intellectual capital to make it worth the money spent.
Such as, the American Federal Aviation Administration spent $1 million on the collaborative network only to save $3.7 million in travel costs and $2 million in employee time!
Even in India, more and more companies (especially multinational ones) are spending millions on the next-generation collaboration systems. While most organisations may be more than comfortable with exploiting the latest technological innovations, can they blindly take as given that their workforce will be just as enthusiastic?
Installing a collaborative system per se is not enough; success hinges on the human factor. Employees are mostly scared or sceptical at best, of the new way of ‘virtual’ work.
An organisation has to get its people comfortable with using the latest technology, if it expects to see results soon. After all, its entirely up to the employers how much they tap their intellectual capital to make it worth the money spent.
Such as, the American Federal Aviation Administration spent $1 million on the collaborative network only to save $3.7 million in travel costs and $2 million in employee time!
Here’s how:
• Companies should provide incentives to employees for using the online shared workspaces. Like - bonuses or rewards for successful team projects.
• It is foolish to expect employees to become adept at the new software on their own. Arranging ongoing technical training is mandatory to get users comfortable and savvy with the new systems effectively.
Significant level of guidance and access is especially necessary for organising discussions, opening new topics, managing new calendars, document sharing, etc.
• Supplement the training with open forums where employees can give feedback on usage, bottlenecks, grievances and air related ideas.
• Inculcate a sense of involvement, inclusion and motivation among the workers by incorporating their ideas and suggestions during the integration stage.
• Employees and managers alike may hesitate initially in sharing information with ‘unknown’ or ‘virtual’ colleagues. Try to break down the barriers and bring them together for open collaboration.
Apart from getting the people to work together, also explain the business goals for pursuing the virtual technology.
To quote a top management advisor, “If you just tell them, “Here is your software, now go work on it”, you won’t be successful. You may just end up with a big, empty virtual space”.
• Companies should provide incentives to employees for using the online shared workspaces. Like - bonuses or rewards for successful team projects.
• It is foolish to expect employees to become adept at the new software on their own. Arranging ongoing technical training is mandatory to get users comfortable and savvy with the new systems effectively.
Significant level of guidance and access is especially necessary for organising discussions, opening new topics, managing new calendars, document sharing, etc.
• Supplement the training with open forums where employees can give feedback on usage, bottlenecks, grievances and air related ideas.
• Inculcate a sense of involvement, inclusion and motivation among the workers by incorporating their ideas and suggestions during the integration stage.
• Employees and managers alike may hesitate initially in sharing information with ‘unknown’ or ‘virtual’ colleagues. Try to break down the barriers and bring them together for open collaboration.
Apart from getting the people to work together, also explain the business goals for pursuing the virtual technology.
To quote a top management advisor, “If you just tell them, “Here is your software, now go work on it”, you won’t be successful. You may just end up with a big, empty virtual space”.
PAYAL CHANANIA
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