Collaboration Closes the Distance Gap

We respond in real time and expect the same from others we need to exchange information with at a personal level. Employees have come to expect the same experiences from their work environments and the tools that facilitate how they collaborate to do their jobs.

Social networking, webinars and virtual conferencing have ramped up our need to participate. We’re spending more time online interacting with people on a variety of platforms about numerous topics of interest. Essentially, we’re now living in the experience economy, transcending the barriers of time and distance. We rely on technology more than ever for our communication needs.

We respond in real time and expect the same from others we need to exchange information with. Employees have come to expect the same experiences from their work environments and the tools that facilitate how they do their jobs.

The ways in which we utilize digital social and community platforms has removed the necessity for us to be face-to-face with someone for all conversations. We’re becoming adept at getting much of what we need through textual communications.

We’ve all come to rely on email and document attachments. This said, there are some times when the nuances of language and the body language in response to conversations is the key to getting the outcomes that pull a project back on track or cement a relationship with a customer into place.

To keep working at the pace our businesses require, we need the instant gratification of collaboration technology to help us out.

From being able to find the people we need to interact with—along with the best way to contact them in real time—to the ability to escalate the method of communication to get clarity without losing the thread, a technology assist can become a productivity boost.

Consider this typical situation:

• You need answers to questions a customer in Houston raised about project execution in their proposal.


• You locate the expert you need in Boston and see they’re available by Instant Message.


• After a brief exchange, you need to discuss the rewording of a clause in the proposal.


• With one click you escalate the Instant Message session to a web conference.


• You can now see each other on video as well as see the document in the web browser and work together to edit it in real time.


• As you hang up, you save the updated proposal and call your customer. You pop into a web conference and walk her through the updated change, getting her agreement to move forward.

If you tried to accomplish this through standard methods—like sending email or chasing people via voicemail—how much longer would it take to get the same outcome?

How much more value do you think your customer will assign to your efforts given the personalization and speed of your responsiveness via collaborative technology?

Comments

[Matt Riley]

Speaking as a customer, there are times when I call to get information about a product and if I don't get someone on the phone, I just hang up and call their competitor, those that answer the phone..get my money.

Now speaking as the service provider, I want to get customers the information they need as soon as possible, I think it shows that we care about them when we help them in a timeley manner.

I think our customers would place a great deal of value on being able to contact us and get what they need.

The sooner the better and the more personal the better. I say personal because then you know someone is working to help you, instead of wondering if an email made it to the right person or if they got your voice mail. Did I push the right buttons with the automated attendant?