Why Do Companies Use Online Collaborative Productivity Software

Working online has become pervasive in recent times, making businesses and teams more and more dependent on online collaboration with Custom Software Development. Especially if you’re a project manager or team leader, you will possibly be familiar with the term “online collaborative productivity software.” However, if you have never used this software yet, then you might not be familiar with the challenges and benefits it can solve and help you and your team greatly. If you are acquainted with this type of tool and are aware of its benefits, you may need some help determining which online collaborative productivity software is right for you. 

Market revenues from collaboration software have seen an increase in recent years worldwide, accumulating from around 7 billion U.S. dollars in 2015 to close to 19 billion in 2021. The market revenue from collaboration software is predicted to keep increasing, reaching about 21 billion U.S. dollars in 2026. Collaboration software allows the sharing, processing, and management of documents, files, and other data sorts among several users or systems.  

Source: statista

Nonetheless, with the accessibility of several shared workspace apps, picking the right ones for your team can be bewildering. Companies and administrations can greatly benefit from using these collaborative productivity software tools to consolidate their office life, and several remote work software tools can be used by individuals, as well. Moreover, as remote learning becomes conventional, good online collaboration software can assist in reducing the distance between teachers and students. These collaboration tools can also come in handy and be useful, even if you’re just a college student seeking a manner of organizing your team project. 

Overview of Collaboration Productivity Software 

Collaboration software is a priceless asset for businesses pursuing streamline their operations and wants to flourish in the digital era because its robust features include project management task delegation, which enables remote teams to cooperate more effectively. Additionally, collaboration software can be extremely cost-effective as it eliminates the requirement of possessing costly physical communication and collaboration solutions. Its features also facilitate collaboration via an assorted talent pool, permitting businesses to access numerous real-time viewpoints and ideas. Moreover, collaboration software certifies secure data sharing, upsurges performance analytics, and advances decision-making processes.

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What is online collaborative productivity software? 

According to Harvard Business Review, “Collaborative work, IM, time spent on email, phone, and video calls has experienced an increase of 50% or more over the past decade of utilizing 85% or more of most individual work weeks.”  Collaborative software refers to the tools that allow you to build a remote workspace where people chat, exchange documents faster, share information regarding tasks and projects, make online changes, assist each other, and provide results by assisting teamwork and offering features including secure file sharing, real-time messaging for seamless collaboration. 

With the way work is evolving and remote work is on the rise, online collaboration tools are becoming more indispensable for companies everywhere. But when it comes to online collaboration software, it’s a broad term for any digital platform simplifying remote teamwork, with these tools enabling team members to communicate, document tasks, progress tracking, and real-time collaboration. Some common and popular examples are Canva, Google Docs, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Asana, Slack, and Trello. 

Here’s how collaboration software works 

Collaboration software works like a digital team hub, which makes teamwork tranquil even when not available in the same workplace.  

Here is how it works: 

Online Access 

You and your team are provided online access to the collaboration software, and it’s like arriving at a virtual workspace where everyone can meet, share feedback, and have a discussion. 

File Sharing 

It allows you to upload and share documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and more, just like owning a digital file cabinet that can be accessed by anyone. 

Real-Time Editing 

It allows numerous team members to work on the same files or projects instantaneously, along with tracking each other’s variations, similar to having a magic whiteboard on which anyone and everyone can write at once. 

Communication 

Collaboration software frequently includes messaging, chat, and video conferencing tools that allow your team members real-time communication, just like a virtual meeting room. 

Task Management and Monitoring 

It allows you to create tasks and set deadlines for assigning them to the marketing team or other employees as a shared to-do list for keeping everyone on track. 

Notifications and Updates 

It’s like having a digital assistant that keeps you informed and updated by providing notifications regarding file changes, new messages, or task updates.  

Integration 

Several different collaboration software can be associated with other tools in your use, including email or calendars, creating an environment of devising all your favorite tools in one unified place. 

Security and Permissions 

It allows control regarding who can get access and to what, and you can lock certain rooms in a house to let only specific enter. 

Version Control 

Numerous types of project collaboration tools permit tracking fluctuations and different versions of documents, and if something goes wrong, you are always available with the option of reverting back to the previous version, just like having an “undo” button for your work. 

Mobile Access 

Some software can be operated through smartphones and tablets to keep the collaboration on the go. It’s similar to keeping a virtual workspace with you wherever you go. 

Source: yandex

Why Companies Use Online Collaborative Productivity Software? 

