As part of Attensa's Project Dogfood we've been using BaseCamp and Central Desktop to manage projects and collaborate with partners. These tools definitely makes working with a distributed team easier. Both of these collaboration tools feature: milestones, to-do lists, file storage, messaging and Web feeds.
Apparently we aren't alone in experiencing the communication and collaboration benefits.
Benchmark Research recently completed a sponsored research study looking at the returns from the use of collaboration technology in the construction industry.
- 98% of collaboration technology users felt they benefited from having information held centrally
- 93% of users said there was less chance of losing important documents
- 90% said it was easier to find and retrieve their documents.
I'd add, getting project updates in a Web feed makes it easier to stay on top of progress.
http://www.hyperoffice.com is a good tool in the same category. it is more comprehensive than the abovementioned tool in that it also has contacts, calendars and doucment management features.
that said, it would be an understatement to say that these new age producutvity tools have helped small businesses. its almost too good to be true!
Posted by: Collaborative Pankaj | May 26, 2008 at 06:38 AM