According to the online BusinessDictionary.com (http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/collaboration.html) collaboration means a “Cooperative arrangement in which two or more parties (which may or may not have any previous relationship) work jointly towards a common goal.”

Computers – and particularly networked computers – lend themselves extremely well to collaboration and in recent years, a number of tools have been developed to make collaboration easy... or at least, easier.

Many businesses find it vital to collaborate either internally among staff, externally with clients or peers, or a combination of both. Currently I am working on a project with a competitor that will improve both businesses and that same competitor and I have pooled resources in the past to bid on and land support contracts. None of it would be possible without some type of collaboration tool.

As far as collaboration tools go, they can be as simple as an email transfer of a document for joint editing or as elaborate as a full blown groupware (see below) product. Collaboration tools can accommodate two collaborators or can encompass millions or even billions of collaborators as is the case with Wikipedia “the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit” at http://www.wikipedia.org (one of my favourite sites).

While a discussion of all of the collaboration tools available would be well beyond the scope of what we could hope to achieve here, it would be interesting to discuss some of the more common tools to get a better feel for what can be accomplished with them.

As I mentioned earlier, collaboration can be as simple as sending a document back and forth between parties to work toward a finished product. Microsoft Office for example has had the “Track Changes” option for much of it’s existence.

Let's say I create a document and email it to Jill for review. Jill can edit the document with Track Changes on and when she sends the document back, l can easily see what changes she made. Track Changes uses redlines to show changes and I can choose to either accept or reject any changes Jill makes.

In the past few years, wikis have become increasingly popular on the Internet and the previously mentioned Wikipedia is one of them. A Wiki allows anyone or anyone who has been granted permission, to write content and change content. They can be used for knowledgebases, documentation, and practically anything else that can be written.

Wikis can also be used by anyone who needs to collaborate on documentation and some of the best wiki software is actually free. MediaWiki is used to run Wikipedia and for an extensive list of Wiki software, hey, why not use Wikipedia? Try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wiki_software

Somewhat akin to Wikis are online forums. Perhaps not a collaboration tool in the strictest sense, a forum allows many people to discuss issues on a global or any other scale. My upcoming www.pctreehouse.com site for example will offer a forum where anyone can discuss why computers slow down and how to fix it.

Over the years, the concept of an “Intranet” has grown to include collaborative features. If your business has a Windows server, one of the better intranet software packages is Windows SharePoint Services. WSS is free but Microsoft also develops a scaled up version of WSS that of course cost money.

Among other things, WSS allows users to share documents and offers a really useful check in/check out process that takes collaboration to another level. A user can check a document out, edit it, and then check it back in. All of the changes are tracked and a “version number” is automatically generated. At any time someone can revert to an earlier version of the document and report on who made changes and when.

And then there’s another twist in collaboration in the form of “Groupware”.  Groupware usually allows users to share calendars, contacts, email, documents, tasks, and often uses a special program and/or a web site. One of the most popular groupware applications today is Microsoft Exchange Server.

I like to describe Exchange server as Outlook on steroids. Microsoft Outlook is the program you would use to access Exchange server and with it you can share contacts, calendars, email, task, and documents.  Exchange is also a full blown email server and offers “out of office” auto-replies and a full featured webmail application. Exchange 2007 is a major improvement over Exchange 2003 and has been available since November 2007.

Collaboration tools can propel your business to new heights and often for very little cost. If you’re not using one now and can see a need for one, I strongly encourage you to look at the options out there.

Glen Bowes is a Microsoft Small Business Specialist, MCSE, CCNA,  A+, and Network+ certified professional. Glen can be reached at (905) 378-1215 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Next >