profitable collaboration whitepaper

Profitable Collaboration for SMBs

Executive Summary

Collaboration has many different definitions, but whatever your definition, applying a few principles found in this paper can make small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) achieve profitable collaboration both internally and externally with clients. Collaboration is about relationships and interaction, and a holistic view of collaboration (People, Process and Technology) is the most successful way to look at enabling better client relationships. New Collaboration 2.0 tools that are cloud-based offer great options for SMBs with little or no up-front costs, and these browser-based applications are available on almost every platform.

This paper looks at three rules for good collaboration tools, how to select the right tool for the right process, and examines case studies of how different SMBs have used these tools to their advantage.

September 2010

What is Collaboration?

Collaboration is one of those terms that everyone seems to have a different idea about what it is. Is it communication, coordination, virtual teams, distributed project management, real time interactions, or maybe some of all these things? I created my definition of collaboration many years ago, and it still works well today:

“Multiple coordinated interactions occurring between two or more people that include the transfer of complex information for some common purpose or goal.”

It is important for SMBs to understand why collaboration is critical to organizations of all sizes and that it can help you to not only get new clients, but to keep the ones you have. It is also important to realize that business is all about relationships and maintaining them. Often, to be able to get the most out of collaboration, it is not a matter of simply implementing new Collaboration 2.0 tools that make the difference. It can require a change in the way you think.

A Holistic View of Collaboration

Adopting a collaborative technology often requires a new mind set and a different way of looking at things. Since all the tools we create are extensions of our mindset and beliefs, collaborative tools are no different. Therefore we need to shift to a holistic view of collaboration (not a tool-centric view). This new view of collaboration is holistic, and puts a much higher value on the people and process aspects of collaboration than the technology, which is only about 20% of the solution.

What is Profitable Collaboration?

Collaboration is already prevalent today. In Figure 2, from a study in March of 2010 on “The State of Collaboration,” we can see that more than half of business people collaborate on a daily basis.What is Collaboration?

“Multiple coordinated interactions

occurring between two or more

people that include the transfer

of complex information for some

common purpose or goal.”

People ProcessVirtual Teams

Technology

Figure 1: A holistic view of collaboration

Figure 2: 53% of those surveyed collaborate on a daily basis

But is it profitable collaboration?

Profitable collaboration happens when the right collaborative technology is applied to the right process, at the right time and creates a big win. Collaboration is about relationships, and relationships are the way to keep long term clients, and increase profitability. It is also the path to more effective and efficient interactions, which also leads to profitability.

Frequency of Participation in Collaboration Projects or Efforts

Daily53%

Hourly9%

Monthly7%

Weekly28%

Less than monthly

What is Collaboration?

Collaboration is one of those terms that everyone seems to have a different idea about what it is. Is it communication, coordination, virtual teams, distributed project management, real time interactions, or maybe some of all these things? I created my definition of collaboration many years ago, and it still works well today:

“Multiple coordinated interactions occurring between two or more people that include the transfer of complex information for some common purpose or goal.”

It is important for SMBs to understand why collaboration is critical to organizations of all sizes and that it can help you to not only get new clients, but to keep the ones you have. It is also important to realize that business is all about relationships and maintaining them. Often, to be able to get the most out of collaboration, it is not a matter of simply implementing new Collaboration 2.0 tools that make the difference. It can require a change in the way you think.

A Holistic View of Collaboration

Adopting a collaborative technology often requires a new mind set and a different way of looking at things. Since all the tools we create are extensions of our mindset and beliefs, collaborative tools are no different. Therefore we need to shift to a holistic view of collaboration (not a tool-centric view). This new view of collaboration is holistic, and puts a much higher value on the people and process aspects of collaboration than the technology, which is only about 20% of the solution.

What is Profitable Collaboration?

Collaboration is already prevalent today. In Figure 2, from a study in March of 2010 on “The State of Collaboration,” we can see that more than half of business people collaborate on a daily basis.What is Collaboration?

