Electronic collaboration

Jeff is a project manager for a company that’s bringing a new product to market in six weeks, just ahead of the competition. Then Jeff gets the e-mail – production has hit a snag at an overseas facility. An overlooked design detail has to be resolved within hours, if Jeff hopes to make his deadline.

Jeff swings into action. Now that every one of his company’s communication technologies have converged onto one IP network, Jeff can quickly see that the facility manager is on a call, so he sends the manager an instant message. Meanwhile, he calls his boss, video conferences members of his project team, and sends Instant Messages to two key suppliers, all from within one application.

Minutes later, Jeff has pulled together an impromptu conference: spanning three firms, four locations and four time zones, and is on his way to getting production back on-track.

Several years ago, Jeff couldn’t have reached the people he needed this quickly. That’s because, while various communications technologies were available to him, they were locked in their own silos.

This isolation between technologies often prevented real-time collaboration between people and information systems and as a result business processes were bogged down leading to inefficiencies for companies and slow responses to customer needs.

Now, with emerging collaboration capabilities based in IP technology, various communication tools are linked to one portal. E-mail, mobile phones, IP phones, instant messaging – Jeff only needs to start one application, access one system, to see who’s available, find the quickest way to reach them, and get in touch.

The ability to respond quickly and work collaboratively to solve problems and provide solutions is essential in today’s geographically strewn and interconnected business world. Using the latest collaboration tools, firms can remain competitive through thorough and timely decision-making. This allows for the development of long-lasting relationships based on the ability to connect easily and seamlessly through robust, interconnected communication applications.

New collaboration tools allow you to maximize the capabilities of a converged IP environment to facilitate contact between parties and to streamline communications throughout the organization. This leads to more efficient processes and a higher level of responsiveness to all stakeholders.

Better performance within your firm and with external partners. Increased customer satisfaction, lower costs and the ability to impress your clients and competitors with increased speed and efficiency. With Allstream’s IP Collaboration, that’s precisely what you get. Combined with Allstream’s Professional Services expertise and solutions like Allstream IP Telephony , or The Allstream Collaboration Suite (linked article also written by Luigi), IP Collaboration delivers on its promise of improving your information sharing on your terms.

Originally published here

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