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Collaboration is one of those words, like productivity, that gets overused in organizations — and in particular in relation to the digital workplace.
Most business leaders view the ability to collaborate well as a source of competitive advantage. And IT functions and digital workplace professionals might regard collaboration as something they support through a range of different collaboration tools and apps.
As a result, businesses have rolled out a huge number of what might be considered collaboration tools over the years. Some have had huge levels of adoption — look at Microsoft Teams for example — while others have disappeared without trace. Does anybody remember Google Wave?
Given that some tools take off and others clearly don't — or don't do as well as expected (think Workplace from Meta) — it begs the questions: What do employees need from their collaboration tools in order to succeed, and what do digital workplace teams need to do to ensure that success?
First, We Try to Define Collaboration Tools
One of the problems in trying to define what employees want from collaboration tools is trying to define collaboration itself. It can mean different things to different people and cover several different use cases and modes of work.
The Cambridge dictionary defines collaboration as “the situation of two or more people working together to create or achieve the same thing.” Given the plethora of technologies that can help people work together, it means everything from email to video conferencing software could be classed as collaboration tools. There’s also a good deal of crossover between what might be classed as a “communication” tool and what’s a “collaboration” tool.
While many of us might struggle with classifying email as a collaboration tool, there are clearly a number of different types of tools to aid collaboration. Some solutions like Microsoft Teams or Slack facilitate multiple modes of collaboration from chat to discussion threads to video conferencing. Other tools offer more specific collaboration experiences, such as a whiteboarding solution.
Reworked’s annual State of the Digital Workplace report provides insights into three different and quite distinct buckets of collaboration tools, which in some cases have overlapping functionality:
- External collaboration tools
- Community and social platforms
- Group chat/team collaboration tools
Respondents regarded all three as priorities. According to the report, 92% of organizations regard each of these tool categories as very important or somewhat important.
Related Article: Why and How to Standardize Your Collaboration Tools
The Basics Things Users Want From Collaboration Tools
Collaboration tools should tick a number of basic boxes out of the gate.
Some of these are common to all workplace technologies — such as high levels of security and dependability, for example. Given the many different types of collaboration, a collaboration tool also needs to have the requisite features to support a number of use cases. A virtual whiteboard is great for real-time brainstorming, but it’s perhaps less good for asynchronous discussions, for example.
Another key box to tick is for collaboration tools to be straightforward to use. When asked what employees want from collaboration tools, Microsoft MVP Sue Hanley put it well when she said, “Simplicity! People just want tools to be easy to use.”
Modern work consultant Andrew Pope had a similar view. “It's got to be simple and obvious why people will use a particular tool,” he said. “For example, despite what I see as the benefits of Teams channels over chat, people are far more likely to use chat, as it’s simple, though not great for collaboration.”
The Advantage of a Single Collaboration Platform
Another obvious requisite is for a tool or platform to have enough adoption and reach so that the people you need to collaborate with also have access to it, are comfortable using it and are not going to miss any messages from you. In this respect, it is often easier when a business uses just one solution or platform, especially one which is suited to multiple types of collaboration and communication.
“Honestly, I think organizations are most successful when they standardize on a single platform. When Teams training and best practices are communicated across an organization, it works great," Hanley said. "That said, I have clients that are using WebEx and Zoom for meetings and sometimes chat — even if they have Teams and use it for file collaboration.”
Andrew Pope also sees the advantage of avoiding multiple tools and platforms. Asked when collaboration tools work well, he replied, “It's typically when the technology landscape is simple. For example, teams using Atlassian tools tend to collaborate well on Confluence, as it’s one central place for generating content.”
Related Article: Don’t Leave Teamwork to Chance: Why Collaboration Design Matters
Are Collaboration Tools Working for Employees?
How well are current collaboration tools working? Reworked’s annual State of the Digital Workplace report provides some clues.
When asked how successful different types of collaboration tools are working, a large majority of respondents are satisfied:
- 40% felt their group chat/team collaboration tools were working well
- 44% said their group chat/team collaboration tools were satisfactory
- 30% felt their community and social platforms were working well
- 47% said their community and social platforms were satisfactory
External collaboration tools received similar responses.