“Multiple coordinated interactions

occurring between two or more

people that include the transfer

of complex information for some

common purpose or goal.”

People ProcessVirtual Teams

Technology

Figure 1: A holistic view of collaboration

Figure 2: 53% of those surveyed collaborate on a daily basis

But is it profitable collaboration?

Profitable collaboration happens when the right collaborative technology is applied to the right process, at the right time and creates a big win. Collaboration is about relationships, and relationships are the way to keep long term clients, and increase profitability. It is also the path to more effective and efficient interactions, which also leads to profitability.

Frequency of Participation in Collaboration Projects or Efforts

Daily53%

Hourly9%

Monthly7%

Weekly28%

Less than monthly

How to Define Profitable Collaboration

There are four primary ways of defining profitable collaboration, some more tangible than others:1. Saving time or money – the most tangible benefit2. Increasing quality 3. Innovating and/or providing decision support 4. Easing access to and interactions with subject-matter experts

Warning Signs that Collaboration is Not Profitable

There is also a downside to not implementing collaboration correctly, or not having collaboration at all. The biggest indicator of this is that your client relationships start going south. But how do you know they are going south?Below is a list of some warning signs that your relationships are not working:• People are angry with you• The wrong supplies or people show up• Your level of frustration is high• Your partners are defecting• New competitors are eating your lunch• You can’t change quickly enough• No one can see alternatives

Collaboration Challenges Faced by SMBs

So why is it so difficult for SMBs in particular to take advantage of collaboration? There are a variety of reasons for this, one being simply that collaboration is difficult. A second reason is that until the last few years, most collaboration tools were built for large enterprises with IT departments, but SMBs either have small or no IT resources to apply. SMBs are also much more price sensitive than the enterprise, so collaboration software has to be inexpensive ($10-20 per person/per month) as well.

A third reason is that most collaboration tools are unnecessarily difficult. In many of the companies I have worked with (large and small) I found that any impediment to collaboration, even something as small as an additional sign-on, will drop adoption by 50% or more. The reason for this is that users of collaboration tools need to feel empowered the first time they use them. These tools need to be familiar, easy to navigate and intelligent enough to help the users have a good experience.

Cloud-based Collaboration is Critical for SMBs

The recent migration towards Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) or cloud-based tools has been a boon to SMBs. They are easy to use and require little or no IT support to implement. In most cases, SMBs can sign up for a free 30-day trial before committing to pay month-to-month or on a yearly basis. Let the software vendor worry about keeping the servers up, adding new features and supporting the software if it is needed - you will always have the most recent release. The other benefit of these SaaS applications is that most of them were designed for the web, not migrated from the desktop to the web. These web native tools gave vendors a chance to shed a lot of the complexity that came with desktop tools. For example, I am writing this white paper in Microsoft Word. What percentage of Word functionality do you know and use? About 90 percent of the hundreds of features in Word go unused because users generally don’t have the time to learn them. This is true for most SMBs. They don’t have time to learn because the pace of their business is so fast. That is why the ease-of-use rule is so important (being able to use any of the tool’s functions with only one or two clicks).

How to Define Profitable Collaboration

There are four primary ways of defining profitable collaboration, some more tangible than others:1. Saving time or money – the most tangible benefit2. Increasing quality 3. Innovating and/or providing decision support 4. Easing access to and interactions with subject-matter experts

Warning Signs that Collaboration is Not Profitable

There is also a downside to not implementing collaboration correctly, or not having collaboration at all. The biggest indicator of this is that your client relationships start going south. But how do you know they are going south?Below is a list of some warning signs that your relationships are not working:• People are angry with you• The wrong supplies or people show up• Your level of frustration is high• Your partners are defecting• New competitors are eating your lunch• You can’t change quickly enough• No one can see alternatives

Collaboration Challenges Faced by SMBs

So why is it so difficult for SMBs in particular to take advantage of collaboration? There are a variety of reasons for this, one being simply that collaboration is difficult. A second reason is that until the last few years, most collaboration tools were built for large enterprises with IT departments, but SMBs either have small or no IT resources to apply. SMBs are also much more price sensitive than the enterprise, so collaboration software has to be inexpensive ($10-20 per person/per month) as well.

