Real-Time Collaboration Has Stalled...For Now
A Forrester study reports that real-time collaboration has stalled in the enterprise due in most part to the lack of adoption in technologies such as web conferencing and instant messaging. That may be true with existing technologies but it is important to note the new generation of applications that extend real-time collaboration tools.
The State Of Workforce Technology Adoption by Forrester is definitely comprehensive in its examination of how people use technology in the workforce. It's a mass market report, meaning this is how people use technology today. They surveyed 2,001 "information workers" at organizations with 100 or more employees. It is Forrester's first report in this realm. It covers devices, productivity, mobility, collaboration, intranet portals and Web 2.0.
In September, we covered the Gen Y aspect of the report. In this post, we will look at the other findings of the study and how the information presented connects to current trends, especially in the real-time enterprise.
Forrester analyst Ted Schadler wrote the report. He makes the point that the purpose of the study is to walk a mile in the shoes of the information worker.
These are information workers who:
- Predominantly use desktop computers: 76%
- Have a pent up demand for smart phones: Just 11% use them at work
- Rely on email for most everything
- Do not really use traditional collaboration tools such as web conferencing and intant messaging
Just look at how dominating email has become and you see the challenges to real-time collaboration.
I asked Schadler if the definition for real-time collaboration needs to change and if it may be misleading to keep social technologies separate from the definition. He reminded me that the report is what people are saying right now. It's a wake up call, a reality injection about how we perceive the market. Most don't have access to applications that integrate real-time activity streams. They don't even know their company has tools like web conferencing.
That said, the "future looks rosy," for the real-time enterprise, Schadler said. This is due in part for the need to bolster one-dimensional applications such as instant messaging and for that matter, email. For example, a next generation email application may have its own incoming activity stream, allowing information to be pulled out of the black hole that we know as the inbox.
Increased use of smart phones may bridge the gap for workers, especially of the Genertion Y set, but improvements are needed as well in search. It's also important to recognize that self-service is very popular among information workers. Better online training can help speed adoption.
We believe the changes in real-time collaboration will occur when the social web becomes more fully a part of the work day. That means a whole range of changes that we are just starting to see with offerings from companies like Socialtext, Socialcast and Jive Software. And of course, there are the big players like Microsoft's Sharepoint.
In the end, Shadler says it is a critical time to get that reality check in place and listen to what the workers say:
CIOs have plenty of scars from the failure of previous technology investments to thrill and delight the workforce. By asking workers what they truly need or why they don't think they need a new technology, this benchmark will lay the groundwork to prevent future failures.
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This kinda makes me chuckle. If someone had interviewed me say, August 2006, and asked me if I needed a "micro-blogging platform that connected me in real time to thousands of users around the planet" I would have said, well-- "No."
Today, when Twitter was down I was nervous and shaky. My point is, corporate users don't know they need these tools until they're exposed to them. Did Bell do market research to determine what the user demand for the telephone? I expect the results would be similar.
Many times we hear the greatest barrier to adoption of new socio-collaborative technologies is culture; I maintain it's awareness.
Thanks for the post Alex!
This made me laugh a little bit like Susan did. I could also not imagine where I would be today without my collaborative tools. But what I am most amazed at is the fact that Google Wave was not mentioned. Wave will be the tool(s) that ignites the fire under real-time enterprise collaboration. I've written a few entries about Google Wave on my blog if you care to take a look - http://bit.ly/39S0Nb and here is the Google demo http://bit.ly/1dR9do
Thanks,
Erik
Well, in my opinion, most companies have "real work" to do, and most of the social media increases the information overload without necessarily helping people do their work (compared to the extra "noise" they introduce).
e-mail is a standard technology that everyone in the enterprise knows how to use. IM, Twitter, Wikis are still "bleeding edge" and there is no clear business case for any of them.
Yes, SOME of the tools CAN be very valuable for SOME users, but which ? e-mail is so far the only tool that everyone agrees is useful, and is therefore increasingly misused to solve more problems that it can handle.
I believe the use of social media will increase in the future, but only as businesses see a clear business value that exceeds the cost.
- http://www.ppcsoft.com/blog/social-media.asp
No wonder, big enterprises I believe are the slowest adopters of new technologies and tools.
I think it is also about collaboration as a separate activity to how we pr
I think it is also about collaboration as a separate acti
I think it is also about collaboration as a separate activity to how we pr
This is dut to lack of technologies
I don't think that 'changes in real-time collaboration will occur when the social web becomes more fully a part of the work day'. Real-time collaboration will be a consequence of changing needs in the 'kind of work' we have to do. The reason certain people commented here that they could hardly imagine how they could do today without such tools is because their 'work package' is fundamentally different.
Today, I did a job for a customer. Not a single social tool that I am aware of could have helped me doing that job any faster or any better. Phone and e-mail did.
The job, of course, was extremely boring.
MarcB
How was "web conferencing" defined?
The report illustrates that social networking is not yet seen or realized as a mode of communication or collaboration. It is here and needs to be integrated into Unified Communication and offered modes of communication just like email and the growing use of IM.
Thanks for this wonderful addition. Really enjoyed your blog. Appreciate people taking the time to write quality work..
I believe the use of social media will increase in the future, but only as businesses see a clear business value that exceeds the cost.
There are sites like www.binfire.com that have integrated web based chat (and in near future group chat) to their collaboration tools.
Thank you for your sharing.!
A lot of the change that needs to happen in this space will happen naturally over time due to different ways young people collaborate. As they become the mainstream workforce, these tools will be taken for granted. Just look at how commonplace use of wikis in classrooms is right now to get a sense of what's coming.
Doing most of your work through email is clearly inefficient. We had recently coauthored a paper with James Gaskin on this - http://www.hyperoffice.com/business-email-overload/. Although studies indicate towards growing adoption of collaboration technologies, it is up to experts to educate the market about the potential benefits.
Thanks for Sharing Mate. I believe that in future, social media will collabrate.
Yes, you are right williams, social media will collobrate in the future.
I agree with you.