Don’t stagnate, collaborate: How web-based technology is transforming the workplace

For consumers, collaborating in an online world has become the norm. Organising an event on Facebook, sharing opinion and news via Twitter or taking part in a crowdsourcing project, are all examples of how cloud computing – the delivery of services and software over the Internet - allows a group or community to develop creative ideas, influence others and reach a common goal.

For many of us though, the idea of interacting and collaborating this smoothly in our professional lives is an alien one. Although cloud-based communication tools such as webmail and instant messaging have been available to businesses for years, they haven't, for the majority of us, become an integral part of the way we interact with our colleagues.

But all this is about to change. Businesses are entering a 'decisive decade' when the workplace will be transformed and ways of sharing and developing ideas will be dramatically accelerated by new opportunities to collaborate online. Google recently commissioned an international study by The Future Foundation into international working practices and how they will change over the next ten years. The study gathered opinions from 3,500 employees across the UK, France, Germany, Japan and the USA plus 12 experts in innovation and business transformation.

They discovered that, while today's technology allows us to work in a different way, we've yet to see the full extent of its impact in the workplace. The study found that only 12% of employees are satisfied with the technology currently available to them at work, preferring the more intuitive tools they use in their personal lives, and nearly a half (46%) do not believe their employer makes the best use of technology to enhance productivity and performance.

Collaboration driving innovation

Furthermore, the results highlighted just how important collaboration is to driving innovation within businesses. They found an 81% correlation between collaboration and innovation, showing that the more employees are given the opportunity to collaborate, the more ideas they will contribute.

The implication for businesses is clear - employees want to collaborate and enjoy working as part of a team. Just over half (54%) say they get their best ideas from discussion with colleagues. And yet, over a quarter (26%) of people say their employer does not encourage them to come up with new ideas. Educating senior management as to the potential commercial benefits of web-based tools will be key if companies want to source and nurture new ideas and stay ahead of their competitors.

Working without borders

The benefits of online collaboration tools become even more distinct for companies operating on a global scale, whose staff are not able to meet on a regular basis. Google's study found a distinct appetite amongst staff to work with cross-border colleagues: 40% of those surveyed said they would like to work remotely with people from other cultures and countries.

With offices in over 50 countries, global support services giant, Rentokil Initial, is already taking advantage of Google's email translation service where an entire mail can be translated into any of over 40 languages with one click of a mouse, and its real-time translation service where text in an instant messaging conversation appears in the recipient's chosen language -  actively encouraging collaboration among colleagues who may not have been able to communicate directly before due to a language barrier, as well as being a huge time saver for cross-country working.

The fact that cloud services are accessed through the Internet also brings greater freedom to staff about when and where they carry out their work, which in turn drives increased productivity. When The Telegraph Media Group moved to cloud computing, its staff found that they were sixteen times more productive when away from the office than they had previously been.

For companies with staff permanently based in the field, the difference is even more dramatic. Rentokil Initial has 15,000 'on the road' service workers, who can collaborate more effectively with office based colleagues and each other following their move to cloud computing, as staff can access Google Apps from anywhere, on any device, which is invaluable when you are in a remote or isolated environment.

Collaboration in action

The potential benefits of online collaborative working are numerous, and it is not just the IT department leading the cloud charge. Ambius, a Dutch Interior landscaping company, recently used Google Video to share internal presentations on the progress of its business with all staff using an online portal, cutting the need for sending huge emails around the entire company. At Complinet, a provider of risk based compliance and technology, the HR team uses the cloud to conduct surveys on training and other personnel issues, and has found it to be a great way of getting fast feedback in one place, rather than having to collate information manually. Google Sites, a shared online portal, is used by Complinet's board members to aggregate information from a variety of sources, which they can share within the organisation.

Companies are increasingly finding they have to adapt to these new ways of working, and are recognising that the benefits of cloud computing go far beyond cost savings. The use of cloud-based, collaborative technology is accelerating, and forward-thinking businesses are already using it to give them a competitive edge by generating ideas, increasing efficiency and productivity and building strong teams.

Just as social technology has transformed the way we communicate and interact in our personal lives, over the next ten years online collaboration will disrupt traditional ways of working in ways that we are only just beginning to realise.  The cloud will fundamentally alter the workplace of the future - making it a more exciting, stimulating and inspiring place for us all to be.