Digital Collaboration Platforms: A guide to choosing the right one for your collaborative tasks

Choose any digital tool that you currently use and invariably somewhere in its description will be the statement that it can be used for “collaboration”. This is not a misrepresentation, as by definition, collaboration is simply two or more people working together toward a common goal. The plethora of digital tool options can actually make the task of collaboration more complex than it needs to be.

We are looking to provide some guidance as to how you might select a starting point for collaboration based on the collaborative task you are looking to undertake. The focus is on collaboration inside the enterprise. Given the scope, viz., the plethora of technology choices, the fact that many of them are integrated with each other, and the breadth of collaborative tasks being undertaken; this is a starting point, rather than the finish line.

Overview of Digital Collaboration Platforms

We have broadly classified the collaborative tools into the following:

·        General Teaming platforms: e.g. Microsoft Teams, Slack, Google Workspace

General teaming platforms aim to be a one-size-fits-all collaboration option. In the absence of a specific need, most organisations will have made available a general teaming platform for employee use.

·        Project centred collaboration: e.g. Asana, Trello, Monday.com

This class of collaboration platform is project task centred. They are designed to help project teams organise their work, assign tasks, track progress and facilitate communication between project team members.

·        Synchronous (meeting/chat) e.g. Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Webex, Google Meet

These platforms are designed to facilitate virtual meetings. They also commonly provide chat services which can be used before, during and after a meeting event. AI technology is now providing the ability to record and summarise meeting conversations for not only the attendees but also for other interested parties.

·        Content/Intranet platforms e.g. SharePoint, Unily, LumApps, Simpplr

Intranets are regularly seen as the repository for authoritative enterprise information. However, they can also be a source for “content-led” collaboration. For example, intranets can facilitate joint authorship of documents using document management functions. By sharing information like an employee directory or a company news feed, intranets are providing source content to collaborate around. Some commentators are suggesting the intranet can be the “front door” for an organisation’s digital workplace.

·        Social Networking platforms e.g. Viva Engage, Workplace by Meta

Social networking platforms have become the home of cross-enterprise communities of practice. These digital spaces are where “birds of a feather flock together”. Discipline specialists, and those looking to learn from them, will congregate and collaborate here to develop and share better work practices. These platforms are also used for cross enterprise information sharing, question and answer forums and enterprise announcements; making it easy for employees to discuss and share content online.

·        Specialist Learning and Development Platforms e.g. Moodle, Docebo, TalentLMS

L&D platforms are built for the delivery of training and education courseware. Beyond course delivery, these platforms usually provide facilities for collaboration between instructors and students, and also student-to-student collaboration around courseware content.

·        Email e.g. Outlook, Gmail

First there was email. And even today our benchmarking studies tell us that employees still spend by far the majority of their time in email. Email used to be the only way to collaborate online. Today its internal use may be diminishing in the face of better alternatives, but external communications (and collaborations) still largely rely on email. Email systems today are vastly different to the early systems. Invariably calendar systems are incorporated, along with many other integrations which enable employees to still “live in email” if they so choose. Online meetings are regularly instigated through email/calendar functions.

Typical collaborative tasks

We have compiled the following list of typical collaboration tasks. It is not intended to be exhaustive, but largely representative:

1.  Brainstorming: Employees often collaborate to generate new ideas and solutions to problems.

2.  Meetings: Meetings are a common way for employees to collaborate and discuss work-related topics.

3.  Project management: Employees often work together to manage projects, assign tasks, and monitor deadlines.

4.  Document sharing: Employees collaborate by sharing documents and files with each other. Sometimes documents are jointly authored.

5.  Task delegation / allocation: Employees collaborate by delegating/allocating tasks to each other and working together to complete them.

