Investing in a team collaboration platform, such as Slack, Zoom, and Workplace by Facebook, offers many benefits to businesses of all sizes. Large companies, for instance, can boost their inter-organizational communication. On the other hand, smaller organizations can use these collaboration tools to discover a global reach and make their business international.
While enterprise collaboration platforms are beneficial for a business, organizations should not be hasty in implementing these tools. They should make sure that their company is deploying the right tool for their organization.
Before implementing any collaboration platform, ask yourself these questions:
- What are the collaboration goals of your company?
- What are the communication policies of your organization?
- Is your chosen collaboration platform scalable?
- What are the apps that you can integrate with the collaboration platform?
- Does the team collaboration platform provider offer technical support?
- How much does the collaboration app cost?
What are the collaboration goals of your company?
Enumerate the reasons for moving away from the conventional ways of communicating and turning to a team collaboration tool. By defining your collaboration goals effectively, you make sure that you’re selecting the right platform for your organization.
What are the communication policies of your organization?
When you roll out an enterprise collaboration tool, expect a lot of communication to take place on this platform. This means that you’ll need a way to monitor and manage these conversations. Collaboration platforms, just like email, can serve as a venue for inappropriate behavior, such as bullying and workplace harassment.
If your organization has an internal communications policy, check if it covers conversations done on the collaboration platform. At the same time, empower your HR department to monitor, investigate, and sanction inappropriate behavior. HR personnel, for instance, can use a monitoring and archiving compliance solutions platform to flag inappropriate content and retain a defensible and complete record of communications.
Is your chosen collaboration platform scalable?
The collaboration tool you should choose should have the capability to accommodate a growing company. If your team grows, the platform you picked must keep pace — unless you’re okay with migrating your data every time your organization expands.
What are the apps that you can integrate with the collaboration platform?
Carefully look at how the collaboration software integrates with cloud-based or third-party web tools. If your business has an extensive marketing department, for instance, look for a team collaboration platform that integrates effectively with customer relationship management (CRM) products. By doing so, your marketing team can extract data from CRM tools and use them in various project-related or day-to-day discussions.
Does the team collaboration platform provider offer technical support?
The team collaboration app provider you choose should deliver reliable technical support. When searching for a collaboration platform, skip the ones that merely offer video tutorials or knowledge base articles. The provider should go above and beyond by providing interactive options, such as phone, email, live chat, and web ticketing support.
How much does the collaboration app cost?
Price is another critical factor that you should consider when getting a team collaboration platform. Pricing models can vary due to the differences in management and feature options. Some vendors offer free trials or “freemium” options, while others list multiple pricing tiers. When searching for a collaboration application, perform due diligence to determine the most suitable product and the pricing model for your business.
Take note of these questions when obtaining a team collaboration tool for your organization. Choosing the appropriate team collaboration platform allows your business to enjoy the maximum benefits of the software.