A third reason is that most collaboration tools are unnecessarily difficult. In many of the companies I have worked with (large and small) I found that any impediment to collaboration, even something as small as an additional sign-on, will drop adoption by 50% or more. The reason for this is that users of collaboration tools need to feel empowered the first time they use them. These tools need to be familiar, easy to navigate and intelligent enough to help the users have a good experience.

Cloud-based Collaboration is Critical for SMBs

The recent migration towards Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) or cloud-based tools has been a boon to SMBs. They are easy to use and require little or no IT support to implement. In most cases, SMBs can sign up for a free 30-day trial before committing to pay month-to-month or on a yearly basis. Let the software vendor worry about keeping the servers up, adding new features and supporting the software if it is needed - you will always have the most recent release. The other benefit of these SaaS applications is that most of them were designed for the web, not migrated from the desktop to the web. These web native tools gave vendors a chance to shed a lot of the complexity that came with desktop tools. For example, I am writing this white paper in Microsoft Word. What percentage of Word functionality do you know and use? About 90 percent of the hundreds of features in Word go unused because users generally don’t have the time to learn them. This is true for most SMBs. They don’t have time to learn because the pace of their business is so fast. That is why the ease-of-use rule is so important (being able to use any of the tool’s functions with only one or two clicks).

Selecting Collaborative Tools

Most enterprises go through five stages of evolution with collaboration technologies, but this is usually more abbreviated in smaller organizations like SMBs. That is why groups, teams and even departments within larger organizations are quicker to adopt collaboration technologies than the whole enterprise. Many of the tools for these organizations are focused on internal collaboration (SharePoint, Chatter, Connect, etc.) However, because SMBs have fewer employees and often less geographic distribution, internal collaboration (within the organization) tends to be easier to achieve. However, it is external collaboration (outside the organization) that helps with the relationships where your clients are, and where they need to be supported.

The Right Tool for the Wrong Purpose

Although these collaborative tools may sound like a silver bullet, they do not always meet all of your needs. Sometimes you may have the right collaborative tool, but are using it for the wrong purpose. You can technically write a report in Excel (I have seen people do it) but it is not the right tool for that job. Similarly, email gets pressed into service for messaging and coordination when email is good at only one-to-one or one-to-many interactions, but not many-to-many interactions.

Here is a story of the right tool meeting the wrong need. There was a village in Africa, and every day the women of the village would set out to get water, walking with large jars on their heads. They walked 12 miles each way every day. One day, someone from the United Nations was in the village and saw the women leave each day to get water. Without asking the women, he decided that the village needed a well. So a wonderful well was built in the middle of the village, but none of the women used it and they continued to keep walking 12 miles each way to get water. Finally the UN employee asked the women why they were not using this perfectly good well.

The women replied “because walking to the river gives us time with each other and away from our husbands.” This shows how easy it is to get the right tool for the wrong use.

The right collaborative tool for the right problem

Finding and Understanding the Problem

Most SMBs don’t have the time to investigate the over 2,000 collaboration tools on the market today. That is why SMBs need to first understand their problem in order to help them find the right solution.

One of the best places to look for problems is in processes that have collaborative leverage. There are seven critical processes we find in any business (no matter what size) that have collaborative leverage:1. Sales & marketing (proposal development)2. Customer service/support (exception handling)3. R&D (new product or service development)4. Value network management/relationships with external organizations,

project management (exception handling)5. Training (internal and external)6. Decision support/crisis management7. Corporate or project planning

For example, a company that is collaborating on a sales presentation would ordinarily need to email copies back and forth to update it. This creates multiple versions of the same file sitting on multiple computers. This is the type of process that can cause relationship problems and is usually a fertile ground for solutions with collaborative tools.