6.  Training and Development: Employees collaborate by sharing knowledge and skills with each other.

7.  Conflict resolution: Employees collaborate to resolve conflicts and disagreements that arise in the workplace.

8.  Problem-solving: Employees collaborate to identify and solve problems that arise in the workplace.

9.  Team building: Employees collaborate to build strong relationships and foster a positive work

10. Customer Collaboration: Customer facing staff understand the value of being able to partner/collaborate with their customers to create new value from the relationship

Collaborative tasks require participants to need to agree on which tools they will use for their collaborative tasks. We all have our favourite digital places. What digital space do you go to when you turn to your digital device to start your day? Our digital working benchmarking studies would suggest it is likely email! While each of the above tasks could be conducted using email, I think we could agree that it would be far from optimal.

In the next section we look to map collaborative tasks to Collaborative Platforms.

Mapping collaborative tasks to digital collaboration platforms

The following table provides our suggested mappings. We identify the preferred digital platform, but offer alternatives for different contexts.

Collaborative Task	Digital Platform	Comments
Brainstorming	Digital meeting platforms   Alternative: Social Networking platform	Meeting platforms with digital whiteboards are regularly used to facilitate brainstorming. Brainstorming by definition seeks inputs with minimal reflection; so a meeting platform can work well. Social Networking platforms have also been used for brainstorming asynchronously. This allows time for reflection and more considered offerings. This can still work but loses the spontaneity expected from Brainstorming.  SWOOP Analytics for Viva Engage provides a report on Cross Enterprise Collaboration which can be used to assess how siloed or otherwise the organisation is.
Meetings	Digital meeting platforms	If you have confirmed that a ‘meeting’ is definitely required, then if not able to meet face-to-face, digital meeting platforms are the choice.  A common criticism of meetings is that there are too many of them. SWOOP Analytics provides a measure of digital habits which can assess whether your balance of asynchronous to synchronous communication is over-biased toward meetings.
Project management	Project-centred collaboration  Alternative: General Teaming platforms	If your organisation subscribes to a digital project management platform, then this is clearly the choice for collaborating around projects.   However, many organisations would consider themselves not specialist enough to justify a digital platform specifically designed for projects. In this case, the best alternative is the general teaming platform. These platforms provide strong team-related collaboration services and the ability to “plug in” other applications like spreadsheets or task lists.  SWOOP Analytics provides many teams-centred reports that assess the style of operation (single leader, self-directed, community or forum), the level of cohesion, quality of team relationships etc.
Document sharing	Content / Intranet platforms  Alternative: General Teaming platforms / Social Networking platforms	If the documents being shared are designed to be authoritative e.g. a company policy or a best practice guide, then the collaboration should be centred on the intranet. Depending on the collaboration need, this can be conducted through comments/discussions attached to the actual content. There is, however, an option to integrate a richer discussion tool with the content pages, but this will require extra work.   SWOOP Analytics for SharePoint intranet provides reports on the health of intranet content pages i.e. quality, user engagement and experience.   If the scope of the audience for the content is more limited, e.g. a team or community, then an alternative is to attach the content to the team or community space for its ongoing development.   SWOOP Analytics provides a report on how effective posted content is having on the richness of discussions.
Task delegation / allocation	General Teaming platforms  Alternatives: Project centred collaboration Meeting platforms	Task delegation is typically associated with a project. Unless this delegation is part of a more formal project, e.g. has formally appointed project managers (which delegation infers), then it is more about agreeing on “who does what”. In this case, the general teaming platforms can facilitate  this well.  SWOOP Analytics uses AI techniques to classify whether teams are operating as single leader (delegated tasks) or self-directed (allocated tasks) teams.  If there is some urgency or a need the “negotiate” task allocation, then the synchronous Meeting platforms are the best alternative. AI can now help record agreed actions.
Training and development	Social Networking platforms  Alternative: Specialist L&D platform	Training and development comes in the form of formal training courses and less formal social learning.    Social Networking platforms provide spaces for learning communities to be established. These communities are often established along “discipline” lines e.g. finance, engineering, sales. They can be led by subject matter experts and host both formal and informal learning opportunities. SWOOP Analytics uses AI methods to identify communities that are likely operating true learning communities.   Educational institutions will regularly have specialised digital platforms for delivering formal courseware and facilitating communication between students and instructors. This is also an option for collaboration if your organisation makes use of them.
Conflict resolution	Meeting Platforms	Wherever there is tension or sensitivity that needs to be resolved amicably, then in the absence of face-to-face meetings, the digital meeting platform is the choice.
Problem-solving	Social Networking platforms  Alternative: General Teaming platforms	Challenging problems will regularly require “out of the box” thinking. This is where the more diverse participation of a social network is important.   Problems can be posted in Q&A forums hosted on the platform, where both experts and other practitioners are free to respond.   Problem solving at the team level can equally be hosted on the team’s team site. The use of asynchronous communication facilitates considered and debated responses, over the sometimes “shoot from the hip” responses provided in synchronous meetings.  SWOOP Analytics provides reports on both Viva Engage and Microsoft Teams to measure the responsiveness, depth of discussions, curiosity and diversity of participants as indicators of problem solving and innovation activity.
Team building	General Teaming platforms / Meeting Platforms	Team building is best performed on a combination of the teaming platform the team is to use, and a meeting platform (which may be part of the teaming platform).   The synchronous interaction of a meeting (face-to-face or virtual) is the best way to start a new team building initiative where team members are largely unacquainted.   Over time though, it is good to build relationships within the team through online discussions. SWOOP Analytics provides reports in SWOOP Analytics for Microsoft Teams which can measure and monitor team cohesiveness over time.
Customer Collaboration	Email platform  Alternative: General Teaming platforms	Security concerns often dictate that external digital collaboration be constrained to email.   Email platforms are becoming more capable at supporting collaborative activities. Shared calendars, shared inboxes and access to shared file spaces are now available. Scheduling meetings is a regular email activity.  We are, however, seeing mature consulting organisations now regularly establishing shared team spaces with their customers. SWOOP’s reports on team cohesion in this case would reflect customer engagement levels.

