What Exactly is Online Collaboration Software?

Collaboration software can take many forms, from simple instant messaging, to conferencing and telephony, to video conferencing. Some applications may focus on a specific element while others try to incorporate more than one capability.

Wikipedia defines Collaboration Software as: “An application software designed to help people involved in a common task to achieve goals.” And for benefits, it goes on to say: “A collaborative working environment supports people in both their individual and cooperative work thus evolving into a new class of professionals, e-professionals, who can work together irrespective of their geographical location.”

There are many tools that might fall in this category, but for the purposes of this article, we define Online Collaboration Software as a software application, platform or tool that is delivered as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), or cloud, and contains a number of capabilities within one platform, either built directly in, or integrated with other applications.

Choosing the Right Tool for You

Online collaboration software isn’t just for companies who have people working in different locations; it’s also a valuable tool for any business that wants to be more efficient and effective. But with so many choices, how do you choose the right collaboration tool for your organization?

To make it easier for you, we’ve created this list of five essential areas to evaluate when researching online collaboration tools. We hope it helps you narrow down your selection and choose the best option for your company or your team.

Business software database Capterra has aggregated data on most popular collaboration software that you can use on their website: http://www.capterra.com/collaboration-software/.