Www.nb2bc.co.uk e-Collaboration Uncovered! 15 th May 2007 Martin King-Turner

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e-Collaboration e-Collaboration Uncovered!Uncovered!1515thth May 2007 May 2007

Martin King-TurnerMartin King-Turner

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© 2007 NB2BC

The National B2B CentreThe National B2B Centre

Expert

Impartial

E-Business

Advice

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By 9.30am today you will….By 9.30am today you will….

Understand Collaboration and e-Collaboration

Recognise the business benefits of e-collaboration within your organisation

Know what your technology options are and understand the decision criteria

Be motivated to get started

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uk E-Collaboration: E-Collaboration:

What does it mean for What does it mean for you?you?1515thth May 2007 May 2007Denis PelychDenis Pelych

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E-Collaboration ... what does it E-Collaboration ... what does it mean?mean?

OED Definition of collaboration:

“work jointly on an activity or project”

Latin words collaborare and cooperari both mean:

“work together”

So, do we mean cooperation or collaboration?

Collaboration is really about working in real time, as we do with colleagues in meetings every day

E-collaboration refers to the use of electronic tools and the internet to work together ...

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Cooperation or Collaboration?Cooperation or Collaboration?

Creating a new business plan

Managing a product launch

Developing a tender response

Delivering a customer project

Coordinating a legal case

Managing an emergency response

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Why bother changing your ways?Why bother changing your ways?

Global competition: speed, cost, professionalism

Shorter product cycles and “time-to-market”

Customer demands for excellent services

Consortia tenders and delivery partnerships

Crisis or disaster management responses

Capability, Productivity & Time Savings

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To recap, collaboration is ….To recap, collaboration is ….

Sharing information and ideas

• Exchanging documents

• Giving presentations

• Communicating …

Getting work done together

• Creating documents

• Delivering training

• Resolving issues …

… As if in the same physical location

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“… “… but, successful e-but, successful e-collaboration is all about teams, collaboration is all about teams, not the technology”not the technology”

Find a good team leader and champion

Align the use of collaboration technology to your key business or project processes

Identify and build upon an over-arching goal that can be embraced by the whole team

Work hard to build trust between team members

Have a clear action plan for doing the work

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Case Study Examples Case Study Examples ……

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Virtual Wealth Management Virtual Wealth Management

Business Challenge

• Create a high margin, virtual IFA model - startup business

• No staff, no offices

• Min. overhead, Max. flexibility

E-Collaboration Solution

• WebEx WebOffice for client data, reporting and documents

• Associate Advisors and Para-planners use online wealth mgt tools & services

• PAYG Virtual services call handling, office admin.

Previous Method

• Traditional IFA Model

• Employed advisors + serviced offices + secretary/admin. staff

• Networked office IT + server applications + maintenance

Resulting Benefits

• Low overheads - no staff or employment costs

• Min PCs investment - no IT infrastructure to manage

• Cost directly relate to revenue

• High profit, good cash flow

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Property ConveyancingProperty Conveyancing

Business Challenge

• Be ready to offer HIP based services

• Bring all parties together collaboratively

• Exploit the new technology


• SharePoint repository to store all documents

• Groove workspace to manage and track progress

• Buyer / Seller monitor progress through their browser

Previous Method

• Long drawn out process

• Unwieldy paperwork

• Improper completion

• No control for Buyer or Seller

• Loss of fees

Resulting Benefits

• Shorten the process from 8 weeks to 48 hours

• Introduce a “best practices” approach

• Everything cleared and checked in advance

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Specialist Engineering SolutionsSpecialist Engineering Solutions

Business Challenge

• Multiple clients and projects

• Dispersed project team and subcontractors

• Threat of low cost competition

• Pressure to reduce time to market and prices


• OPM Creator for web-based project management, file sharing, tasks, communication, and web cam monitoring

• 24/7 access to project data via the online workspace

• Project based collaboration

Previous Method

• Email for sharing files, CAD drawings and technical documents

• Telephone/email for project updates

• Extensive travel and meetings

Resulting Benefits

• Reduced project costs and time to market

• One central area for all project data and communication

• 30% reduction in project costs

• Improved customer feedback and satisfaction

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Management ConsultantsManagement Consultants

Business Challenge

• Multiple, concurrent client projects in different locations

• Distributed workforce; on-site work

• Rising cost of travel reducing profits


• Groove for end-to-end client case management; file sharing, project execution, messaging

• MTG managers monitor consultants’ progress virtually

• Clients observe and provide feedback in workspaces

Previous Method

• Email for sharing files, communicating project updates

• In person client meetings

Resulting Benefits

• Reduced project costs

• Fewer emails and long distance phone calls

• Higher quality client reports

• 20% reduction in travel costs and 5% increase in profits

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Avoid overheads

Increase efficiency

Improve quality

To summarise, e-collaboration To summarise, e-collaboration will allow you to ...will allow you to ...