The basic reason companies use online collaboration tools is to help with better and streamlined communication and collaboration among team members residing in different physical locations. 

However, remote teams can persist in being productive during remote work or working from home or from any other locations universally by allowing an easy and efficient way to stay in touch with colleagues. 

Such tools also permit teams to store files easily at one unified location, including possessing access to use them when required. Collaboration software helps with improved workflow efficiency, ensuring everyone is on the same page while working on projects together.      

The following are some of the reasons why companies use online collaborative tools. 

Improved Speed & Efficiency 

Online collaborative software can assist employers and employees by improving their project completion speed and allowing employees to connect with each other over instant messaging while improving the overall team efficiency process. Furthermore, this system also aids in error reduction, deadline management, and reminder setting to keep everyone on track. 

Speed up Activities 

Collaborative software products save time by keeping unnecessary meetings, document reviews, and phone calls away by allowing to simply upload files into the system and send notifications to reviewers. Prior to the proper evaluation, necessary changes are made involving updates for the team members and making the system easier for project managers by optimizing workflows and encouraging team members to subsidize project success. 

Improved Client Relationship 

Online collaborative system usage allows the creation of profound and gainful client relationships by allowing Project managers to easily access any project’s current status along with permitting them to return to clients’ requests instantaneously. Clients receiving well-timed and quick updates encourage them to put their trust in you for their projects. Besides, it allows checking planned schedules anytime regarding future assignments and guides clients on the tasks for a clear idea of project indicators. 

Quick Report Generation 

Reporting has become the most precarious aspect of every project, and it can also become hectic if done without proper planning. It can get project managers confused and allow them to let things slip through the cracks while going through the work of different team members overall. Consuming online collaborative productivity software can easily and quickly engender comprehensive reports on each member’s project activities and keep clients updated on the finished work. 

‍What key challenges does it solve? 

There are several reasons why companies use this software, along with several big project management challenges that online collaborative productivity software holds the ability to solve. 

The first big challenge is not having a centralized place for all the relevant information of a project, including how often you have worked on projects among teams in different time zones or even among different cities in the same time zone and lost data because people have been sending it through email. Another huge reason for companies choosing online collaborative productivity software is the option to preserve, manage, and edit all the documents in one central space. 

Additionally, another big challenge includes solving the need to schedule meetings for checking up on simple things, and credit goes to the upsurge in the use of video chat and video meetings, such as in post-Covid, where we frequently get caught up in having gatherings for discussing simple points and concerns. Collaborative software often eliminates the requirement of doing it by holding and envisaging valuable project information on display for the whole team.

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Why Do Companies Use Online Collaborative Productivity Software 

Creating manual reports had been the bane of most project managers’ being, but mostly collaborative software takes away this problem. Primarily by not requiring numerous reports during real-time data sharing among team members. Secondarily, the software often grants data visuals anyway, and that’s one of the facts that makes it great to use. Thirdly, it has simplified the creation of reports. Considering these three major points, let’s look at what other benefits companies get from using this type of software.  

Increased speed, efficiency, and productivity 

Online collaborative productivity software allows team members to communicate via instant messaging and to see edits or suggestions in real time. This cuts out many of the communication delays typically associated with managing complex projects.  

Being able to see all edits and suggestions in one place and having a centralized record of changes reduces the risk of time-consuming mistakes as well as traditional delays. The result of this is a huge increase in productivity and efficiency. 

Improved flexibility 

Several collaborative software programs offer numerous different ways of processing and presenting data. It allows the set-up of dashboards for team members, management dashboards for reporting, and diverse dashboards for presenting to the company teams or clients, all-consuming the same datasets.   

Through this, you can test presenting data in different ways and ultimately find what suits you best. Additionally, the software allows team members to access project data and documents from any device at any time.  

Better document management 

With centralized management, sending documents is not a requirement as it eliminates the need to manually share documents by email and the risk of losing the most recent versions and saves time over upgrades and shared drafts due to the documents being stored in a central location to which team members have real-time and remote access. It also removes the problem of owning multiple draft versions of the same documents being emailed throughout the business, endangering the accidental external sharing of sensitive data along with the collective risk of team members turning out to work on different versions of a similar document.  

Improved accuracy 

The automation feature of online collaborative software diminishes human error and even allows real-time team access over work in progress for less probability of mistakes and repetition, paving the way to better accuracy. 