What to Look for in Collaborative Tools

Now that you’ve defined the problem, it is time to start looking for the appropriate collaborative tool to solve it. Evaluating tools based on the right criteria will aid in this process. Here are the four things to look for in collaborative tools:1. Applying the appropriate technology to the problem/challenge2. Ease-of-use (1-2 clicks to do anything) 3. A tool that does not get in the way of the conversation, but rather

facilitates the interaction4. A tool that ties into the user’s native, familiar environment (Outlook,

Office, email) to keep the learning curve small

Selecting Collaborative Tools

Most enterprises go through five stages of evolution with collaboration technologies, but this is usually more abbreviated in smaller organizations like SMBs. That is why groups, teams and even departments within larger organizations are quicker to adopt collaboration technologies than the whole enterprise. Many of the tools for these organizations are focused on internal collaboration (SharePoint, Chatter, Connect, etc.) However, because SMBs have fewer employees and often less geographic distribution, internal collaboration (within the organization) tends to be easier to achieve. However, it is external collaboration (outside the organization) that helps with the relationships where your clients are, and where they need to be supported.

The Right Tool for the Wrong Purpose

Although these collaborative tools may sound like a silver bullet, they do not always meet all of your needs. Sometimes you may have the right collaborative tool, but are using it for the wrong purpose. You can technically write a report in Excel (I have seen people do it) but it is not the right tool for that job. Similarly, email gets pressed into service for messaging and coordination when email is good at only one-to-one or one-to-many interactions, but not many-to-many interactions.

Here is a story of the right tool meeting the wrong need. There was a village in Africa, and every day the women of the village would set out to get water, walking with large jars on their heads. They walked 12 miles each way every day. One day, someone from the United Nations was in the village and saw the women leave each day to get water. Without asking the women, he decided that the village needed a well. So a wonderful well was built in the middle of the village, but none of the women used it and they continued to keep walking 12 miles each way to get water. Finally the UN employee asked the women why they were not using this perfectly good well.

The women replied “because walking to the river gives us time with each other and away from our husbands.” This shows how easy it is to get the right tool for the wrong use.

The right collaborative tool for the right problem

Finding and Understanding the Problem

Most SMBs don’t have the time to investigate the over 2,000 collaboration tools on the market today. That is why SMBs need to first understand their problem in order to help them find the right solution.

One of the best places to look for problems is in processes that have collaborative leverage. There are seven critical processes we find in any business (no matter what size) that have collaborative leverage:1. Sales & marketing (proposal development)2. Customer service/support (exception handling)3. R&D (new product or service development)4. Value network management/relationships with external organizations,

project management (exception handling)5. Training (internal and external)6. Decision support/crisis management7. Corporate or project planning

For example, a company that is collaborating on a sales presentation would ordinarily need to email copies back and forth to update it. This creates multiple versions of the same file sitting on multiple computers. This is the type of process that can cause relationship problems and is usually a fertile ground for solutions with collaborative tools.

What to Look for in Collaborative Tools

Now that you’ve defined the problem, it is time to start looking for the appropriate collaborative tool to solve it. Evaluating tools based on the right criteria will aid in this process. Here are the four things to look for in collaborative tools:1. Applying the appropriate technology to the problem/challenge2. Ease-of-use (1-2 clicks to do anything) 3. A tool that does not get in the way of the conversation, but rather

facilitates the interaction4. A tool that ties into the user’s native, familiar environment (Outlook,

Office, email) to keep the learning curve small

Rhino Bill’s Search for the Right Collaborative Tool (Case Study)

Rhino Bill, an Ohio-based provider of Medicare Charge Billing software, is a good example of a company that defined its problem, and then sought a solution. Approximately 18 months ago, Rhino Bill was searching for a collaborative project management tool and began the process of evaluating various solutions. Rhino Bill felt Basecamp, although simple and easy to use, did not have enough power for what they needed to do in the agile software development process, and Daptive and AtTask were overkill and expensive. The company found that Central Desktop’s online collaboration platform provided the best mix of cost and features. Rhino Bill began using Central Desktop and has been using it to run the company for the last year and a half.

