As businesses continue to expand globally, one-on-one communication is being supplemented by group correspondence. Companies now rely more on collaborative technology to exchange information among knowledge workers.
Collaborative technology has taken on several forms – from Facebook to Wikipedia to Twitter. One of the most popular ideas is the use of wikis to provide information to the public or to set up a corporation intranet and communicate to other members. Wikis operate by allowing users to post their own information on an interlinked web page that is connected to several other web pages through a common browser.
Companies also use social networking sites, such as Twitter and LinkedIn, to share news with the public and to other members. These also include corporate networks – private forums often exclusive to corporation members only.
Similar to social networks is the idea of corporate weblogs – blogs inside the corporate environment that update employees on various events and activities. But unlike social networks, weblogs are often used for internal communications, rather than as a way to engage with the public. These blogs are often used in lieu of meetings, and they can inform absent employees about important discussions and decisions. They are an effective tool in keeping the entire company on the same page and allowing members to converse with one another, a necessary factor for larger corporations with employees in different locations.
Two other techniques that companies use for communication are the processes of document sharing and using content management systems. Document sharing involves the idea of sharing folders through a corporate network combined with the idea of a document space, thus creating an innovation that allows users to drag documents and share and work on them with others. Content management systems sit behind many websites and allow users to upload, manage, and view various types of content, such as words, pictures, audio and video files. They then publish the content in an organized and simple way that does not require specialized knowledge of languages, such as HTML.
Because of the speed and technology that a company requires in order to succeed, collaborative technology is a necessity for the company’s success. For the many companies who have relied on Microsoft products, such as Windows and Office, to organize their work and information, the company’s SharePoint collaboration server technology is a logical step. Another popular system that has been used in several corporations is Oracle’s Beehive, which brings together web conferencing, instant messaging, email, calendar, and team workspaces. Other systems include Jive’s Social Business Software, Clearspace Technology, and Socialtext. Clearspace X is an application that lets companies quickly create communities, structured by understandable topics, with each community containing specific blogs, wikis, and forums. Similarly, Socialtext provides companies with a suit of web-based social software applications, which include microblogging, directories, personal dashboards, user profile, and groups. Tools such as shared spreadsheets, wikis, and weblogs, complete the package.
Collaborative technology is necessary for another important aspect of corporate relations to work – collaborative product design. Collaborative product design management is a network that specifically focuses on the models, methods, and tools required to enhance and innovate new product development processes, with a key focus on aeronautics, automotive, and software industries.
There are several ways that companies take advantage of collaborative product design to improve their efficiency and effectiveness. One of these ways is collaborative working – technologies and methods that help organize the formal and informal collaboration within the corporation. Another is Product LifeCycle Data Management – technologies and systems aimed towards enhancing information management along with the entire product lifecycle, multidisciplinary analysis, production feasibility mechanisms, and management of service data. Product design, which incorporates various methods and IT solutions, is a third technique in which companies can support specific phases of the new product development process.
Collaborative technology and design are both vital components in today’s business world, and can help boost a company’s success and reputation.
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• Identification, qualification and selection of R&D suppliers
• Structuring execution plans with such outsource suppliers
• Providing monitoring and corrective action guidance for supplier milestones and deliverables
• Ongoing performance improvement and long term planning expertise
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