Stronger client relationships 

Collaborative software enables project managers to provide clients with access to their own set of dashboards and reports for checking on project progress, considering any possible tailbacks or other issues, and providing feedback when appropriate. Working collaboratively with clients like this can be a great way of constructing trust and cooperation with maximized transparency.  

Faster reporting 

As mentioned, collaboration software is inclined to involve the function of producing comprehensive reports easily and quickly, along with offering real-time dashboards for regular review, which further reduces the requirement to create reports in the very first place.

What are the benefits of online collaborative productivity software?

This type of software is undoubtedly popular among SaaS Development teams. But why? Let’s take a look at the five benefits of these digital tools to get a better grasp on exactly why companies use online collaborative productivity software. 

Centralize resources and communication

It becomes challenging for teams to be effective and proficient if they are required to shift through a scrambled web of instant messages, spreadsheets, email threads, folders, and documents to find the required information.  

Above, this jumbled approach lacks consistency as someone might drop a status update in a document comment while another person does so in an email thread, which increases the chances that cords will get crossed with the possibility of crucial messages being misplaced exclusively. 

Collaboration software unifies your team’s assets and conversations to provide everyone with a single source of truth for reference as they do their work. The central shared hub decreases miscommunications, improves knowledge sharing, and diminishes frustrations. 

Save time and money

Team members have to spend less time burrowing for what they require so they can get more time and energy to focus on their genuine work. It comes as unexpected that collaboration software boosts productivity and assists teams working with improved speed.  

Simply, if your team isn’t reinforced with the right tools for effective connection and collaboration, you’re wasting hours and dollars accompanied and fueling frustration in the process. 

Improved clarity and transparency

Employees crave transparency as they want to be aware of the decisions being made and even the reasons for them happening in the first place. Actually, according to 80% of workers, they are curious about the choices being made within the organization. But this higher level of visibility is almost unmanageable, which spoils communication, and people don’t get access to the bigger portrait. 

But collaboration software solves this problem in a couple of meaningful ways: 

• It provides team members with the option to zoom in on their team or even their own role, so they have increased clarity about their own responsibilities. 
• It provides team members with the option to zoom out and get more context regarding what’s happening across the whole company, so they comprehend how they opt-in. 

Essentially, integrated collaboration tools allow employees to have a far more consistent and associated view of their team’s work, their own work, and the work of the whole organization. 

Build morale and culture

Better transparency, real-time visibility, clear roles and responsibilities, improved productivity, and fewer miscommunications altogether make a connected, happy, and successful team. 

It turned out that it’s not merely the successful collaboration that impacts employee satisfaction, but collaboration itself plays a role, with research displaying that collaboration maximizes employee delight. 

It allows the team to work together without all the headaches, reinforce trust, build healthier bonds, and sincerely enjoy working closely with each other.

Support a changing work environment

The days when people could ask for team members’ controls incorporated with asking questions or leaning over at the next desk are gone. According to Pew Research, 6 out of 10 U.S. workers say their job requirements can be completed from home; therefore, they work from home all or most of the time. 

Remote working is not considered a pandemic substitute anymore, as several companies still have a hybrid approach, allowing employees to choose where they want to work. Additionally, 47% of organizations anticipate their use of hybrid teams to stay the same for the next five years at least. 

But this way, companies face the challenge of keeping teams connected, including the ones working from the office and working remotely or from homes all around the globe. Here, collaboration software comes in handy by putting the team’s work together by employing easy-to-use solutions that can be accessed from anywhere and on several different devices by providing all employees the same access to the necessary and required information and resources. 

Expected Growth in Enterprise Software

The enterprise It software market has experienced increased growth in recent years, with market revenues expanding more in the decade between 2009 and 2019. With yearly Growth recurrently exceeding 10%, the enterprise software market is the fastest-growing division in the predominant IT industry. Preliminary forecasts propose that this rapid expansion trend will persist in the upcoming years. Until now, the coronavirus (COVID-19) occurrence in 2020 has smeared a vague picture of the global economy. The global IT industry is now predicted to decline in 2020, and that also relates to the software division. 

Why Choose Progatix for online collaborative productivity software? 

Progatix is a software company holding more than 2 decades of experience designing online collaborative teams with the assistance of industry professionals who use daily planning and time management. With us, you can organize your day by observing past accomplishments and unfinished errands, assisting with the day-end help, exploring areas that require development, and making future plans for work by tracking the required time activity consumes and thoroughly analyzing your daily and weekly progress.