Choosing the right Digital Collaboration Platform

A majority of organisations today will be looking to their “office platform” e.g. Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, to facilitate their collaborative task needs. Privacy and security will play an important part in the decision. The larger providers like Microsoft and Google have an advantage here due to their global footprint and ability to cater for the differing security requirements around the world.

Ease of use is a growing challenge, where the plethora of tool choice is resulting in added complexity. Habits can be hard to change. Our benchmarking identifies traditional email, meetings and chat are still the most used. For collaborative tasks, ease of use is more than a well-designed user interface. It requires the collaborators be confident about how they are using the tools in concert.

Beyond general office suites, some organisations can justify a “fit for purpose” collaboration platform. An organisation whose core business is projects could justify investment in a digital project management platform that can facilitate the required collaboration between project staff. Educational institutions regularly invest in learning platforms that can host their courseware while facilitating interactions between students and staff around the learning content. These “fit for purpose” platforms cannot cater for all collaboration needs though. Even project staff or educational instructors will need to collaborate with their colleagues outside of the fit for purpose platform. This is generally the resident office platform. It is therefore important to agree on which collaborative tasks should not be conducted on the fit for purpose platform.

Conclusion

As an individual we are faced with a plethora of digital tools to conduct our work. If this isn’t complex enough, the complexity multiplies when needing to gain agreement on what tools to use when with your collaboration partners. In this article we have looked to provide guidance on how collaborators within enterprises can make the right choices based on the collaborative tasks they are looking to undertake.

We noted that some intranet commentators have suggested using the intranet as the “front door” to the digital workplace of tools considered here. Intranet specialist Step Two has been operating a global intranet awards program for 17 years. In 2020, Norwegian firm DNV GL won its gold award by creating a collaboration wizard to guide end users in provisioning their Microsoft 365 tools to collaborate. In essence, the intranet is not so much a “a place to go” to collaborate; but a place to go to for “getting help on collaboration”.

The following heat map provides a digital platform choice at a glance:

If you like this article, feel free to link to it from your intranet.