Rhino Bill was also building some new software called “Cloud 11.” According to Jenni Robertson, Business Manager and Scrum Master at Rhino Bill, “We do agile development of our software; that means we do new iterations about every two weeks. We spent a lot of time looking for the right tool to support our four full-time employees and six additional contractors on the development team. Although we are based in Ohio, our team is very distributed and we needed a central place for all of our documents. But it was Central Desktop’s task management features that convinced us that it was the right tool.”

In this case, Rhino Bill was able to narrow down the type of collaborative tools they wanted to evaluate to a general tool category (project management). Since they are technologists, they had a good idea of their issues and the functions they needed to solve them. With this in mind, they were able to test and select a tool based on price and feature fit.

Measuring Profitable Collaboration

One of the interesting problems about collaboration that affects everyone (no matter what size organization) is determining if it is working and how well it is working. This requires metrics… but since the value of most collaboration is indirect and intangible, it can be very hard to measure directly.

Let’s take the example of an astronomer looking for a black hole. Black holes have such a high gravity; they absorb light and so cannot be seen directly. So how do astronomers know they are there and how big they are? Astronomers look at the more visible astronomical objects around where the suspected black hole is. Because of the high gravity of the black hole it affects other planets, the moon, asteroids, and even the dust surrounding it. These things can be measured, and through them the astronomer can calculate where the black hole is, and its size and strength.

The same principle applies to collaboration. Since it is hard to see or even characterize for most people, it is best to measure the things in an organization it affects. Let’s examine a few scenarios that yielded measurable benefits as a result of effective collaboration.

Using a Collaboration Tool to Save Time

Let’s say that you are working on a report for a client and you need the input and expertise of a few people outside your organization. You can set up a virtual workspace using a collaboration tool like Central Desktop and invite those experts into the workspace.

In the meeting you may require some documents that are part of the report to aid in the discussion with these experts. These documents can be uploaded one at a time or loaded in a batch into Central Desktop where everyone can access them. This way there is “one golden copy” of the document and not many versions floating around in different people’s email inboxes. An online conversation about the documents can be done through a discussion forum and the project’s progress tracked through Central Desktop’s task management functions.

As a result, you are able to finish the report three days faster than if you did not use a collaboration tool. This type of time savings is one of the most common and easiest ways to measure the benefits of collaboration.

Rhino Bill’s Search for the Right Collaborative Tool (Case Study)

Rhino Bill, an Ohio-based provider of Medicare Charge Billing software, is a good example of a company that defined its problem, and then sought a solution. Approximately 18 months ago, Rhino Bill was searching for a collaborative project management tool and began the process of evaluating various solutions. Rhino Bill felt Basecamp, although simple and easy to use, did not have enough power for what they needed to do in the agile software development process, and Daptive and AtTask were overkill and expensive. The company found that Central Desktop’s online collaboration platform provided the best mix of cost and features. Rhino Bill began using Central Desktop and has been using it to run the company for the last year and a half.

Rhino Bill was also building some new software called “Cloud 11.” According to Jenni Robertson, Business Manager and Scrum Master at Rhino Bill, “We do agile development of our software; that means we do new iterations about every two weeks. We spent a lot of time looking for the right tool to support our four full-time employees and six additional contractors on the development team. Although we are based in Ohio, our team is very distributed and we needed a central place for all of our documents. But it was Central Desktop’s task management features that convinced us that it was the right tool.”

