Conventional, round-the-table meetings are slowly becoming a thing of the past. Some time after we crossed into the 21st century, new practices began to set in. Meetings still play a natural role in business (though they have become a chore for many of the participants), but new virtualised services carried out over the internet and mobile networks have begun to provide a more automated approach to our communications requirements. Email was one of the first indicators of change, firmly setting up roots as one of the standard ways we communicate with each other.
But email has been praised and criticised in equal measure; it is celebrated as a fundamental communication tool and lamented as an inefficient technique that takes up time and space unnecessarily.
But email has been praised and criticised in equal measure; it is celebrated as a fundamental communication tool and lamented as an inefficient technique that takes up time and space unnecessarily. The problem that surrounds email is that it has existed as an imperfect tool for a long time, with no better alternative coming into being. But that is all beginning to change, and the only way companies can experience maximum success with new collaboration technologies is to develop a strong collaboration software strategy.
The Slack generation
In recent years, we have seen the emergence of collaboration tools that are offering new channels of communication for workers in a digital workplace. Tools like Slack, Podio, Asana, Ryver, Flowdock, Trello, Flock and also communication software like GoToMeeting and WebEx, as well as built-in tools like Box or Google Docs are making it more important for companies to take a formal approach to their internal and external communications. The growing list of options is making it more important than ever to have a focused strategy that defines which tools will be used to get all the benefits of powerful, effective intranet software in an organisation (and this is where digital workplace integration plays a big part).
