IT for Teams: Come and Get It
Jeffrey Phillips over at Thinking Faster: Productivity and Innovation is complaining that knowledge work in teams is underserved by current business processes, data and systems. To quote:
.... Recently, a firm I was consulting with in the business intelligence space was approached by a very large consumer goods firm in the US. This firm was in the process of improving its business processes using the Six Sigma concepts pioneered by GE and Motorola. The "Black Belts" - internal consultants who would improve the processes - needed a system to capture data and improve communication in the team. Their IT department informed them that the existing IT systems would require 10 to 12 months before the systems could be configured to support these processes. The Six Sigma project was scheduled to complete in six months. So the Black Belts used Excel and Word and transferred data in flat files from the corporate databases.
Our working teams need simple, integrated tools to improve their effectiveness and productivity. These tools should include a team "workspace" to share information, simple knowledge management tools to catalogue what the team "knows" and some basic document management capabililites to help manage the data and documents the team generates.
Jeffrey, the focus here at Shared Spaces is to help teams increase productivity through the effective use of collaboration technologies. I absolutely agree that there is a problem--that email for the exchange of business documents is not enough--but Jeffrey's proposed solution set is actually being worked on by a variety of software developers (so I disagree with Jeffrey's assertion that there are "few" teamware products for cross-functional teams). For example:
- Groove Virtual Office: A rich client collaborative workspace that enables teams to share information in a secure workspace, with structured tools for discussions, document sharing, instant meetings, and co-editing of Microsoft Word documents, among others. Groove's spent 3 years building a product, and a further 3 years building a business. I liked Version 3 so much that I purchased it ... after initially being skeptical about it. For the needs of your black belt colleagues, the pricing would be a one-off license fee of $250 per user. See www.groove.net
- Documentum eRoom.net: An entirely Web-based collaborative workspace, again for sharing of team information, and again enabling cross-functional work with a minimal of hassle. eRoom.net is up to Version 7.2, and is a hosted version of the original eRoom product, subsequently purchased by Documentum, which in turn was purchased by EMC. Pricing for a team starts at $599 per month. See www.eroom.net
- Kubi Client: Kubi Software had a great idea for integrating collaborative workspace functionality into Outlook and Notes. In my view, it did a stirling job of integrating shared documents, contacts and calendars into Outlook (the Notes integration wasn't so great), but for a variety of reasons Kubi has pulled away from this product strategy. See www.kubisoftware.com
- ... and there's a host of others ... Lotus Quickplace, iCollaborate 3.6, BlueTie Collaboration Tools, Convea, ColSpace Digital Office, Kunami, and ... Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services ... which in my published opinion isn't ready for prime time.
Each of the tools above provide a means for team-empowerment with minimal upfront cost, and on-the-fly business process adjustment as the team matures into its goals and objectives. Whilst I live in New Zealand, I regularly consult with clients in the US ... so if you'd like some assistance on any current or pending engagements, drop me a line.