In this case, Rhino Bill was able to narrow down the type of collaborative tools they wanted to evaluate to a general tool category (project management). Since they are technologists, they had a good idea of their issues and the functions they needed to solve them. With this in mind, they were able to test and select a tool based on price and feature fit.

Measuring Profitable Collaboration

One of the interesting problems about collaboration that affects everyone (no matter what size organization) is determining if it is working and how well it is working. This requires metrics… but since the value of most collaboration is indirect and intangible, it can be very hard to measure directly.

Let’s take the example of an astronomer looking for a black hole. Black holes have such a high gravity; they absorb light and so cannot be seen directly. So how do astronomers know they are there and how big they are? Astronomers look at the more visible astronomical objects around where the suspected black hole is. Because of the high gravity of the black hole it affects other planets, the moon, asteroids, and even the dust surrounding it. These things can be measured, and through them the astronomer can calculate where the black hole is, and its size and strength.

The same principle applies to collaboration. Since it is hard to see or even characterize for most people, it is best to measure the things in an organization it affects. Let’s examine a few scenarios that yielded measurable benefits as a result of effective collaboration.

Using a Collaboration Tool to Save Time

Let’s say that you are working on a report for a client and you need the input and expertise of a few people outside your organization. You can set up a virtual workspace using a collaboration tool like Central Desktop and invite those experts into the workspace.

In the meeting you may require some documents that are part of the report to aid in the discussion with these experts. These documents can be uploaded one at a time or loaded in a batch into Central Desktop where everyone can access them. This way there is “one golden copy” of the document and not many versions floating around in different people’s email inboxes. An online conversation about the documents can be done through a discussion forum and the project’s progress tracked through Central Desktop’s task management functions.

As a result, you are able to finish the report three days faster than if you did not use a collaboration tool. This type of time savings is one of the most common and easiest ways to measure the benefits of collaboration.

Lightner Property Group Gains a “Virtual Staff Member” (Case Study)

In this next example, a property management and development firm, Lightner Property Group (LPG), was also able to experience a measurable benefit of using a collaboration tool. The company needed a solution that would help them streamline many of their manual and tedious processes. After being in operation for 25 years, Lightner Property Group had accumulated a vast amount of information and data that was all stored in dispersed filing cabinets, laptops, and hard drives. The company had protocols for key resident and tenant communications; however, staff members had to manually perform all steps, which expended a lot of company time for a fairly standard process.

Using Central Desktop, LPG was able to upload all their data online, where clients could easily access their own information from their respective workspaces. Central Desktop’s workflow solutions also allowed LPG to automate its resident and tenant protocols. For example, whenever a tenant filed a work order request, Central Desktop would automatically send an email to a vendor to let them know they’ve been assigned the work order.

As a result of using Central Desktop, LPG saved valuable time and resources, which is essential for a small business. The time that LPG employees previously spent on many of the company’s manual processes was eliminated. In fact, LPG says that Central Desktop alleviates so much work that it has become like “another staff member.”

Fuzebox Saves $1M on One Project (Case Study)

For those of you who prefer to measure benefits in terms of cost savings, we’ll examine how Fuzebox, a global consulting and technology firm, was able to save money through its use of Central Desktop. Fuzebox’s larger client projects were very complex and could last several years, so they needed a collaboration tool that would keep them organized. Specifically, the functions that they needed include: the ability to check in/check-out documents, manage workflows and host web meetings, as well as allowing both internal and external members to share communications in real-time, and effectively help monitor projects on an ongoing basis.

Like other SMBs, Fuzebox looked at everything from Basecamp to SharePoint. After choosing Central Desktop for its feature set, they initially began with five users, but today there are over 150 people using Central Desktop on a daily basis. Fuzebox was able to realize the most tangible benefit of collaboration – cost savings. Central Desktop was used to manage one of Fuzebox’s largest international projects, and has already saved $1 million dollars in travel, organization, management and overhead costs for this project alone.