Work virtually

• Avoid staff costs

• Avoid office overheads

• Avoid unnecessary travel => work online together

Improve communication

• Presence, availability, status => more frequent contact

Speed up the working cycle

• Respond to events, alerts => work faster, in parallel

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E-Collaboration E-Collaboration TechnologyTechnology1515thth May 2007 May 2007Ray JordanRay Jordan

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Collaborative technologiesCollaborative technologies

Email

Discussion fora

Instant messaging

Presence

Alerts

Sharing

Workspaces

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EmailEmail

The least effective tool for action

• Is it acted upon?

• Is it clear and understood?

• Messages get lost in a mass of junk

• Messages are easily ignored … if you have to chase people, then what was the point of the email?

• You cannot negotiate using email

Email is a notifier – not a motivator

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Discussion foraDiscussion fora

Very effective for Q&A

Push notification and searchable helps

Needs a good moderator or champion

... And look out for Blogs & Wikis

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Instant messagingInstant messaging

50% of the world’s online community use it

Real time text-based communication between individuals online at the same time

A critical tool for virtual teams;

• Start acting as if physically co-located

• Instant action gets instant response

Compliments voice calls;

• Will save you time for simple exchanges

• Simultaneous communication with voice

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PresencePresence

Provides visibility of people’s presence and status in a virtual “building”, “room” or “space”

Alerts team members that others are available for interaction;

• Gets people acting as if co-located

• Permits as hoc meetings

• Accelerates negotiation

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AlertsAlerts

Proactive Alerts

Selective Monitoring

Status and Changes

Team Engagement

Persistence drives progress!

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Information SharingInformation Sharing

Documents … File Sharing

… Reviews & Co-editing

Calendars … Team Whereabouts

… Organising Meetings

Data … Team Data & Workflows

… Management Visibility

… Distributed Data Mgt

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Collaborative workspacesCollaborative workspaces

Multiple tools in an integrated suite

Built-in access management

Consistent look & feel

Easier to use

Supported

What is the best option for you?

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What’s the right tool for What’s the right tool for me?me?1515thth May 2007 May 2007Ray JordanRay Jordan

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Choosing the right tool …Choosing the right tool …

Team/WorkingPractices

Information/DataSecurity

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Factors to consider …Factors to consider …

Work Practices:

Familiarity with collaborative working

Familiarity with collaboration technology

Team members are from different organisations

Working style and pace

Team mobility

Data Security:

Network security

Information security

Data protection risk

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Work Practices: Are you ready?Work Practices: Are you ready?

Are your current work practices traditional or progressive?

What level of new working practices will be acceptable?

How much new or additional IT can your team cope with?

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Work Practices: Dynamic TeamsWork Practices: Dynamic Teams

Team members from different organisations?

Constantly changing team members?

You need to control access rights

Simple controls minimise your Administration time

CentralisedControls

AccessControls

MemberControls

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Work Practices: MobilityWork Practices: Mobility

Source: When the Workplace Is Many Places, Harris Interactive

50% of the worker population spends some or all of their time working “away from the office”

• Home

• Remote site, hotel

• Customer site

33% are in the office, but regularly working with people who are “away from the office”

• Applications and systems

• Business processes

• Information access

• Team collaboration

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Work Practices: Style & PaceWork Practices: Style & Pace

Cycle time

Response time

Real time collaboration

Compulsive or reluctant communicator

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Work Constraints: ConnectivityWork Constraints: Connectivity

Web based solutions

• You must have a connection to work!

Little or no connectivity

• Must be able to work offline

• Automatic synchronisation

Access to a network

• Security (Admin rights, controls, firewalls, etc)

• Complexity (compatibility with other software)

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Data Security: What are the Data Security: What are the risks?risks?

What data do you hold?

Personal Data

Client Sensitive

Commercially Sensitive

Contract Sensitive

Consider

• Confidentiality

• Authentication

• Data Integrity

• Compliance

Consider

• Confidentiality

• Authentication

• Data Integrity

• Compliance

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Finally, the technology options …Finally, the technology options …

Integrated Collaboration Suites

Peer-to-Peer e.g. MS Groove 2007

Client-Server e.g. IBM Lotus Domino-Notes

Web Service e.g. WebEx WebOffice, MS SharePoint

FREE Web Collaboration Tools

VoIP Telephony e.g. Skype & MSN Messenger

Web Conferencing e.g. Spreed.com & Vyew.com

File/Calendar Sharing e.g. MS Office Live, 4Shared.com, Foldershare.com & Google Apps

Calendar Sharing e.g. Meet-o-Matic

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Q&A SessionQ&A Session

Questions that everyone will be interested in

B2B Centre consultants will also take your questions in the Advice Centre

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Getting GoingGetting Going

1515thth May 2007 May 2007Denis PelychDenis Pelych

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Hosted Service Demonstrations Hosted Service Demonstrations ……

MS Groove 2007 (Virtual Office)

• Generic e-collaboration features

WebEx WebOffice (Web Office)

• Small business management tools

OPM Creator (Web Project Office)

• Engineering contract environment

MS SharePoint (Collaboration Portal)

• Project management environment

All solutions are available on FREE 90-day trial with B2B Centre consulting support

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Advice CentreAdvice Centre

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WebEx WebOffice

MS Groove 2007

OPM Creator

MS SharePoint