No I in Team: Software to Improve Collaboration
The best teams work together, but that can be a challenge for the modern enterprise whose employees are scattered in different offices throughout the country - and in some cases throughout the globe.
Fortunately technology solutions abound, including enterprise social networks, project management software and intranet services. These technologies make it much easier for teams to work together regardless of where employees are located. Knowing which solution to leverage, however, can be a whole new challenge.
Because of this, Website Magazine put together a list of software solutions to help professionals find the right fit for their team. Read below to learn more about 10 of the Web's most popular collaboration offerings:
Facebook is looking to dominate the enterprise social network industry too with its Facebook at Work platform. The platform is currently offering an early adopter program, which is being leveraged by more than 300 companies. Users can create groups within the platform to keep discussions with the right team members, but everyone can also stay up-to-date with the platform's News Feed, which has a very similar design to Facebook's traditional News Feed. What's more, users can chat with each other through Facebook at Work, as well as organize events and stay connected with the platform's apps for iOS and Android.
HipChat offers group and private chat, file sharing and integrations for better collaboration within an enterprise. The platform features searchable chats, video calling, screen sharing and offers apps for Mac, Windows, iOS, Android and Linux. What's more, HipChat offers more than 150 integrations, as well as custom emoticons, animated GIFs and RSS feeds. The coolest feature, however, could be the platform's "HipBots," which are bots that can be leveraged for a variety of tasks, from searching for a specific type of content (like a meme) to creating a company-wide poll.
Jostle offers intranet software that connects employees and makes it easier to collaborate. The software comes with a "Shout-Out" feature that enables users to recognize employees, as well as a polling feature and "TEAMS" technology that enables users to target information to specific groups within their organization. Users can also host confidential team discussion, forums, share documents and join the conversation from iOS devices.
LiquidPlanner is a project management tool to help teams stay organized, track time, assign tasks and work together. The solution can help users estimate the time to complete tasks, enables users to prioritize projects and provides project data. What's more, LiquidPlanner integrates with other tools, including Salesforce, Dropbox and Zapier.
Noodle's social intranet software helps companies improve collaboration efforts. The software gives users the ability to share ideas, post documents, merge schedules, upload photos and more. Noodle also offers a suite of enterprise-grade applications, comes with theme settings and provides users other customizable settings. The company has been around for 10 years and has more than 240,000 users.
Salesforce Chatter is an enterprise social network that can be leveraged to drive productivity, collaboration and more. The service can be leveraged on both desktops and mobile, and enables users to share files, create groups and get feedback via polls. Chatter's basic collaboration software is free for up to 5,000 employees, while Chatter Plus is $15 per user/per month and includes social collaboration plus CRM features and customization.
ThoughtFarmer offers a social intranet platform that businesses can leverage to improve collaboration efforts. The platform comes with communication tools, social features, document management and more. Users can design their own layouts and templates with a drag-and-drop editor, as well as communicate with specific groups of employees, customize the look of their band's intranet service and share calendars and other files with team members. Plus, ThoughtFarmer comes with an auto-translate feature, which makes it easier for teams to work together across borders.
Tibbr touts itself as a social network for work, as it enables team members to connect, have discussions, track tasks and share content. The platform is available on both desktops and mobile devices, and integrates with a variety of other solutions. It is also important to note that Tibbr offers insights, enabling users to get an overview on team members and track a leader board that displays a tally of users with the most followers, mentions and posts.
Wrike's project management software helps teams collaborate better while also enabling users to set deadlines and share documents. The company also offers an iOS and Android app so team members can stay connected while on-the-go. Plus, users can edit documents directly from Wrike, see everyone's changes in real-time and access reports on project performance.
Yammer is a private social network that enterprises can leverage to help their teams collaborate across departments, locations and business apps. The Microsoft-owned company enables users to create groups for specific teams or departments, allows users to communicate publicly and privately as well as share documents. Plus, users can search the social network to find anything they need, from team members to documents and even past conversations.
This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to collaboration offerings. Other popular choices include Slack, Glip, Asana and Huddle. What collaboration solution does your company use? Let us know in the Comment section below.
