Key benefits of business collaboration technologies

An Australian perspective

Collaboration technologies enable communication over a number of media. The technology provides a highly interactive experience for end-users and also assists the business in improving workforce productivity, streamlining business processes and reducing travel costs.

In addition to the standard voice and video conferencing capabilities, typically a web collaboration platform will include the following functions and features:

•    Application/document viewing.

•    Application/document sharing.

•    Presenter(s) control passing.

•    Hand raising or question submission.

•    Pointer.

•    Annotation.

•    Chat (IM).

•    Slideshows.

In the past, collaborative tools were seen as standalone applications, with minimal integration and interoperability with other business applications, telephony systems and other conferencing products. However, major collaborative platforms now support VoIP and video conferencing as well as integration with email applications.

Telsyte saw collaboration really take off in 2008, and it is likely that when we finish 2009 will be another fruitful year for the technology. Decision makers, from both the small-medium enterprise (SME) and the mid-market and large enterprise (MLE) segment, have embraced the technology and utilising it to improve business processes and productivity internally, while extending their reach to their customers.

Productivity and cost savings
Telsyte’s research has shown that in 2009, reduction of cost and improvement in workforce productivity have the highest business priority in the minds of decision makers, followed by streamlining business processes. With the reduction of headcount, decision makers are looking to leverage technologies to compensate for this reduction and improve productivity.

The trend of globalisation and the demarcation of national and geographical boundaries in conducting business efficiently have also driven collaboration to the forefront of the minds of decision makers. The need to mitigate time differences to achieve business continuity is an important driver for collaboration.

 

Top five business priorities for 2009	% of MLE businesses
Productivity	78%
Cost reduction	78%
Business process improvement	74%
Collaboration	68%
Revenue growth	60

Collaboration and the global financial crisis
The current economic climate has been a catalyst for the rise of collaboration, both in the form of web collaboration and video conferencing. The immediate benefits flow from cost savings from the reduction of travel cost, in line with the increased pressure to reduce OPEX. The readiness of a number of collaboration technologies is also a key factor in driving growth. Telsyte believes that the demand for collaboration will increase as the current global downturn continues and will have significant impact in shaping the way businesses interact with customers in the future. Telsyte has observed that, in the past 12 months, the financial services and government sectors are especially keen to evaluate collaboration/conferencing solutions.

Collaboration offers the proposition that businesses across the market can easily understand and associate with – cost savings, the most prevalent proposition in this current economic climate. For a typical Australian business, the ICT spend makes up only a small portion of the business OPEX. Collaboration offers businesses the opportunity to significantly reduce operating expenses associated with not only distance-based communications but also virtualisation of the office environment from anywhere, for both the road warrior and the teleworkers. This enables businesses to reduce travel costs, and employee on costs as well as enhancing workforce productivity.

Web collaboration for Australian SME market
Web collaboration tools are especially relevant for the SME market, due to the pay-per-use pricing arrangements that are available. The service is also a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution, which limits the additional burden on internal IT resources. The operation is generally simple and the user interface is intuitive, where a non-technologist can easily navigate with limited training.

In the SME market segment, Telsyte has found that businesses are embracing the benefits of web collaboration, with close to 40% of businesses having used the on-demand services. A further 25% of SME decision makers have indicated a willingness to use the technology in the next 12 months. Telsyte observes that web collaboration, as an on-demand service is attractive to the SME market for the following reasons:

•    Pay per use.

•    Ease of use – minimal training required for the use of collaboration platforms.

•    Interoperability with current desktop environment.

•    Hosted services decreases the burden on IT staff (if any).

•    Minimal capital expenditure needed for the use of the service.

•    Manageable costs with per minute or monthly licence pricing model.

•    Minimal commitment required regarding usage and spend.

In contrast to web collaboration, SMEs are less receptive towards video conferencing technologies, with only 15% having used video conferencing in the past. Nearly 40% of SME decision makers have also declared that they have no plans to use the technology at all. Telsyte believes that, for SMEs, an on-premise solution may incur capital that is scarcely available and is also likely to increase complexity for the internal ICT environment. Hence, a less attractive proposition of SME decision makers.

Decision makers are also finding web collaboration tools far more flexible, dynamic and intuitive for the needs of their businesses. Hence, the growth of the web collaboration market in the SME segment stifles the uptake of other forms of conferencing technologies.

Collaboration as an external communications tool
Collaboration and conferencing technologies have traditionally been used primarily as an internal tool to enhance business productivity and improve business processes. However, Telsyte has detected a shift in the usage of the application with Australian businesses increasingly embracing the technologies as a means to have closer interaction with suppliers and customers, filling the communication gaps in the supply chain in both a business-to-business and business-to-consumer context.

An example of an external focused implementation is training and support, where the business offers training and support services to end customers via collaboration tools. This type of implementation offers scalability, where agents are able to provide training and support to multiple customers on basic access/enquiries to core services and troubleshooting basic issues. In the process, the business can reduce the burden on the contact centre, both in terms of inbound calls and other forms of contact, allowing agents to dedicate resources to support more complex issues and enquiries.