Lightner Property Group Gains a “Virtual Staff Member” (Case Study)

In this next example, a property management and development firm, Lightner Property Group (LPG), was also able to experience a measurable benefit of using a collaboration tool. The company needed a solution that would help them streamline many of their manual and tedious processes. After being in operation for 25 years, Lightner Property Group had accumulated a vast amount of information and data that was all stored in dispersed filing cabinets, laptops, and hard drives. The company had protocols for key resident and tenant communications; however, staff members had to manually perform all steps, which expended a lot of company time for a fairly standard process.

Using Central Desktop, LPG was able to upload all their data online, where clients could easily access their own information from their respective workspaces. Central Desktop’s workflow solutions also allowed LPG to automate its resident and tenant protocols. For example, whenever a tenant filed a work order request, Central Desktop would automatically send an email to a vendor to let them know they’ve been assigned the work order.

As a result of using Central Desktop, LPG saved valuable time and resources, which is essential for a small business. The time that LPG employees previously spent on many of the company’s manual processes was eliminated. In fact, LPG says that Central Desktop alleviates so much work that it has become like “another staff member.”

Fuzebox Saves $1M on One Project (Case Study)

For those of you who prefer to measure benefits in terms of cost savings, we’ll examine how Fuzebox, a global consulting and technology firm, was able to save money through its use of Central Desktop. Fuzebox’s larger client projects were very complex and could last several years, so they needed a collaboration tool that would keep them organized. Specifically, the functions that they needed include: the ability to check in/check-out documents, manage workflows and host web meetings, as well as allowing both internal and external members to share communications in real-time, and effectively help monitor projects on an ongoing basis.

Like other SMBs, Fuzebox looked at everything from Basecamp to SharePoint. After choosing Central Desktop for its feature set, they initially began with five users, but today there are over 150 people using Central Desktop on a daily basis. Fuzebox was able to realize the most tangible benefit of collaboration – cost savings. Central Desktop was used to manage one of Fuzebox’s largest international projects, and has already saved $1 million dollars in travel, organization, management and overhead costs for this project alone.

Measuring Collaboration ROI

What other metrics can be used to show the value of collaboration? Assigning value based on an outcome is another popular way. For example, getting a project for a client done early, as mentioned in a previous example, can result in earning you a new project with a $100K contract. Would you assign all of the $100K value to collaboration? Of course not, but perhaps you would assign 10% or even 25%.

So working collaboratively has now earned you $25K. At what cost? A typical cloud-based collaboration tool ranges from $100-$200/per month (for a 10-20 person company) so let’s estimate an annual cost of $2K. If the value received (on this one client) was $25K, that is a 12:1 return (ROI). Even if the annual cost for the tool was $10K, you have a good return, which more than justifies (and pays for) the collaborative tools you are using.

However, I don’t believe ROI is the right question to be asking. Collaboration on its own has little value, but when applied within the context of a process, it gains value that can be (to some degree) measured. While measuring ROI may make your accountant happy, a better question to ask yourself is “how is this moving my company forward?” Is collaboration helping you get (and keep) new business, retain old business, be more productive and make new partnerships and alliances?

Conclusion

If you want to be more productive with the few resources you have, and retain and grow your client base while making little or no IT expenditure, then I invite you to look at cloud-based collaboration tools like Central Desktop. These vendors are focused on SMBs, as opposed to larger vendors that have hamstrung their enterprise offerings and labeled it as an SMB version. Often these tools don’t take into account the special collaboration needs of the SMB, and can be expensive even in the SMB version. Instead, look at tools for SMBs that were built in the cloud and are native to the cloud as they have better performance, are at a better price point, and often require little or no initial investment. Using these tools can help your business share information, work more efficiently and improve the quality of your client relationships. All of these factors will help you and your business become more profitable.

