Tia Jones

Using Collaboration Software to Increase the Effectiveness of Virtual Teams



Posted: Sunday, September 07, 2008

by Tia Jones
Central Desktop

Virtual teams need the support of a secure, easy to use, web-based collaboration environment that allows them to work and share ideas across time zones and continents.   Virtual teams need the support of a secure, easy to use, web-based collaboration environment that allows them to work and share ideas across time zones and continents.

There are many online collaboration software solutions that support efficient communication among members of virtual teams, their superiors and their clients. These web-based collaboration tools provide group calendar management, task management, online conferencing, group forums, spreadsheets and more. In addition, these collaboration software solutions can even track the amount of time that you spend on a project, which is valuable from a project management perspective.

In order to be successful, virtual teams have a few basic needs in common:

• communicate in real time

• share files, photos, audio and video

• manage project milestones, resources and tasks

Most importantly, all of the members of the team need to have access to the most current information in real time so that they can effectively complete their tasks, and contribute to the team's objective.

Online collaboration tools have greatly facilitated the effectiveness of virtual teams. These tools have saved organizations substantial amounts of money in travel and relocation expenses and allowed teams to assign tasks to employees in distant locations because they help to solve many of the dilemmas suffered by virtual teams.

Most knowledge workers have used email and IM or chatting as a means of collaborating with team members and other co-workers for many years now. But online collaboration software is quickly transforming the world of online collaboration.

So, with the support of a robust online collaboration environment, virtual teams can use the various collaboration software tools to manage their tasks, communicate with each other, and share resources easily and securely to help the team be as effective as possible.
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