The perception of the successful impact of collaboration tools has improved considerably in recent years. For example, five years ago in the same survey, only 19% felt group chat/collaboration tools were working well and 40% felt they needed work, with similar patterns for the other tools.
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The shift in perception can be attributed to a few reasons, including the expansion of collaboration features within platforms like Teams, Google Workspace and Zoom Workplace, and the more widespread use of collaboration tools following the pandemic.
The Biggest Issues With Today’s Collaboration Tools
But while the reach and sophistication of collaboration tools may be on the upswing, problem areas remain, such as gaps in features and ineffective use of tools.
Digital Workplace Group CEO Nancy Goebel has watched the evolution of collaboration across the digital workplace for the past two decades.
“Collaboration tools across the digital workplace have come a long way in the last few years, particularly with the pandemic and the rise of remote work at scale,” said Goebel. “The investment that vendors like Microsoft and Zoom have put into the toolset is evident, but there’s still some gaping holes in capabilities and how they are used. For example, many organizations are still struggling with asynchronous collaboration as well as achieving parity between in-person and virtual collaboration.”
Pope agreed that collaboration tools aren’t always optimally used.
“Microsoft Teams is not used particularly well for collaboration,” he said. “This is despite it actually being well suited for asynchronous and synchronous team collaboration.”
However, the reasons for this aren't always the tools themselves, but the governance and support around them. Hanley observed that these foundational elements were not always present, particularly when collaboration tools were rolled out quickly in the early days of COVID-19.
“I think the adoption of collaboration tools exploded at the beginning of the pandemic — unfortunately, often without the time for training and governance. The challenge now is to reign some of that back in — especially with the use of Copilot.”
Organizations haven’t done enough to understand the reasons employees need to use collaboration tools, said Pope. This prevents them from fully optimizing the tools' use.
“The problem is that our needs aren’t defined, rather than there being gaps in the technology,” he said. “It’s much easier to understand how we can make these tools effective if we understand why we’re using them — and to articulate and agree their place among other modes of collaboration, such as in-person time. The gaps are really in our understanding of how to make best use of them to solve our problems and meet our needs — and that managers need to be upskilled on how to drive this.”
Related Article: How Companies Are Redesigning Their Offices for Better Collaboration
Where AI Fits in the Collaboration Tool Discussion
The next chapter for collaboration tools will undoubtedly involve the integration of more AI into the core experience, a process which has already started. Goebel is optimistic about the benefits that AI will bring to collaboration tools, including ironing out some of the existing issues.
“We’re about to enter an era where intelligent collaboration produces more advanced teamwork,” she said. “Collaboration tools will leverage AI to provide real-time insights to help facilitate seamless work, even across different platforms. We’ve already seen AI start to transform the meetings but we’re only at the beginning. AI will be like an extended member of your team, providing nudges to connect with others for more meaningful work, searching for and suggesting internal resources to inform conversations without being prompted and critically bridging the gap between in-person and virtual interaction.”
AI will have a significant influence on collaboration tools, agreed Pope. He also sees the evolution of existing products and the creation of new solutions will help overcome some of the previous barriers to success.
“As well as existing tools, there are many in development that are built around AI as the center-point of collaboration and knowledge exchanging,” he said. “Which makes sense, as so many things that have made collaboration challenging, for example surfacing and connecting tacit knowledge, can be improved through using AI. We’re seeing Microsoft pushing Copilot to be part of everything, and with the launch of Copilot Pages, we’re seeing how team collaboration and AI are coming together.”
However, Hanley believes the rise of AI in collaboration tools — especially surfacing content that can be referenced — will also highlight the importance of governance and foundational work.
“I think AI is going to have an impact on the governance of collaboration tools — and it will highlight the lack of governance because the quality of outputs will be much higher with proper governance, including content management and especially permissions.”
What Do Employees Really Want and Need From Collaboration Tools?
Going back to our original question, it’s clear that employees have differing needs relating to different uses, but ultimately they want something that is simple to use and is going to reach the people they’re working with. They also seem more likely to use technology in the best way if they can get guidance on which collaboration tool to use for which scenario.
And with AI set to further transform our experience of collaboration tools, those organizations that can carry out the foundational work to provide guidance, governance and support are the ones that will succeed.