About the Author:

David Coleman is the founder and Managing Director of Collaborative Strategies and is the author of four books on collaboration, the two most recent being Collaboration 2.0 and 42 Rules for Suc-cessful Collaboration. He is a frequent blogger at a number of sites like collaborate.com, and writes a regular column for eLearning Magazine called “Collaborative Thinking.” When not doing research and writing industry reports on collaboration, David works with large and small organizations to help determine their collaboration strategy. He also works with collaboration vendors on: demand generation, partnering, and product roadmaps. David can be contacted for speaking engagements, workshops, or consulting at: 650-342-9197 or [email protected], or dcoleman100 on Gmail or Twitter.

Measuring Collaboration ROI

What other metrics can be used to show the value of collaboration? Assigning value based on an outcome is another popular way. For example, getting a project for a client done early, as mentioned in a previous example, can result in earning you a new project with a $100K contract. Would you assign all of the $100K value to collaboration? Of course not, but perhaps you would assign 10% or even 25%.

So working collaboratively has now earned you $25K. At what cost? A typical cloud-based collaboration tool ranges from $100-$200/per month (for a 10-20 person company) so let’s estimate an annual cost of $2K. If the value received (on this one client) was $25K, that is a 12:1 return (ROI). Even if the annual cost for the tool was $10K, you have a good return, which more than justifies (and pays for) the collaborative tools you are using.

However, I don’t believe ROI is the right question to be asking. Collaboration on its own has little value, but when applied within the context of a process, it gains value that can be (to some degree) measured. While measuring ROI may make your accountant happy, a better question to ask yourself is “how is this moving my company forward?” Is collaboration helping you get (and keep) new business, retain old business, be more productive and make new partnerships and alliances?

Conclusion

If you want to be more productive with the few resources you have, and retain and grow your client base while making little or no IT expenditure, then I invite you to look at cloud-based collaboration tools like Central Desktop. These vendors are focused on SMBs, as opposed to larger vendors that have hamstrung their enterprise offerings and labeled it as an SMB version. Often these tools don’t take into account the special collaboration needs of the SMB, and can be expensive even in the SMB version. Instead, look at tools for SMBs that were built in the cloud and are native to the cloud as they have better performance, are at a better price point, and often require little or no initial investment. Using these tools can help your business share information, work more efficiently and improve the quality of your client relationships. All of these factors will help you and your business become more profitable.

About the Author:

David Coleman is the founder and Managing Director of Collaborative Strategies and is the author of four books on collaboration, the two most recent being Collaboration 2.0 and 42 Rules for Suc-cessful Collaboration. He is a frequent blogger at a number of sites like collaborate.com, and writes a regular column for eLearning Magazine called “Collaborative Thinking.” When not doing research and writing industry reports on collaboration, David works with large and small organizations to help determine their collaboration strategy. He also works with collaboration vendors on: demand generation, partnering, and product roadmaps. David can be contacted for speaking engagements, workshops, or consulting at: 650-342-9197 or [email protected], or dcoleman100 on Gmail or Twitter.

About Central Desktop

Central Desktop delivers a complete, pure Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) collaboration platform that allows business teams to communicate and collaborate more efficiently. As a top SharePoint alternative, Central Desktop’s collaboration software solution allows business teams to interact, share and manage their daily work activities from anywhere at any time. Key Central Desktop customers include the Humane Society of the United States, CBS, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Netflix, Gymboree, Workday and Harvard University. Founded in 2005, CentralDesktop is a privately-held company with headquarters in Pasadena, California. For more information about the company, visit http://www.centraldesktop.com.

Central Desktop

Main Headquarters129 N. Hill Ave, Ste. 202Pasadena, CA 91106

Orange County130 Chaparral Court, Ste. 100Anaheim Hills, CA 92808

(866) 900-7646 Toll Free(626) 689-4458 Sales(626) 628-3283 Fax

www.centraldesktop.com

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